Help! Raccoons are after our girls and we won't sleep until they're gone...any deterrents?

[cristina]

We have 3 RIRs, or I should say 2 now. A raccoon got one of them a couple days ago. The other two haven't been the same since. Now we are up hearing the cries of our girls' fear. The raccoons keep coming back. I secured one chicken in the shed for the night (she refused togo in her henhouse). Now the other one keeps waking up when she hears the raccoons and it's waking and keeping us all up, let alone the neighbors. Our coop has a small hole in the chicken wire which I barricaded but am still not convinced a raccoon can't gt in, which is why one. Hickey is in threshed. How do i keep the raccoons away tonight??? We are fixing this unsecured coop problem tomorrow. Help!

 

[Mattemma]

Put them in a garage till you secure the coop? Coons will only move on if there is no food source they can get too.Secure the coop and they might go away after trying REAL hard to get to them.Me, I would just get a 1089 trap from home depot,catch them,and dispose of them.....but still secure the coop for the later predators.Sorry for your loss!

 

[NovaAman]

x2 on the garage. Chickens do not like to be alone. They roost better with company. SO, the one is terrified and will not go back into the death trap, the other is stuck in the death trap... Move them both to the garage.

There is something to be said about chicken wire... more like chicken death wire. It will keep a chicken in. It will not keep predators out. There is only one way to use chicken wire... To keep the chickens separate from a mother hen, divide chickens from other chickens... I do not know why they sell the stuff. But if you are going to continue to use it, you need to make certain that the coop itself is secure. No openings at night time. Completely closed up, except for ventilation areas of course, and those should be securely covered with HARDWARE CLOTH.

Put a locking mechanism on the pop door and the people door. Remember, coons have HANDS. Those hands work just like people hands. AND coons are SMART. You need a lock to put on the doors that the raccoons can not manipulate. I use a toggle bolt, then run a clip through that. I know it seems like its time consuming... BUT, how much of your investment are you willing to lose? I am not willing to lose any.

Horror story... I built a tractor coop. I was proud of it. I missed a fine detail, and a coon got in, killed my silkie hen, all the silkie babies and a wyandotte chick. My silkie rooster came away with a ripped out tail and 3 wyandotte chicks that he continued to raise on his own. NOT ONE OF THOSE BIRDS WOULD GO BACK INTO THE COOP! I had to move them over to the big coop with the other birds. Roger did an excellent job protecting them too. They are 3 months now, and they still hang with Daddy. LOL. Anyway... What I am saying is, losses happen, it breaks our hearts, but we also learn from them. Go over your coop with a fine tooth comb attitude. Clean it down with soap and water.

Anyway...

 

[Gigiintheforest]

X2 ! We just lost a beautiful barred rock to a coon a week ago. A stupid accident where I though my DH had shut the pop door and he thought I had. Anyway, the coon got into the coop, drug out the hen and killed her. Luckily, the dogs heard the racket and woke us in time to chase him away before he killed more of our girls. So, to make a long story short, I sat up one evening and watched until the coon came back. He was getting into the run by climbing our 6 ft no climb fence. Wobbly walking across 20 feet of aviary netting and then squeezing through a hole where the netting wrapped around a tree trunk to climb down into the middle of the run. He ran away back the way he had come when he saw me but it showed me all the weaknesses in my seemingly inpenetrable setup. So now, all the netting has wire woven trhough it around the tree trunks and we have pulsating electrical line around the top of our fence. AND, like Nova says, we have a clip lock on the pop door and make sure we check with each other about who has done what at night.


It took several days before our hens settled back down and I still think they are a bit nervous. Chickens aren't stupid. They all gathered round when I was working on fixing the run and I think it helped them feel a bit more secure. I also spend time with them in the run every day and I think that helps.

 

[Folly's place]

Get a couple of live traps and set them every night after the birds are locked in. Mine are set up next to the coop. The coons will come back until they win... Shoot and reset, it could be a family, not just one. DO NOT relocate them! Mary

 

[Ted n Ms]

Dukes dog proof coon traps are much more effective than live traps and less expensive. 12.50 each...But use what you have .

 

[Texas Chickens]

We had coons come in last year and they killed my RIR Rooster Bob and 4 of his hens. The other 3 hens left were in shock for days.. Their yard was coon proof I though with 3 feet wide of wire on the ground around the yard weighed and tied down and the coop that would work fine however with the no rain here in Texas in our area the one connor of the wire was not secure down enough and that was how they got in. We live in sand here. Talk about sick and mad at them and myself thinking that I had it coon proof and they found a way to get in.

I went to feed store and got one of those Coon traps with 1 door as these coons were huge... and a 2 door one would let it come in the first door and eat the bait and go out the other door.
Then I got a butter tub and put peanut butter in it then mashmellows on top of that and a smear of peanut butter on the top. that was the bait. Cats wouldn't go into the trap cause they don't eat that mess... We caught 5 big coons that way in 2 weeks... shot them and stuck them out in the field in the hot sun and let the buzzards eat them. Coon recycling I call it. Not had any around here since then.

 

[downsm75]

We have 3 RIRs, or I should say 2 now. A raccoon got one of them a couple days ago. The other two haven't been the same since. Now we are up hearing the cries of our girls' fear. The raccoons keep coming back. I secured one chicken in the shed for the night (she refused togo in her henhouse). Now the other one keeps waking up when she hears the raccoons and it's waking and keeping us all up, let alone the neighbors. Our coop has a small hole in the chicken wire which I barricaded but am still not convinced a raccoon can't gt in, which is why one. Hickey is in threshed. How do i keep the raccoons away tonight??? We are fixing this unsecured coop problem tomorrow. Help!

I would stay up all night, coffee, popcorn and a 22

 

[ReikiStar]

Two things: Use hardware cloth (not chicken death wire) and put up hot wire. No animal will try again once they've been zapped by hot wire.

 

[DeepFried]

Shoot first... ask questions later. That will eliminate repeat offenders.

My priorities on my property are:
1) my family.
2) my animals.
3) my property.

Nope, predators, of any kind, do not make it on that list.