I live a little north of Colville and I'm thinking of starting a small Hive for personal use, the area has a moderately active bear population I can only assume that's going to be a problem?
Hi Bob,
Yes, bears will destroy whole apiaries if within reach.
Some people recommended electric fences, but those are only effective on years the bears have plenty of food available.
In years with draught, fires, or just a bad growing season, bears will be starving and they're known to go through electric fences to get to the hives. They endure the pain just to get to the food.
A couple of beekeepers in the area had better results by making a platform on metal posts.
They found claw marks on the metal posts, but so far the bears couldn't make it all the way up to the platform to eat the honey bees.