fighting raccoons

[BluRoo Farm OH]

Looks Great!

 

[eggnoramous]

Drizzle a little blended sardine juice, then the marshmallow and you'll have a recipe for success. The coon cuff trap is a great raccoon trap, but there is a technique to making the sets.

The hav-a-hart pulls through for the win! I didn't give him any other choice...I set it on the door to the "living room" (I lost the fight with my wife and built a Chez Poulet coop) entrance from the run and boarded either side to prevent a squeeze in between the wall and the entrance, and scattered the pine shavings over the wire bottom of the cage. This was the scene of the crime, and the first place he went back to when I caught him on the cam the other night, so I felt like it was appropriate that he was caught there. Reset the trap and see if he's got some family members around!

 

[eggnoramous]

You won't catch that coon with the  hav-a-hart.  Buy a $13 Dukes dog proof raccoon trap, bait it with marshmallow, and you will have yourself a new coon skin cap the first night.

His greediness made the hav-a-hart a success! He couldn't resist coming back to the scene of the crime to have a look around...I just didn't give him any other way in besides directly onto the pedal, which was covered with pine shavings.

 

[Darchangel Farm]

Oh Yeah, we have coons and possums coming into the barn where our chicken pens are located. The barn is not totally enclosed. Our pens are made of chain link and chicken wire, layered, sides and top. We have had no chickens casualties in years due to these predators with our current pen construction. We set traps as we find overnight evidence of the vermin trying to dig into the pens. We've caught A LOT of coons and possums - no relocation programs here! Sorry, but they deserve death for killing our flock in past years and trying to now. Their corpses then are donated to the local vulture community along the road by the barn - call it the "cycle of life!" We've had as many as 20 vultures waiting for din din. lol! Love those Turkey Buzzards!



Edited by Staff

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The hav-a-hart pulls through for the win! I didn't give him any other choice...I set it on the door to the "living room" (I lost the fight with my wife and built a Chez Poulet coop) entrance from the run and boarded either side to prevent a squeeze in between the wall and the entrance, and scattered the pine shavings over the wire bottom of the cage. This was the scene of the crime, and the first place he went back to when I caught him on the cam the other night, so I felt like it was appropriate that he was caught there. Reset the trap and see if he's got some family members around!

That is AWESOME!!!

Congratulations...great catch. Another masked bandit that won't be killin chickens.

Good Job!!!

 

[BluRoo Farm OH]

YES! Love it!

 

[cream puff]

I have to amend my comments on my coop. One night I found the racoon on the roof of my 8 foot coop. I think the only answer for raccoons is seal your coop. If the coop hadn't been sealed the raccoon would have gotten a head off one of the chickens, the opening without the mesh wire is big enough for the raccoon to fit its arm in but it can't squeeze it's head or body inside the coop..... sigh.

 

[bruceha2000]

Yep, 1/2" hardware cloth is a MUST over all openings. If you have very large/strong predators, 1x2 or 2x5 wire as well.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I've been having a HELL of a time with raccoons. I thought it was just one raccoon coming for fresh chicken, guinea fowl, and duck dinner every night but now I know it's not the case. We set a trap outside the last three nights in a row and caught a different raccoon each night.... How do you deal with your raccoons?....

As I see it you can either free range your chickens or raise free range raccoons, the choice is your's. I deal with any raccoons on my place with extreme prejudice. I recommend a Duke Trap Company DP or dog proof trap. Just be sure to set it in a location where the trapped coon can't tangle the chain in brush or a fence. Marshmallows or honey buns make a good bait or attractant. As you are finding out coons live in loose colonies of up to a hundred or more.

Dog proof traps are selective and do NOT pose a danger to your flock, pets, or children.

 

[bruceha2000]

Since this thread was resurrected I guess I'll add this summer's trapping activities. First off I fenced an acre which includes the west walls of both the small and large barn. 4' sheep and goat, topped with a ground wire at 4.5' and a hot wire at 5'. Anything climbing over will be quite unhappy. The only place not protected by hotwire is the fence/gate between the barns up toward the house. And yes that does make me nervous since past that gate the entire fenced in area and lower part of the barn where the chickens are is available to a predator.

Still using the Havahart. I trapped the first woodchuck in front of the barn it scampered into whenever I saw and scared it. It was during the day and though the trap was covered for shade, by the time I got home and checked the trap she was dead. No idea why, it couldn't have been in there more than a few hours. It was female, looked to be nursing. Though a bit cruel I hoped the young were very young and would starve. Then I started seeing 2 juveniles. I ended up trapping 3 and an adult (over the span of about a week). I rehomed them all to the edge of the property. I think they ALL came back. I figured the juveniles at least wouldn't be able to find their way. But they did and I kept seeing them near the pile of wood in front of the barn.

I set the trap by the pile, I use chicken feed because woodchucks seem to love it, they raid the chickens' feeder daily. The next morning my wife was heading out to work and said she thought there was something in the trap. Much to my surprise when I went out a bit later it wasn't a juvenile chuck, nor an adult chuck but a large, VERY pissed off raccoon. It made its final journey to the edge of the woods and into a woodchuck tunnel head first.

All told, and ignoring suspected 'second chance' captures, I ended up with 3 juvenile chucks, 5 adults and that coon. No sign of chucks since. But if I see even one next spring the trap is going out EARLY before it can bear young if it happens to be female.