Face-to-face with daytime raccoon, now what?

[My Three Chicks]

I have 3 hens I let free range in my Seattle suburban backyard (1/3 acre) when I am at home (which is everyday right now because I work from home). I'm able to check on them often and also keep an eye and ear out for anything unusual. So this afternoon around 3:30pm I'm looking at them out the window I see one of my girls standing by the fence erect (like on alert) and when I look closer sure enough there is a smallish racoon sitting on the fence not 4 feet from her. It was just looking at her. So I ran outside as fast as I can to try to scare it. It didn't move initially so I tried throwing rocks at it and it scurried up the tree. It's now still up in the tree an hour later. My dog is now monitoring it closely.

I'm so scared it's going to come back until it gets one of my chickens. Would a small racoon attack a full-grown hen? I thought it was uncommon for racoons to come out during the day, is this a fluke?

I'm now going out of town for the next 4-5 days and have a house/dog/chicken sitter staying over. I don't expect her to be as vigilant as I am with the girls. Should I keep them locked up in their run while I'm away?

Please let me know your thoughts on the racoon behavior/risk. And what you think I should do.

 

[nuthatched]

It will be back and likely bring friends. Make triply sure your coop is secure.

 

[Folly's place]

Actually, don't do the 'head cutting' yourself!!! It's for AC, your DNR, or a veterinarian to manage this safely.
And I'm in the same camp about critters who don't get out of my path immediately.
Having people feed wild critters like raccoons is folly.
Mary

 

[98cwitr]

Me? I'd shoot it.

 

[Chickhawk]

Click. Click. Boom.

If that’s not feasible, you can catch them easily in humane traps with cat food as bait. This is what I did when I used to be more civilized, or was at least stuck in civilization. I released them in a wooded area 10 miles from my house.

Hopefully that’s legal where you live.

Don't do that. I am the sucker living in a wooded area where everyone else around come to dump their raccoons. This is insane how dense the population becomes and the troubles that come with that. Doing this is simply transferring your problem to another hen caretaker/lover like me. And those raccoons that already fell for a live trap are unlikely to fall again making them much harder to catch. Dispatch it yourself. A container full of water large enough to hold the cage is surprisingly quiet...

 

[Geena]

Actually, don't do the 'head cutting' yourself!!! It's for AC, your DNR, or a veterinarian to manage this safely.
And I'm in the same camp about critters who don't get out of my path immediately.
Having people feed wild critters like raccoons is folly.
Mary

Right! definitely not!! Rabies congregates in the spinal cord and brain. Chopping the head off yourself would put one at great risk of contracting rabies. Don't even touch the critter, rabies can be transmitted through blood and saliva as well.

 

[David61]

lol some people think Gilligan's island was real. I can't help them. My dog goes with me in the national forest deep woods, hunts rats around the coop and keeps zombie opossums , coons, squirrels out of the yard. She is a rescue dog and see her vet annually.

 

[Krugerrand]

some people think Gilligan's island was real.

I'm crushed.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

We have this problem where I live. The expert I consulted said that if you are seeing them during the day they are very acclimated to humans and comfortable and prolific. So, yes, it will be back. If it doesn't have success it might give up. I had a raccoon attack and had to move the girls to a different run while I shored things up. Had another attack early one morning last fall. Both attacks happened when the hens were sleeping out in the run but that's another story lol. The expert told me that if a raccoon gets scared it will emit an odor to warn other raccoons to avoid the area. He also said they leave a scent trail and this gets reinforced when they don't encounter a threat. This might sound gross but we haven't had problems since I had my husband and his friend use the area around the chicken run as an outdoor urinal when they're drinking beer and working on a car. I have no scientific evidence this works and its obviously not for everyone lol

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

This is what I was afraid of. Sigh. Will keep them in their Run while I'm away and figure out a solution. Maybe try to trap and relocate them? Not sure how successful that will be.

Did your attacks happen during the day? I think you said morning so it was daylight?

One attack happened at dawn and the other at about 4 am. We see them waddling down the street in broad daylight though. The exterminator told me he could spend weeks trapping and taking them out of city limits to kill them but it would be a waste of money with a problem that big. Its a neighborhood problem. He suggested if I encounter one again to let it have it with a shovel. Our first attack the raccoon was so brazen-i threw things at him, had the dog out, the neighbors' dog was flipping out on the other side of the fence and I even went and got the BB gun. He stared at me and wouldnt budge. The bb gun was out of air or that might have given him a scare but next time I fully plan on whacking him with the shovel. I might not be able to kill him but it will give him a second thought about coming back.