your method of dealing with them. Just hit the comments and type away.
Some good Michigan research can be found at http://www.michiganbees.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Otto_Thesis_FIN_23APR2013.pdf .
Below are Jonathan Parson's hives and bear fence
NEXT
I have a "bear" fence that so far has kept the bears at bay in Ralph. I am off grid so I use solar panels and batteries. You can save big bucks if you have AC power. My system is pretty fancy and overbuilt. The fence is 6 feet high and 3/4 of a mile long with 7 strands of 14 gauge steel wire. Make sure you have a strand close to the ground to keep out skunks etc. YOU MUST WEED WHACK around the fence wire to keep it from being grounded by grass and weeds. The system must bee grounded by pounding galvanized steel rods into the ground.
I have 40 watts of solar panels charging a 12 volt deep cycle battery. There is charge controller between the battery and the panels so I don't overcharge the battery. The fence charger is a Zabara (sp) DC 50 which puts out 2 joules of power. This unit can allegedly charge 50 miles of fence. I have only about 3/4 mile of wire. The test shows over 7,000 volts in the fence. I designed the fence system to protect my apple orchard from deer as well as my hives.
I would say I have $500 in my system. Charger 140, battery 80, solar panels 160, charge controller 7, wire etc about 100 so about $500.
Could achieve the same voltage with a much smaller charger..say a 10 mile charger with an ORV 12 volt battery and a 10 watt solar panel charger. Make the fence 4 feet high with 4 strands of wire. A bear fence need only be high enough so the bear can't jump over (bears are not good jumpers). So I think you could set up a bear fence for a few hives for maybe $150.
Of course, if you have AC power you can save a lot of money because you wouldn't need solar panels and a battery! You could get a nice AC charger for $100 bucks and the wire is not expensive.
Feel free to forward this email.
Dave Payant