Raccoon near miss

[MenachemEliyahu]

About an hour before sunrise the sound of my chickens in distress woke me up. I rushed outside and I saw four out of five hens standing out in the rain. As I checked the a-frame the fifth one popped out. I didn’t see anything in there. My daughter came out because of the commotion and said that she saw a rabbit in the run. I checked under the hutch and saw a raccoon looking back at me. I opened the side hatch and tried to chase the raccoon out, but it didn’t want to move. In the end I asked my wife to get the air rifle. After
shot it, the raccoon decided it had enough and left through the open hatch. It looked to be a young raccoon.

But the story is not over. About 10 minutes later my wife said that the hens sounded alarmed. Apparently she’s more in tune with them than I am. I thought it was an “egg song”. Just as soon as I got out another raccoon got in there and started to chase the hens. I called for my air rifle again and opened the side hatch. This time it ran out without incident, but this time I made sure there weren’t any more hiding in the overgrowth.

When it was light enough I went to check for an entry point and found where the raccoon pulled the chicken wire from the fencing and crawled under the fence.

In the end, I was left with 5 shaken up hens, and some work to secure them.

 

[sourland]

Be prepared. They will return.

 

[Folly's place]

Chicken wire will fail every time! And securing hardware cloth with woven wire fencing is best! Ours is stapled with fencing staples to the framing, and then 1"x 4" boards are screwed over it to the framing.
And shoot to kill them! Get a live trap or two, and then shoot them in the live trap.
Your family of raccoons (likely more than just two!) will be back. Soon.
Mary

 

[swamphiker]

As others have said, the raccoons will be sure to return, possibly as soon as tonight, so make sure you secure your chickens ASAP. Chicken wire isn't predator proof, especially for raccoons.

 

[cmom]

I have electric wires around my coops and pens and nothing has gotten past the hot wires. I also have cameras up and have seen many predators but they steer clear of the hot wires. A coon out at the outer coops. I'm sure it knows the hot wires are there. They will be back especially since it was able to get in.

A coyote.

 

[cmom]

For our Florida members, we have a farm swap twice a month. Lots of birds. If your ever in our area on a swap day, stop in and say hi. I'm the old lady in the TSC hat. Good luck...

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Going to be the devil's (or raccoons) advocate here. If your run is not secure, more predators then just a raccoon are going to be able to get in.

You really need to predator proof your run first and foremost. That is the best defense. Check everywhere and make sure everything is closed up tight. Fill holes, layer wire and possibly get electric wire.

The raccoons (as well as other predators) will leave once they realize they can't get a quick snack. Hope this helps!

 

[MenachemEliyahu]

The run is enclosed by 2x4 wire fencing. The chicken wire was to discourage smaller critters from entering through the space and extends about 24 inches out underground to discourage digging.

Recently we acquired quite a bit of lumber and I’ve been planning to build a new coop to secure them at night.

The caliber of my air rifle is too small for a clean kill.

 

[Folly's place]

I have an old 22 that works great! Mostly used to kill critters in the live trap, but used very carefully sometimes elsewhere.
Here we never intend to wound anything!
Mary

 

[MenachemEliyahu]

I stand corrected. It is quite possible to cleanly kill a raccoon with a .177 caliber air rifle. I hope a have a few days of peace while I upgrade the coop.