They make solar powered electric fences to keep bears away from beehives.  I’m not sure if they’re low powered enough to be safe with the kids out and about but yoo never know.  http://electricbearfence.com/

I can sympathize.  Several neighbors have spotted a cougar in the past couple of weeks, before dark, even.  The DNR says we have nothing to worry about.  :|

Okay, now after reading this article and the responses, I don’t feel quite so bad about the mink in our chicken coop.

Danielle,
I am originally from Massachusetts.  This is pretty much why everyone in Ma. is convinced that everyone in N.H. is, well, nuts.  I mean that in the nicest possible way.

WOW! Be careful!

My father-in-law lives in northwest New Jersey (a very rural area) and is plagued by bears crossing over from Pennsylvania. He crosses into Pennsylvania himself and buys small firecrackers - the ones that are mostly noise with a small flash - to throw at the bears when they come by. It doesn’t hurt them but it does run them off. Unfortunately they keep coming back for the cat food my mother-in-law leaves out for the strays.

Danielle—we are on a road trip in TX right now, and not 20 mins. ago my daughter and I were talking about the differences between black and brown bears.  I recall reading inA Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson that when you come upon a brown bear, you should make lots of noise with pots and pans.  But with black bears you should remain VERY STILL—dont run!  Hope you never have to test out this theory .

Danielle—we are on a road trip in TX right now, and not 20 mins. ago my daughter and I were talking about the differences between black and brown bears.  I recall reading inA Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson that when you come upon a brown bear, you should make lots of noise with pots and pans.  But with black bears you should remain VERY STILL—dont run!  Hope you never have to test out this theory .

Foxes and raccoons and BEARS oh my! Those chickens sure do have a lot to worry about.  When we lived in Wisconsin we heard about people in the north woods area having a lot of trouble with black bears coming onto their property foraging for garbage and a lot of times in broad daylight.  It would make me incredibly nervous to have my kids playing outside if I lived there or where you live.  On the other hand, I would love to have chickens and acres of land and woods for my kids to explore.

Though one hasn’t taken the trouble to visit, it is becoming a major problem in MA. The public advice is to not try to pet them, don’t feed them, stay out of their way. They will eventually move on.
We DO have wild turkeys though. However I have found out the hard way that a pet Pomeranian is more dangerous than a wild field mouse.

For the first time, we are experiencing black bear sitings in our busy suburban neighborhood in Union County New Jersey!  They’ve been in nearby towns that are more rural, but there’s nothing rural about our town and yet they’ve ventured in.  It’s very frustrating - the town has done almost nothing to warn us other than to occasionally stop runners to tell them to go another way because there’s a bear nearby.  Gee, thanks.  I guess I won’t be taking my baby on walks anytime soon!