I have been keeping chickens and lurking on the forums for about a year now. We started with 16 chicks and what we thought was a really great set-up for them on our 2.5 acre property. We read a lot about securing the coop and run before we built it. We live in a semi-rural area with lots of predators, so we were very concerned about keeping them safe. They have a very secure coop built similar to a stilt house (3 ft off the ground) that they easily fly in and out of. The fence surrounding their run is about 7 ft high, with an additional 12-18 inches buried below ground. The fence material is hardware cloth for the bottom 3ft and chicken wire the remaining 4ft. We couldn't cover the run because it's huge (about 40ft x 50ft) and it was built in a stand of cypress trees to give the chickens shade (we are in south Florida, it's not unusual for temps to be 90-95F for 6 months of the year). It would be extremely difficult to cover the run because there are probably 5 or 6 trees in it.
A couple of our chickens died from natural causes. Another 8 died teaching us that our area was not nearly as secure as we thought it was in our predator-heavy area. We finally found a permanent solution by installing electric fencing outside the top third of the fence. Since then, we haven't had any more losses.
In addition to these measures, we have always tried to make sure that any raccoons we see don't live very long (they usually die from "lead poisoning"). As far as we know, none of our previous predator attacks were due to raccoons though. The worst was a fox. We had no idea they could climb a 7ft tall fence!
When we're home during the day, I like to let the chickens out for a bit of free ranging. I'm almost always outside with them, either reading a book under the cypress trees, or out messing around in the garden. They rarely go very far from their home. Usually they only range 10-20ft away from the perimeter of the run, so I don't worry too much about them. Ideally I would like to set up a paddock-type system with portable electric fence, but that's a ways off yet...
This week, a raccoon has been out and about both times I was with the chickens. It wasn't making any noise and I only noticed it when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. The strange thing is, it was completely ignoring the chickens. It was wandering around digging in the sand (maybe looking for those nuts the squirrels are always hiding), and doing normal raccoon foraging things. It wasn't acting strangely, besides ignoring the chickens. The chickens were also completely ignoring the raccoon. Even the rooster, who likes to crow every time a leaf moves and bothers him, was just walking around doing normal chicken stuff.
I didn't have my rifle with me on either occasion, so I just chased it off. Everything I've ever read here or on other sites, paints the raccoon as one of the most bothersome predators of chickens. They are smart and sneaky and sometimes kill for fun. And yet this particular raccoon didn't seem interested in our chickens. In fact, all of the raccoons we've killed have not been bothering our chickens at all. They were usually digging around in the forest floor looking for food. It's not that they didn't SEE the chickens - often they are no more than 15-30ft away. I know they're not blind - they obviously saw ME!
So what's up with our raccoons? I'm not complaining, but why do they seem completely uninterested in chickens? They are out during the day, so I think they are hungry and scrounging for food. Our rooster is fairly large (a faverolle), but the rest are small to medium sized (polish & EEs). The rooster has not charged or challenged these raccoons either. Have we just been lucky (so far)?
A couple of our chickens died from natural causes. Another 8 died teaching us that our area was not nearly as secure as we thought it was in our predator-heavy area. We finally found a permanent solution by installing electric fencing outside the top third of the fence. Since then, we haven't had any more losses.
In addition to these measures, we have always tried to make sure that any raccoons we see don't live very long (they usually die from "lead poisoning"). As far as we know, none of our previous predator attacks were due to raccoons though. The worst was a fox. We had no idea they could climb a 7ft tall fence!
When we're home during the day, I like to let the chickens out for a bit of free ranging. I'm almost always outside with them, either reading a book under the cypress trees, or out messing around in the garden. They rarely go very far from their home. Usually they only range 10-20ft away from the perimeter of the run, so I don't worry too much about them. Ideally I would like to set up a paddock-type system with portable electric fence, but that's a ways off yet...
This week, a raccoon has been out and about both times I was with the chickens. It wasn't making any noise and I only noticed it when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. The strange thing is, it was completely ignoring the chickens. It was wandering around digging in the sand (maybe looking for those nuts the squirrels are always hiding), and doing normal raccoon foraging things. It wasn't acting strangely, besides ignoring the chickens. The chickens were also completely ignoring the raccoon. Even the rooster, who likes to crow every time a leaf moves and bothers him, was just walking around doing normal chicken stuff.
I didn't have my rifle with me on either occasion, so I just chased it off. Everything I've ever read here or on other sites, paints the raccoon as one of the most bothersome predators of chickens. They are smart and sneaky and sometimes kill for fun. And yet this particular raccoon didn't seem interested in our chickens. In fact, all of the raccoons we've killed have not been bothering our chickens at all. They were usually digging around in the forest floor looking for food. It's not that they didn't SEE the chickens - often they are no more than 15-30ft away. I know they're not blind - they obviously saw ME!
So what's up with our raccoons? I'm not complaining, but why do they seem completely uninterested in chickens? They are out during the day, so I think they are hungry and scrounging for food. Our rooster is fairly large (a faverolle), but the rest are small to medium sized (polish & EEs). The rooster has not charged or challenged these raccoons either. Have we just been lucky (so far)?
