GOT HIM!! But there is another...

[bloonskiller911]

i am going to keep setting my traps for the next week. i have lost 15 hens since march. all just a little over 1 yo.

 

[TonySorrento]

I say you dress up like a female raccoon, and put some coon in heat on you ... when he approaches, go black widow on his butt

 

[slabcrappy]

i am going to keep setting my traps for the next week. i have lost 15 hens since march. all just a little over 1 yo.

That is terrible! I am so sorry to hear that. Are you in a rural setting? I live in a subdivision, so I don't think the population will ever get really big. The subdivision we live in is was developed in the 50's and there are woods around us. There are lots of mature trees. We have seen coons (obviously), opposums, skunks(rarely) as far as predators go. We also have millions of squirrels and chipmunks and see an occasional deer.

 

[bloonskiller911]

I say you dress up like a female raccoon, and put some coon in heat on you ... when he approaches, go black widow on his butt

 

[galanie]

I say you dress up like a female raccoon, and put some coon in heat on you ... when he approaches, go black widow on his butt

And then please take a picture.

 

[bloonskiller911]

yes i am very rural

 

[galanie]

i am going to keep setting my traps for the next week.  i have lost 15 hens since march.  all just a little over 1 yo. 

That is terrible!  I am so sorry to hear that.  Are you in a rural setting?  I live in a subdivision, so I don't think the population will ever get really big.  The subdivision we live in is was developed in the 50's and there are woods around us.  There are lots of mature trees.  We have seen coons (obviously), opposums, skunks(rarely) as far as predators go.  We also have millions of squirrels and chipmunks and see an occasional deer.

My area is exactly like that, and we all have 1/2 acre lots. Plenty of wildlife around but so far, in 3 years, none have bothered the chickens. And let me tell you, I've seen some colossal possums around here.

 

[slabcrappy]

I'm up to 6 coons and 1 possum in about a month!!! Who would have thought in a sub-divided neighborhood!!! Well, I am going to keep trapping and killing to protect my girls.

 

[bunnibird55]

Yes, please dispatch them to the great corn field in the sky when you catch them!! I am in a rural area next to a conservation farm. I have 40 acres and there are no coons, skunks or opposum welcome on my property. I am sick of people who say the predators have a right to live too....yes they do, but they are PREDATORS and I have lost more chickens than I care to think about - the coons climbed a seven foot high fence and got into my barn and destroyed my mama hen and 7 of her babies....... My predator count at this point is 14 coon, 4 opposum and one skunk in just three weeks - that I know of. I use live traps around the perimeter of my barn, a .22 and some "magic sleeping beauty pop rocks" that I get from the farm store and mix with cola. A predator removal group in our county "rehomed" several coon after catching them in live traps and through marking and tracking them, they found the coon would actually travel 20 miles and go back to the original trapping point. Dropping them off "in the country" just makes them someone else's problem if they don't come back to the home place chicken buffet. Before anyone thinks I am heartless, I feel that God has put me in charge of my chickens, turkeys, guineas and ducks and expects me to keep them safe!

 

[ladyrsanti]

Haha! All this reminds me of my grandpa who used to trap and release coons all the time. He was a farmer with chickens, horses, etc. and guns. You'd think he'd have shot em but he never did. When he decided the same coons were coming back, he started spray painting marks on the back of their heads before releasing them and sure enough, the same marked coon would come trundling back home. In case anyone needed any proof. They do return.