Any thoughts on protecting the bees and hives from hungry bears?

Q. I live on 5 acres in SE KY and it borders the state forest which has black bears. Any thoughts on protecting the bees and hives from hungry bears?

A. I have been dealing with bears eating my hives for some time, it is not pretty. I have tried many things and have finally arrived at a workable solution, so far! I use a motion sensor alarm and I set it to "chime" rather than the extended alarm which is very loud. The chime so far is enough to send the bears off site. What is important is that the alarm only goes off for 30 seconds and then resets, because the alarms that turn on and stay on drain the batteries and make it obnoxious to have to get up and turn off.

I think that the chime motion sensor would also be good for warning neighborhood children to stay away. I bought mine in a local hardware store but this web site has an example of what I'm talking about. As a back up I use a vibration detector (about $15.00) and attach it to the side of the hive, this is a very loud alarm. I like having this on my hives in case the batteries run low on the motion sensor or the bear is not afraid of the "chime" sound. 

Another method I will try if I have any more problems is a simple electric fence that runs on two D size batteries -- check the web site here: bear fence.  Also, it is important to clean up carefully after opening the hive and harvesting. Don't leave comb or propolis around, that will definitely attract bears if they are around!