The best solution is one you can both live with, and that protects your chickens and family. That being said, you should probably locate a wildlife rescue to take them in. I don't know how you'd do that, but I got help once by calling a local nature center and asking who I should contact. Your local wildlife conservation agents should be able to advise, too.We live in the country on 40 acres. I have a flock of chickens. We found 3 young raccoons no mother seen. My husband thinks we should kill them as they will grow up to be predators to our chickens. I think we should move them as they are young and adorable. What should be done?
Personally, I'd humanely kill them. The most humane and foolproof method is probably cervical dislocation, but I have absolutely no idea how to successfully manage it on a baby raccoon. Next best is probably a .22 bullet to the brain. It's quick, and they don't feel it as it kills them before the brain registers pain. There may be some kicking afterwards - but it's only neurological reflexes, not conscious movement.
I doubt that a veterinarian would offer euthanization for wildlife, but you could call and ask if the bullet method is too gory for you to think about. It's possible, maybe?
My chickens are my pets not just farm animals. I've spent my entire life in the city we've just recently moved into the country so the city girl in me is devastated by the idea of killing any animal let alone a young animal. Any input would make this a little easier.
I've lived in both the city and country, probably about equal years in each. So I 'get it' from both angles. My sister had a baby pet raccoon when I was a small child, named "Skeezix." He snuggled under my blanket on the floor one day, and someone stepped on him. Bye bye, Skeezix. I've rehabilitated countless wild animals, both predator and prey - hawks, rabbits, squirrels, rodents, songbirds, turtles and even snakes. So my heart goes out to any innocent animal that, through no fault of its own, finds itself at the mercy of a farmer intent on protecting his livestock.
Relocating is not an option, unless you can guarantee that the animal will: 1. Not become someone else's problem, 2. Not starve or fall victim to predation, 3. Inhabit a territory that's not already taken by a bigger, meaner animal. In other words, you can't.
A coworker and I were once discussing raccoons. Me a hobby farmer with a nice plot of pasture, woods and a small river, and she a city-dweller on the outskirts of town. She trapped the raccoons whenever possible, then took them to a wooded area with a river to release them. Been doing it for years. I told her how we just shot them whenever they showed up on our farm, and had probably dispatched 30-40 in the past couple of years. She said that's about how many she'd released in the same amount of time. uh, hmmm...
So I asked where, exactly, she'd been releasing them....
Wanna guess where that wooded area and river were located?
Good luck, whatever you decide. And please don't witness the killing if your husband does it, if you can avoid it. The visual memory will be with you for a long time, until you've overlaid that memory with many, many more of the same thing.