fighting raccoons

[cream puff]

If you can find tunnels that you think run to burrows, here is what I would do.

Go to the grocery store and get a few 5lb blocks of dry ice. Break up the blocks with a hammer and drop the chunks into the burrow runs. Dry Ice is solid Carbon Dioxide...it is denser than air. It will fill the tunnels with CO2, anything in the tunnels will most likely succumb.

Because the Carbon Dioxide is denser than air, it will stay in any low spots, it won't really disipate unless the ground is porous.

Bury all the tunnels after you've dropped in the dry ice and you should be good to go.

you could borrow my dog and she can release some H2S in your barn...

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I have to assume that at least some of the tunnels go to burrows, GHs live underground, no? I will have to check and see if any stores sell dry ice. Isn't that an unusual item for a grocery store? If they have it I don't know where they keep it.

Ask a manager, and find out when the dry ice arrives. The dry ice will be on the trucks when the store recieves their dairy shipments.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

you could borrow my dog and she can release some H2S in your barn...

OMG...that is so funny.

Great idea if breathing isn't a priority.

 

[cream puff]

OMG...that is so funny.

Great idea if breathing isn't a priority.

I'd rather be funny than pretty

 

[bruceha2000]

Ask a manager, and find out when the dry ice arrives. The dry ice will be on the trucks when the store recieves their dairy shipments.

Curious! So what do they usually do with it once the dairy is in the case, make more global warming by tossing it out in the parking lot? I thought the dairy stuff was just delivered in refrigerated trucks.

Found a rat in the trap this morning, no chuck tunnels opened up. Rats are a whole lot more upset about being in the trap than the chucks are.
STUPID camera didn't catch the rat that I caught, but it captured another rat checking out the area a couple of times after the first was inside. I would not recommend the Stealth Cam PX12.

 

[cream puff]

lost a chick this morning... all I found was a pile of feathers. Can't tell if it was an eagle, raven, hawk, vulture, owl, cat, dog, raccoon or possibly a mink.

 

[bruceha2000]

Really sorry that happened!!!!!! How old/big was the chick? And where was it? I've lost a hen to a fox twice, found only feathers. They were both out in the field behind the barn though one was only about 20' from it. The other was farther out, along the fence.

Unlikely a coon. They eat the head, neck and crop and leave the rest of the bird. Though maybe they eat more if it is a really young bird? They clearly aren't killing chickens because they are particularly hungry, seems more like a "treat".

 

[cream puff]

It was early morning so I think it was a hawk, I watched one swoop into the yard today. The chick is about 7 weeks, fully feathered but still small. We don't have foxes here, or skunks, but plenty of birds of prey. I think the chick had spent the night outside of the coop, keeping the gene pool smart...

 

[Folly's place]

Keep everyone locked in for ten to fourteen days, which should discourage any hawk visitors, and gives you time to trap and shoot any raccoons, etc. Hawks will return every three days or so. Mary

 

[bigoledude]

Rock Home Isle has given you some very good advice. He obviously has vast experience.

I like the conibear traps for the groundhogs and coons if a neighbor's animals are not at risk. Dogproof traps are very effective on coons. I bait them with a combination of fruit preserves (cheap jam or jelly) and fish. Drop some globs of this around the trap as well. Once they get a taste of this gourmet meal, they will not be able to resist the offerings inside the dogproof traps. My grandkids are always catching bluegill in the canal behind the house. I use the fish guts to bait with. Sardines and tuna work fine as well.

With the dogproof traps you need not worry about a neighbor's dog or cat getting trapped. However, they will catch possums and skunks. Which is a good thing.

Snares work wonderfully and they are very effective on animals that have become trap-shy. Snares are also very cheap to deploy. Snares can be built with stops that will prevent the animal from being choked.

Relocating animals is cruel to the animal and illegal in almost every jurisdiction. These relocated animals will have no way of knowing where to find food, water or shelter. If these things are readily available, it is most likely the territory of another group. In essence, the "no relocating law" is an animal cruelty law. And, rightly so.