Coons or coyotes

[MarkY00]

We have a raccoon problem. Yesterday, my wife found 4 to 6 (hard to count in the dark) raccoons taking up shelter in our chicken house. We built an 8 ft tall structure, enclosed in 1" poultry wire, top and sides, then roofed with corrugated metal pitched roof. She discovered that the recent rains have caused the raccoons to take up shelter under the roof on top of the chicken wire. This puts them within arms length of the chicken roost. It has been a common problem here and I've been trapping them in cage traps and hauling them off to a wildlife park a few miles away. We're in a rural area and our house and the chickens house is on a couple of wooded acres with a small lake in the middle complete with all the customary wildlife for the East Texas pine woods of the area ( north of Houston). I have trapped them in the past, but more appear every year. Can someone recommend some repellents that might be more powerful than the attraction of the chickens, to keep them out of the chicken coup area? I see a few sprays and shaker repellents on amazon. Does anyone have any experience and/or recommendations on the most effective ones?

 

[April’s Zoo]

It’s possible the repellents might work for keeping them away from a dog house or a trash can cubby, or a storage shed.... but there’s not anything you are gonna buy on Amazon that will keep them away from your chickens— especially now that they know how to get in there. I’m surprised you don’t already have dead birds, frankly.... because chicken wire really isn’t any match for a raccoon. As far as the ‘coons are concerned, you’ve got a great buffet going on there, soon the dinner bell will be ringing: the chicken dinner bell, that is.
You need to forget buying repellent, and instead make improvements to your coop to keep them out... cover any openings with hardware cloth (1/2 inch wire mesh). Read more on here about beefing up a coop/run, and maybe even consider adding electric fencing to your set up.

 

[mowin]

Yotes come in a variety of colors from silver/gray to reddish brown. I've gotten many a coyote over the yrs as well as fox. Most of the red fox I've taken have had a white tip, not black like the one in the OP's pic. But I can't remember if a fox pup has a black tip that changes as it matures in the fall.

Few miles from the there's a mother fox living under a barn. She's got 4-5 pups this yr. Not too far away there's some free range chickens. I've seen mamma a few times this spring with chicken dinner in her mouth.

The pups should be about old enough to venture out on there own, and what's easier for a pup to hunt than a chicken.

 

[centrarchid]

Raccoon tail stripes extend from skin to tips of hairs and their hair is not as long as shown. Coyotes have an undercoat with a different color pattern than shown on the outside. Owing to length of fur sample, I think it is shed winter coat of a Coyote.

 

[aart]

I've been trapping them in cage traps and hauling them off to a wildlife park a few miles away.

Not far enough......and if you trap it, you really should dispatch it.

 

[True Patriot]

We have a raccoon problem. Yesterday, my wife found 4 to 6 (hard to count in the dark) raccoons taking up shelter in our chicken house. We built an 8 ft tall structure, enclosed in 1" poultry wire, top and sides, then roofed with corrugated metal pitched roof. She discovered that the recent rains have caused the raccoons to take up shelter under the roof on top of the chicken wire. This puts them within arms length of the chicken roost. It has been a common problem here and I've been trapping them in cage traps and hauling them off to a wildlife park a few miles away. We're in a rural area and our house and the chickens house is on a couple of wooded acres with a small lake in the middle complete with all the customary wildlife for the East Texas pine woods of the area ( north of Houston). I have trapped them in the past, but more appear every year. Can someone recommend some repellents that might be more powerful than the attraction of the chickens, to keep them out of the chicken coup area? I see a few sprays and shaker repellents on amazon. Does anyone have any experience and/or recommendations on the most effective ones?

Trapping them and driving a few miles is likely just giving them a bus ride home after dinner. I've never found a repellant that works for coons, to a raccoon everything smells like food. Even the urine based ones will attract a raccoon, since they scavenge off other animals kills.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Chicken wire will not stop a raccoon from tearing it's way into the coop to dine on birds.

 

[Flamens Farm]

I have coons, coyotes, opossums, fox, other peoples dogs that think they will stray in and get a bite of food and the best deterrent I have is yard dogs. I only use 1" chicken wire around and over the top on all my pens. Chicken Hawks and owls are the main problems when they free range here. My dogs (4 of them all medium sized) don't let anything in the yard that is not supposed to be, they even make the deer leave. In the past the coons and opossums would come in the yard but never bothered my chickens they preferred the cat food instead. Changed where I feed my cats and added the dogs. No more problems at least that worked for me.