I have recently been worried about some racoons. We have a dozen or so peach trees out around our barn, and the racoons are coming in to eat the peaches. Most of them are babies with a momma, but I counted like 10 racoons in those trees the other night. Our coops are near by, but there is 6 foot chicken wire, along with 4 foot welded wire around the run, and the coops are inside there. I know they could probably climb over, but as long as I've closed up the coop doors, I don't think there's anyway they can get inside. Besides a shot gun, I have no idea how to get rid of all these racoons. (I've not lost any chickens to coons so far, 1 & 1/2 years) I'm not the type to be able to shoot them unless they're in the act of harming one of my animals. I'm hoping once the peaches are gone, they'll stop coming around. This is the only time of year I seen them around, there just seems to be a BUNCH of them this year!
Any ideas how to discourage them from coming around? Since the peaches will soon be gone, I'd like to start to change this behavior. I've thought about hanging wind chimes, or playing a radio...anyone have some experience with this? Would coyote urine help, or bring coyotes around? I have 3 guard donkeys that work really well for canine type predators, but apparently not fo small rodent types.
