alternative weapons that will kill a coyote/racoon/opossum...?

[twentynine]

Can't believe some of the responses.

Poison!

Crossbows!

More poison randomly set out on property line!

.22 rifles!

410 shotguns!

Obviously the OP does not want a fire arm in the home, because of children. So instead of recommending a fire arm, some of you guys are recommending poison? Pardon me, but I find it real hard to wrap my mind around putting poison out!

How about prevention?

While no method is absolutely fool proof, I would recommend using electric fencing. Child protection? The new pulsers are what I would classify as pretty safe. A kid may touch it, and he may get stung, but it will not injure him. He won't touch the fence again.

In my situation I have a light wire chicken inclosure with no top. I have 2 charged wires around the bottom 5" and 12" from the ground, 2 charged wires around the top, at 6" down from the top of the wire and 1 at the very top of the wire. The ground is connected to a 6' copper clad ground rod and back to the enclosure wire.

So for instance Mr Hawk passes over head sees my chickens, when he lands on the top wire, he comes in contact with a charged conductor and the ground. Believe me, he ain't sticking around, he will be leaving post haste, as soon as feathers permit. A coon, possum, fox, mink or coyote will approach, usually sniff around, maybe scratch a little, up until he sniffs the charged conductor. Then he lights out hair on fire with his butt a catchin. Going on 3 years now with zero penetrations, zero predator loss. I am not in the city, I own 14 acres surrounded by an undeveloped 600+ acres, I have game cam picks of everything from coyotes, wild hogs, deer, coons, and possums. The only bad thing that has happened was the skunk episode, I'd rather not talk about it, thing are just now beginning to smell right again.

Cost, a small pulsing fence charger can be had for under $75, wire, insulators and misc supplies another $50. If electrical service is not available battery or solar powered chargers can be purchased. Solar powered goes for about $130, battery maybe $85-$100.

All in all cheaper than even a pellet rifle. Also properly maintained the electric fence is always 24-7-365 on duty. The rifle is only on duty when the owner of that rifle is available, what happens when the owner is asleep, at work, grocery shopping, you can shoot the predator you see, but what about the ones that come calling when you ain't home.

Poison-- don't even want to make a comment about casual use of poison as described by some responders. No way that's safe around pets, children or even the chickens.

 

[theFox]

The ever popular live trap, followed by method of choice to dispatch.

 

[chickened]

In tough times .22 bullets are cheap and poison for me would be a last resort. Shooting, poison and shocking them are really not all that different in trained hands for dealing with pests. Livetraps are good also. I personally do not have the time or ambitiion to build an elaborate security system for my birds when I am a good shot. I sometimes enjoy the hunt.

 

[stormylady]

I had a problem a couple of weeks ago with a raccoon??? I think it was a raccoon anyway, and the guy at the food store gave me some fly attractant and killer stuff and said put it in a bowl and pour some cola over the top of it, and it would kill him, I did do that and though I found no body, the coon hasn't been back.
Also what I did was put it in the pen, in a bowl after I locked the girls in the coop for the night, and put a bowl of it by the pop hole where it( preditor) had been going in, then in the morning taking it out of the pen before letting the girls into there run, so the girls wouldn't get into it. Good luck

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

some fly attractant

It was probably Golden Malrin

It will kill ANYTHING that eats even a small amount, and usually kills them so fast the body will be close by.

Here's some info in the active ingredient:

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/haloxyfop-methylparathion/methomyl-ext.html

Effects on Birds

Methomyl is highly toxic to birds.

The acute oral LD50 for bobwhite quail is 24.2 mg/kg (30). The oral LD50 of methomyl was 28 mg/kg in hens. All deaths occurred within ten minutes of dosing. The clinical signs of toxicity included tearing of the eyes, salivation, occasional convulsions, and respiratory disorders. In Japanese quail, the LD50 was 34 mg/kg (11). The LD50 of a 90% pure formulation was 15.9 mg/kg in eight-month old mallards, and 15.4 mg/kg in three-to-four month old male pheasants (20). The LD50 for starlings was 42 mg/kg and for redwinged blackbirds was 10 mg/kg (29).

