By Christie Greene, Wild Aware
The next time you find yourself standing between a bear and a chicken, be sure to conduct a surreptitious examination.
Be especially careful not to stare at the bear. At 275 pounds and standing over 6 feet tall on his back legs, he demands your caution and respect. You may notice his razor-sharp claws (2 ½ inches in length) and powerful canine teeth. The Bear’s thick fur seems impenetrable, and we all know he can run 30 miles per hour. This is not somebody you want to trigger.
A quick glance over your other shoulder and there is the hen, gazing with trust into your eyes from below your knees. She is a benign creature, weighing only a few pounds and standing perhaps 6 inches high. Lacking either teeth or claws, the hen has almost no defenses against a predator. Her athleticism is underwhelming, with a running speed of perhaps 9 miles per hour and managing brief flight at a height of … a bear’s face. Despite her shortcomings, our hen is the queen of egg production and is valued and loved by her family.
At almost $6 a dozen, eggs have hit a record-high price. Not a decision to be taken lightly, adding chickens to the family tree could set you back $4,000 over a five-year period, according to a 2023 estimate from The Hen House Collection.
Nevertheless, intrepid homeowners living in chicken-friendly planning zones are motivated to install chicken coops and invest in chicks and hens. This agricultural land is also prized by wildlife who appreciate open spaces and the opportunities for easy meals. While a fox (or raccoon or hawk) in the henhouse can lead to rapid ruin, a visit from a bear can be particularly devastating, with the loss of avian lives and the complete destruction of even the most sturdy coop.
“I would not have chickens in this area without electric fencing,” remarked one Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) District Wildlife Manager at an Evergreen public forum in 2023. In fact, CPW reported a 14.8% increase in human-bear incidents statewide in 2024 compared to 2023. Out of the 5,022 incidents, CPW stated that over 1,000 involved livestock, chickens and beehives.
To help prevent negative bear encounters and free wildlife officers to attend to other wildlife issues, CPW began offering the Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Community Grant program in 2022. Almost $3 million has been awarded to support organizations around Colorado that seek to add preventative measures to reduce negative bear encounters.
In 2024, the Evergreen-based non-profit organization Wild Aware worked with CPW District Wildlife Managers to successfully apply for this grant, prioritizing coop electrification kits because of the frequency of negative bear interactions from predation on chickens in unincorporated Jeffco. Wild Aware is currently accepting applications for 12 complimentary chicken coop electrification kits resulting from this grant award.
The electric wiring does not cause harm to wildlife (or a distracted human) but provides enough discomfort, along with the element of surprise, to cause a bear to take off like lightning before any damage is inflicted to the fence (or the hapless chickens). With such a disparity of physical attributes between bears and chickens, investing in strategies to protect the family hens is an obligation of every homeowner.
Inside the safety of the electrified fence, our Hen and her coterie can attend to the business of laying eggs. Whether their egg offerings are used for meringue pies or imbued with pastel dye for Easter, these chickens are assured the sort of secure space they deserve.
The “Barbed Wire Palooza” will take place at 10 a.m. May 3 at Elk Meadow Park in Evergreen. This will be the 2025 barbed wire removal season opening celebration. Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper and Evergreen Chamber of Commerce President Nancy Judge are scheduled to be in attendance along with Jefferson County volunteers, Wile Aware’s Barbed Wire Warriors and the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Christie Greene is the president and co-founder of the nonprofit Wild Aware. A resident of Evergreen for 30 years, she appreciates knowing that she will see wildlife every day and is dedicated to supporting wildlife in the growing community.