Raccoons - Warning: Graphic Photos

[techbsmith]

One of my neighbors is a sweet little 93 year old lady. She was telling me that it seems every morning, she has to clean up a mess on her back porch. She keeps a plastic bucket full of black oil sunflower seeds on the porch, and each morning it's on it's side with a mess of seeds laying on the porch. I told her I would be happy to take care of the problem for her, I suspected there was a raccoon as I had caught one in my yard at the beginning of spring.

Last night I set a Duke DP trap and of course, used some of those sunflower seeds as the bait. We have woods and a field behind our houses and after walking the perimeter next to the woods, I could see a small trail that has been used by an animal coming in and out of the woods. I put the trap right at the exit point of that path and used a long steel cable to anchor the trap around a tree and then to a stake in the ground.

This morning while walking to the back of the property, I heard the jingling of the steel links and cable. Sure enough, there was a decent size raccoon in the trap and doing it's level best to get away. I don't subscribe to the catch/release that some folks do - first, it's illegal. Second, I don't want to dump my problem on someone else. While I've not had any problems with raccoons in my chicken coops/pens, that doesn't mean when they run out of sunflower seeds that they won't start looking at chicken feed...and then chickens.

Two shots to the head with a 22 LR dispatched this one, I'll be cleaning and re-setting the trap later today to see if there are others.

 

[techbsmith]

I've had raccoons do extensive damage to my runs in the past when trying to get in and kill/eat my chickens. I don't hunt - I have in the past, but I don't hunt anymore. I've NEVER hunted anything while it slept, and respectfully disagree with you that trapping and killing an animal that is an imminent threat to my livestock is the same as doing that.

.02

 

[sylviethecochin]

I don't really think it's smart to keep a bucket of what is essentially bait on your back porch. What does she use it for? Is there any reason she can't keep it inside? Or get a more secure container?

 

[techbsmith]

I don't really think it's smart to keep a bucket of what is essentially bait on your back porch. What does she use it for? Is there any reason she can't keep it inside? Or get a more secure container?

Agreed - she used to put it out for the birds to eat. I thought about getting her a small galvanized steel container, but the problem is - there's not much readily available that's actually considered "Coon-Proof" My dad used to work at Mammoth Cave National Park and the park spent a LOT of money to finally get trash bins that were "Coon-Proof".

I'm going to continue to watch and see if it's disturbed or if it stops. If it stops, I'll see if she'll let me move the container to her garage, or put it out in feeders for her so she can watch the birds.

 

[Kessel23]

Nice job, it was very nice of you to help that old lady out.
llombardo, would you prefer a dead raccoon:

OR would you prefer to wake up to your favorite hen missing and then have to track her corpse down and use it as bait after you decided not to trap them when they were digging through sunflower seeds on your neighbor's porch, I would definitely choose number 1, unfortunately I was not given a choice.
GRAPHIC PHOTO WARNING

 

[techbsmith]

Kessel - first, I'm so sorry for your loss! Like you, I take my duties as protector of my flock very serious. So many people get into raising chickens but really don't know all the down sides to animal husbandry. My rooster is great at alerting me during the day and I know he'll die to protect his girls..but ultimately, I'm the one who has to protect them all. It's especially challenging with a nocturnal predator!

I see the other user has deleted their post - I do understand that some people are offended by this. I guess those same people would not like to know that I'm preparing to process a RIR in my flock because she's a bully. The last straw for me was when she bullied my EE girl to the point of death. Some folks just don't seem to really be acclimated for keeping livestock.

 

[Kessel23]

My rooster is also good at protecting the flock by alerting me, he can't do much for a raccoon attack in the dark though. I am also planning to process a bird in my flock, a EE rooster accidentally killed a hen earlier in the year, then he killed a pullet by trying to rape her just a few weeks ago, and to top it all off he decided to snap and attack the yop rooster who is a very old RIR and has always been on top and never been in a real fight, the EE broke off both of the RIRs spurs, ripped up his comb and wattles, cut up his feet and legs, and injured his eye. It surprises me that some people can still get mad that you are killing a bird even when that bird has caused so much harm to the rest of your fock but there is almost always someone to complain in any situation.

 

[techbsmith]

Damn...yeah, that boy would be an ingredient for chicken and dumplings here. My RIR hen bullied my EE hen to the point she couldn't eat/drink. I caught it too late and was unable to save my sweet EE hen. It tore me up when I lost my EE, she was the sweetest girl and so pretty. She had been picked on by roosters when I got her, so she was a special case and very dear to me.

Just coming off the loss of her two days ago and knowing I'll be processing the RIR in a day or so...I'm pretty hard line on protection of the Flock.

 

[Kessel23]

Damn...yeah, that boy would be an ingredient for chicken and dumplings here. My RIR hen bullied my EE hen to the point she couldn't eat/drink. I caught it too late and was unable to save my sweet EE hen. It tore me up when I lost my EE, she was the sweetest girl and so pretty. She had been picked on by roosters when I got her, so she was a special case and very dear to me.

Just coming off the loss of her two days ago and knowing I'll be processing the RIR in a day or so...I'm pretty hard line on protection of the Flock.

View attachment 1446197

Wow that sucks, im so sorry. That is a very pretty EE, the RIR definitely needs to be culled, some birds can be so horrible to the other flock members.

 

[llombardo]

Kessel - first, I'm so sorry for your loss! Like you, I take my duties as protector of my flock very serious. So many people get into raising chickens but really don't know all the down sides to animal husbandry. My rooster is great at alerting me during the day and I know he'll die to protect his girls..but ultimately, I'm the one who has to protect them all. It's especially challenging with a nocturnal predator!

I see the other user has deleted their post - I do understand that some people are offended by this. I guess those same people would not like to know that I'm preparing to process a RIR in my flock because she's a bully. The last straw for me was when she bullied my EE girl to the point of death. Some folks just don't seem to really be acclimated for keeping livestock.

Oddly I did not delete my post, but someone else did. It's not about being offended. I completely get protecting your flock or livestock. Even by law in most places you can do so if they are in imminent danger, not next door at a neighbors eating seeds that are left out there. You can shoot and kill whatever you like, but in a trap with no where to go? I really don't care who processes what either, that is a choice they are free to make. I haven't slept a full night since I put my guys outside. I'm scared for them. I would be beyond upset if something happened to them. I know there are raccoons, opossums, skunks, owls, Hawks, coyote and foxes, but that doesn't mean I go down the block with a trap/gun and kill them because they crossed the street. What I do is check that enclosure and coop non stop, I walk the area to see if I can spot anything out of sorts, I'm constantly checking hardware cloth everywhere. I spend a lot of time on this stuff because I know I'm the only one to protect them.