Effects on Aquatic Organisms
Methomyl is moderately to highly toxic to fish and highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates

(11, 30). The 96-hour LC50 in rainbow trout for a liquid formulation of methomyl is 3.4 milligrams per liter (mg/l); for bluegill sunfish, it is 0.8 mg/l (8). A 28-day fish residue study indicated that methomyl did not accumulate in fish tissue (11). The 48- hour LC50 for Daphnia magna ( a small, freshwater crustacean) is 28.7 ppb (29).

Effects on Other Animals (Nontarget species)
Methomyl is highly toxic to bees both by direct contact and through ingestion

(8, 11, 30). Applications should be coordinated with periods of minimum bee activity so that methomyl is never a
pplied while bees are actively visiting treatment areas (​

 

[twentynine]

Lots of difference shooting or poison when compared to shocking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shooting and poisoning is a permanent end to an animal.
Shocking is temporary discomfort that encourages that same animal to take up residence elsewhere.

Like I said before how do you protect your birds when you aren't home? Even if you work out of a home office, you have to sleep, you have to get groceries. How are the birds protected then? 22 bullets could be free, you can be an absolute dead eye Lucas McCain Rifleman/ Quigley Down Under, shot. But if you ain't there, you may as well shoot as good as Mr Magoo!

I have no problems what so ever killing an animal that is actively preying on my birds. That being said I can't justify shooting sleeping racoons out of the tree tops, unless I was going to eat'em.

Time to poison, time to hunt them down, but no time or the ambition to build a secure enclosure?

Earlier post same responder:

Loosing birds gets old real quick.

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
It was probably Golden Malrin

It will kill ANYTHING that eats even a small amount, and usually kills them so fast the body will be close by.

Here's some info in the active ingredient:

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/haloxyfop-methylparathion/methomyl-ext.html

Effects on Birds

Methomyl is highly toxic to birds.

The acute oral LD50 for bobwhite quail is 24.2 mg/kg (30). The oral LD50 of methomyl was 28 mg/kg in hens. All deaths occurred within ten minutes of dosing. The clinical signs of toxicity included tearing of the eyes, salivation, occasional convulsions, and respiratory disorders. In Japanese quail, the LD50 was 34 mg/kg (11). The LD50 of a 90% pure formulation was 15.9 mg/kg in eight-month old mallards, and 15.4 mg/kg in three-to-four month old male pheasants (20). The LD50 for starlings was 42 mg/kg and for redwinged blackbirds was 10 mg/kg (29).

Effects on Aquatic Organisms
Methomyl is moderately to highly toxic to fish and highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates

(11, 30). The 96-hour LC50 in rainbow trout for a liquid formulation of methomyl is 3.4 milligrams per liter (mg/l); for bluegill sunfish, it is 0.8 mg/l (8). A 28-day fish residue study indicated that methomyl did not accumulate in fish tissue (11). The 48- hour LC50 for Daphnia magna ( a small, freshwater crustacean) is 28.7 ppb (29).

Effects on Other Animals (Nontarget species)
Methomyl is highly toxic to bees both by direct contact and through ingestion

(8, 11, 30). Applications should be coordinated with periods of minimum bee activity so that methomyl is never a
pplied while bees are actively visiting treatment areas (
​

yes that was it, the guy told me to be extremely careful with it and I was, I have cats and other animals that live around here that I would not want to hurt at all, I only had it out the one night and the coon hasn't been back , but after reading your post I won't be using it again , very scarry! Thankyou!

 

[stormylady]

Time to poison, time to hunt them down, but no time or the ambition to build a secure enclosure


Not sure thats the case, and in my case, i did repair the pophole That the coon tore up,and put a better lock on the henhouse, as for the majority I would think that they would do every thing they could do to fortify there coops to keep there birds safe as a first resort, I do not like killing anything but if it comes between my chickens and a raccoon its the raccoon will go, and everyone that knows anything about Coons knows for the most part that they will be back,(especially if they got a free meal ) they not easily scared off, well sure they'll run from ya when your chasing and hollering at them but they will be back , In my case they took 8 of my girls in 3 nights 4 of those were after the 1st repair job I did to the coop. Also last year they didn't mess with the chickens but killed 2 of my kittens.

 

[redhen]

Has anyone suggested Numchucks yet?

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
LOL don't think so!