Bee house/shed for winter and bear protection

[diggity]

Hi everyone - second year beekeeper here.  So far I've been lucky with bears, but I know they have been spotted in the area, so it's only a matter of time before my hives get raided if I don't do something to protect them.  I guess I could put up an electric fence (I even have an old one that a friend gave me), but I don't like the idea of running electricity to it.  Plus we have young kids, and I don't want them to get zapped.  I'm also thinking about winter protection, so I'm thinking about putting the hives inside an unheated building - a "bee house" so to speak.  The entrances to the hives would be outside, but the whole hive itself would be inside.  I have a large garden shed that I could use.  I could move the hives inside and cut some holes through the siding for the hive entrances.  The shed is well ventilated and pretty well constructed, and I think it's probably bear-proof.  It seems to me the other advantage is that I could keep all of my equipment, clothing, etc. right in shed too, so that everything is convenient.  What do you think?  Good idea or not?  I did some poking around on the web and found a few references to bee houses like this - seems like they are a lot more common in Europe.

Any advice is appreciated!

[mvanek]

Diggity,
I know this is old, but I wanted to find out if you tried the shed.  I'm in western mass and have the same issue...no problems yet, but bears in the area.

Thanks.