Raccoons

[PeepersMama]

If you are going to cover it, get some hardware cloth. It's better than chicken wire and waaay better than bird netting. Anything can tear through bird netting.

 

[ShrekDawg]

If you are going to cover it, get some hardware cloth. It's better than chicken wire and waaay better than bird netting. Anything can tear through bird netting.

Thanks, I think I'll do that but we were also thinking of possibly getting some of those corrugated plastic panels to put up on the new run or this one. For now we just put this welded wire gate thing

Another piece of plywood and another ladder and locked them inside with both doors shut.

But I know that it's temporary and they could still get in if they wanted to.

I'm actually surprised they didn't just jump in last night but I guess they knew they had no escape route/way to get out once they got in? Or they heard the dog and just didn't have time?

The bird netting we put up last fall just to keep them in rather than keep predators out. We were having some work done on the house as well as landscapers a few times both of which scared them and we had a couple of the agile ones fly right out of the pen a couple times. So we put that up just because we had it and we have honestly been lucky with the predators.

I know we for sure have foxes, coyotes, and hawks, and now raccoons. Coyotes have never tried to get in and I didn't think we had raccoons at the time so I kinda thought nothing would get in the top. And nothing has tried till the last month or so.

Maybe they are hungry and/or desperate with winter approaching?

 

[shortgrass]

Yes, they are hungry. Coons are opportunistic killers, they're ALWAYS hungry They found foid that might be pretty easy to get and its known to be tasty.

Order some "dog proof coon traps". They're cool, and totally harmless except for an owie paw.

Then, take trapped coons out of city limits and dispatch it, or call wildlife control. Coons do not belong in towns and are usually considered nuisance wildlife and will be appropriately disposed of.


Whatever you do, please please please do not relocate them. It's most likely illegal in your area anyway.


Oh, and PS, don't put tuna in the coon traps or you will catch cats lol marshmallows work great, or some cooked chicken

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yes, they are hungry. Coons are opportunistic killers, they're ALWAYS hungry They found foid that might be pretty easy to get and its known to be tasty.

Order some "dog proof coon traps". They're cool, and totally harmless except for an owie paw.

Then, take trapped coons out of city limits and dispatch it, or call wildlife control. Coons do not belong in towns and are usually considered nuisance wildlife and will be appropriately disposed of.


Whatever you do, please please please do not relocate them. It's most likely illegal in your area anyway.


Oh, and PS, don't put tuna in the coon traps or you will catch cats lol marshmallows work great, or some cooked chicken

Thanks, I'll have to try that!!

Either that or buy a live trap, a bit of a soft heart to kill it LOL but we'll see

 

[ShrekDawg]

Apparently raccoons are an "important natural resource" and considered a furbearing species and there's a season for them :/

http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/fish-wildlife-plants/mammals/raccoons-in-mass-generic.html

 

[ShrekDawg]

Okay actually turns out the season goes from like Nov 1 all the way to like January or February so that works out for me but then you're only allowed to use cage or box traps to trap them so that paw one wouldn't work and I think you need a **** permit...

But I wonder if those same rules apply if you are not trapping/shooting for fur or sport but rather to protect livestock on your own property? Or if you don't plan on killing it and instead plan to call animal control to take it? Cause then it's not really hunting? Seems kinda silly to get a license if I'm not even going to hunt and only want to catch it for animal control to take. Maybe I will have to call them and ask them.

But turns out relocating is illegal here which it should be.

Here's the season thing, see if it makes sense haha

http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/df.../hunting-and-trapping-of-certain-mammals.html

 

[ChickenChaser9]

We'll see how soft your heart feels if they manage to break in and murder your flock. A pair of coons can devastate a lot of birds in a small amount of time. Winter is coming and they are going to be more inclined to invade your chicken's coop as it gets harder to find forage. They are crafty and clearly intent on getting in. Most places allow you to shoot a predator in defense of your livestock especially if that predator is not some endangered critter. I wouldn't think twice about it TBH, just leave a loaded rifle by the door when I go to sleep and end the issue. Best wishes.

 

[ChickenChaser9]

It couldn't hurt to put your composting further from the coop. The coons could absolutely teach their young to go after your chickens. I am not one of these people that advocates killing everything but some types of critter will stop at nothing once they know you have chickens. It isn't even all racoons but if they have visited on more than one occasion they aren't going to give up and I have seen some really secure pens get broken into ehile people were on vacation or the like.

 

[tomphot]

This is the type of trap you should get - put the bait inside and when they reach in, the paw is caught. Dispatch them and get rid of the body. They are very smart and it is hard to catch in a live trap, even if you do, it is often illegal to relocate them.
Bridger Dog Proof Raccoon Trap.

 

[Zoomie]

At my old place I trapped raccoon after raccoon. They killed many of my birds, even ripping the siding off the barn to get in. I finally started setting traps inside things as suggested above in post #18 by tomphot. Pretty much twice a month I'd have yet another raccoon to dispatch. Where I used to live they were considered an introduced pest and it was illegal to relocate. And boy, did they ever snarl and go at me and try to get me one they were in the trap! It can be pretty scary.

Once I moved here I had my birds again wiped out by raccoons. I shot three of them, but the fourth one had killed all the chickens. This one had ripped apart the wire to get in.

My conclusion is that there are LOTS of raccoons out there, more than we realize. TONS of them. So getting rid of the two that you saw would only be the tip of the iceberg. What you have to do is build a facility that they just can't get in to, and you have to really think hard because they are clever and strong. Also think about double wire. I had a pen that had chain link fence and then inside that, a cube of 1/2" by 1" wire that is used for the bottom of a rabbit cage. That's because I did lose birds to the raccoons reaching through the wire and grabbing the birds. The double wire stopped that.

I have a coop just like yours and I love it! But mine is inside a run, which is inside a stall which is inside my barn. I lock them in the coop every night. The run is closed up, the stall is closed up and the barn is closed up at night. When I get up to do chores, I open everything up. However if I had to leave town or something, I would not let them out of the run, and would leave instructions for them to be locked in at night, and to also lock up the stall and the barn. All this might seem extreme but I am just sick and tired of losing birds to raccoons. It is absolutely horrifying to go out in the morning and find most of your birds dead, and the ones that are still alive you have to kill, because the raccoon ripped off their wing or their leg just for fun.