How do I keep raccoons away

[centrarchid]

I use a range of methods but if could only employ one for raccoons, then is would be using electrified poultry netting. The netting would also enable a free-range option during the day and can be used to to direct some lesser flying birds about. Cost lower than dogs acquired and maintained specifically for the same purpose.

 

[Watermelon123]

I have heard that a rooster will crow if they see somthing that could be threating to his girls. Is that true? I can't have a dog.

 

[centrarchid]

I have heard that a rooster will crow if they see somthing that could be threating to his girls. Is that true? I can't have a dog.

No, rooster will not crow as an alarm. Crowing stops as soon as they are frightened. All chickens make a rather loud alarm squalling sound when under extreme duress but most people sleep through. More than once I responded to birds of neighbor's flock to intervene but neighbor was not aware of what happened until next day when I presented the dead raccoon. At one point I used baby monitors to listen to birds but it is easy to sleep through a commotion. With dogs, even a small one that does not provide actual protection you have someone that can hear and amplify alarms produced by chickens.

 

[Watermelon123]

Ok thank you

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The biggest mistake people make is to believe they have 1 or 2 or 3 raccoons - or any predator for that matter. Trust me, whether you live in the Louisiana bayou or downtown Chicago, over the course of a week or so, dozens of raccoons will visit all parts of your property. As will opossums, coyotes, foxes, weasels, mink or whatever is in your area.
Unless you sit in a blind with night vision glasses all night, you have no idea what is afoot in the dark.

For those that have caught raccoons in live traps, you've caught the dumbest ones in your neighborhood. There are just as many more that were wise enough to avoid it.

Trap wise coon.

Look at this smart sucker.

The Duke type dogproof leg traps are much better. I use canned mackerel. It's cheap and stinks.

Also, raccoons have huge territories and rarely sleep in the same den every night except in winter. They may return nightly or it may be a week between their visits. If you have nightly visits, it could be 10 different coons.

IMHO, an extremely tight run and coop is the best way to protect your flock. I'm not aware of anything except some LG dogs to deter them.
I've gone out at dusk and a whole family of coons was descending a big tree over one of my coops, climbed down onto the roof and were about to make their way to the pop door when I interrupted them.

I set a camera up at 7 PM last night, one approached the camera at 9:30 and another at 5 AM.

 

[microchick]

We definitely have a raccoon problem and sadly, unless you have a really tough dog like a Catahoula, you cannot count on one being able to match a raccoon. We have some really BIG raccoons around us, so big that one was able to back down and scare off our Australian Cattle dog who is one of the toughest dogs I have ever owned. It is definitely something that you need to take seriously.

I plan to run a hot wire around my run, plus bury wire and our coop will be raised on 4X4 posts and secured. I also plan to keep a havaheart trap baited at all times a safe distance away from my coop. Cat food is a wonderful bait to use.

There is no room for discretion. Extreme prejudice will be used on all offenders. A .223 round works nicely and is more humane than a .22 IMHO. We have shot raccoons with 380 before and after several well placed rounds, the animal is still able to escape. 40s work well also but if you want to dispatch it cleanly and quickly (or unless you are able to get a clear head shot on the animal) I would recommend a higher caliber.

Several years ago I went out in the kitchen to make coffee only to find a raccoon sitting on top of a dog run panel that was at that time located near the back window of the kitchen. It was trying to claw it's way through the window screen while the dogs went nuts below it. It didn't have the brains to just crawl down the opposite dog free side or jump down. It wanted in. My husband secured a 40 cal carbine and since it was the only clear shot he had, aimed and fired it inside the kitchen, aiming through the window screen. It was loud, it was also very effective. He hit the raccoon in the neck. It went down and was dead before it hit the ground.

Raccoons are not cute. They destroy wild turkey eggs and chicks. They raid henhouses, killing birds and destroying eggs. They will reach through chicken wire and pull a pullet's head through in order to bite if off and eat it, leaving the rest of the body for the owner to find. If they get a dog in the water, they will set on the dogs head and effectively drown it. (A vet told me that.) The only good raccoon is a dead raccoon on our farm.

The family you have hanging around definitely needs to go before you get chickens. If you do decide to live trap. PLEASE do not take it down the road and release it making it somebody else's problem to deal with. Humanely dispatch it.

Usually if you have nuisance animals like raccoons around you that are potentially destructive. You do not need a permit. If you are in a town use a havaheart. Catch the animal, drive out of town, dispatch it and dispose of it and bury it. In the town where I used to live, authorities did not want bothered with nuisance animals like skunk, raccoon or ground hog that you caught on your own property. It was up to you to get rid of it once you cought it.

 

[centrarchid]

Folks, raccons are not all that abundant and they are not that tough. They are easy to beat using a range of approaches. They are also cute. Let us not try to scare everyone into hating the wildlife.

 

[JJSS89]

As previously stated, you cannot keep them away without exterminating them. The easiest route is to just build an impenetrable fortress for them to sleep in at night. Going the dog route can be good but obviously that is a big commitment.

Occasional losses should always be factored in if the chickens free range at all or even if they don't. Chickens are near the bottoms of the food chain and it's just the nature of the beast when keeping prey animals.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

A league of their own.
http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/animals/archives/2014/raccoons.aspx

They are cute, I love wildlife and my property is a certified wildlife habitat. However, it isn't a wildlife sanctuary where chicken predators are concerned. Most significant among them is the raccoon whose original range was only in riverbottoms of what is now the SE US prior to Europeans coming to the Americas. Since that time, they've spread across the continent except at high elevation of the rockies. This makes them an invasive across much of their current range.
You may not have many but on any given night most people in cities and suburbs across the continent could catch one on a trail cam. Toronto is now the raccoon capitol of the world and per square mile, there are 50 times the raccoons in cities than in woodlands. That makes them a problem for backyard keepers.

http://www.treehugger.com/culture/pbs-documentary-raccoon-nation-humans-making-raccoons-smarter.html

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74116.html

There are rural areas without sizable populations but being adaptable, they are quite plentiful in urban environments. That proximity to man has made them smarter.
http://www.animalfactsencyclopedia.com/Raccoon-facts.html

They are very tough. Did you see the video of the raccoon lifting the locked garage door?
They're one of the few animals that can descend a tree head first, they have excellent night vision and with nimble fingers can open many types of latches.

 

[ChicKat]

I agree that raccoons are very cute. Especially in cards, ornaments and stuffed toys.

If you have had them kill your chickens you will change your mind. Here is a raccoon that made the person who was holding the camera very glad for the wire between them and the raccoon. It was not harassed, teased or bated by the dogs. One year on the ranch we disposed of over 15 of them just in the ranch yard.