Will bears break into a log cabin? bear proof chicken coop

I have bears on my land in vermont. last year they broke into my plywood hut quite a lot. i got 2 chickens im going to bring them up onto my land with me soon... but i need to have a coop that they can be safe in while im gone for small amounts of time like when i have work and stuff. i am considering putting them in a strong log cabin with foot thick walls that i will have to make, like 4' by 6 feet or something and not too tall. and ill have to find something strong for the door. think this will work??

I think it will work just fine if you have a strong door, but it seems a lot of time for two chickens. If you just like the chickens and don't mind the building time, it sounds like a fun project. You may want to make it bigger in case you want more in the future.

Bears can and will break into log cabins, they do it quite a lot actually.

For the door, you will need thick wood (Oak is strong enough when 3 or 4 inches thick.
The best bear deterrent is a piece of ply wood with lots of long nails hammered through and the points facing up so the bear stabs him/her self when they get close enough to scratch with the claws.

Windows and doors need reinforcements and no place for a claw to hook under for a pull by the bear.

If you can, watch some of the "life below zero" series, there are many stories of what bears can do to structures on that show.

I'm not sure what your situation is like, but if you are mostly just concerned about bears, while you were at work, I would just free range them. I don't believe a bear would chase a chicken so they are better off where they can run, instead of being stuck in a place where they are trapped in the bears path.

I'm sure there are other predators to be concerned with so I suppose that would be a personal choice...

If you really don't want to free range them, I would suggest a large run, with bear strength electric fencing around it. I can't remember where we got ours, but we were having trouble with bears destroying our beehives and an electric fence did the trick. I do remember the website was specifically geared towards bears, if that helps. It was a kit, 40'x40', with the posts and all, took half a day to set up...

Thanks all of you that was very helpful

Bears can and will break into pretty much any structure if they really want too. Even a won't thick door wont stop them.

Up here we deal with bears frequently. The best way to keep them away is to convince them the meal you might provide (the chickens in your case) isn't worth the trouble and/or pain it may cause to get at it. Electric fences work well but only if the bear is trained to the fence by shocking them in a sensitive place like the nose. If a bear learns it can run through and snap an electric fence it will take the small shock to the torso and break the fence. Train it that fences hurt by baiting them with something like peanut butter. when the bear goes to lick it off it gets a shock to the nose or tongue which is much more painful. Thus the bear learns to fear the fence. A combo of a physical barrier and electric fence is best. A bear has to slow down to climb over a physical fence or claw its way through a thick door. You place a hot electric wire just where the bear has to stop so that it remains in contact with the wire while it's trying to break in. Thus it get repeated shocks and will usually give up rather then keep getting shocked.

Nail boards as mentioned earlier is a way to discourage the bear from ramming something like a door. If they try to use their weight to ram the structure they end up stabbing themselves on the nails. Same thing with wide nail boards on the ground. The bear won't want to walk over a bed of nails. I've seen these used to keep bears off cabin porches or under windows.

Dogs can usually deter a black bear...most would rather not get tangled up with a dog so if you have a dog around that will bark and scare off a bear that can help.

For what it's worth :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arnAD8I7msQ

Construction of a "bear proof door" , though I'm guessing that the other commenters were completely correct and if a bear _really_ wants to get in you'll need to up your game quite a bit.  Possibly take bear proof trashcans as an inspiration.