can a raccoon open a barrel lock

[Renee]

Carabiners work.

 

[CMV]

Quote:
That's funny!

 

[horsejody]

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If they could figure out a key lock, they wouldn't bother with the coop. They would be in the house raiding the fridge. I can tell you from experience that you never want to come home and find that coon has gotten into your kitchen. They open up and dump absolutely everything.

 

[rhondapiper]

I figure if I leave my car window open at night, they'll hotwire the thing and go joyriding.

As it is, they have managed to steal and make off with one birdfeeder after another, no matter how ingenously we think we've secured them.

 

[mechagrue]

"Raccoons can open carabiners, barrel locks, snap locks, and everything short of a padlock" is one of the MANY valuable bits of information I picked up from this site before I set my chickens outside!

I bought a 4 pack of luggage padlocks from Home Depot for less than $10. I don't leave the key IN the lock overnight, because I think they probably could figure that out, based on what I've heard. I do sometimes leave the key on the shelf BESIDE the lock, under the theory that "if they figure this one out, heaven help us all."

Someone asked me if I'd thought about getting combination padlocks instead. I told them I was afraid the raccoons would guess my combination. I was only half joking!

 

[al6517]

Not to hijack the thread, but how high should latches and locks be installed to be out of their reach??.

AL

 

[mominoz]

I think raccoons have talked to may horses , I have 2 arabs and a 1/2 and my mare can open barrel (stall latches ) in 2 seconds , she taught the younger horse too. We had a cyclone fence gate 3 foot for me to walk thru. I had a chain over it and it had a lift latch. One day she lifted the chain off , then flipped the latch in about 5 seconds. I now keep a hotwire strand across all gates and have horseproof latches (we call them 'I.Q." latches , because an engineer we know couldn't open our gate one day, duh ;0) and I put a chain and caribinerer (sp?) on all gates.
And the younger horse can also untie himself, wtih lots of loops etc, he can still do it......
I think there are EE, "Escape Everything" animal groups that meet at night....
I think coons are North American Monkeys........

 

[mechagrue]

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I'm not sure there is such a thing as "out of their reach." The little buggers can climb pretty well. When I lived in the city, I frequently saw them strolling across the neighbors' roofs.

I think a lot of people have raccoons nesting in their attics and chimneys, and don't even realize it.

 

[CityChook]

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Al - I don't think there is such a thing. They are skilled climbers with extremely sharp claws and can scale trees - up or down and headfirst - with ease. I'm in the city and we have MANY raccoons. Big raccoons. Creeps me out. And they are not at all afraid of people, which makes them all the more dangerous IMO.

 

[proxieme]

They definitely can, as we learned last night.

Our egg doors had them, and we thought that they'd be OK since they're on a flat overhang 3-4 feet off the ground.

Nope.

The raccoons somehow hung from the chicken wire below, held on to the overhang (probably with the shingles) and jimmied one open.

We lost 5 of our 8, including all of our April hatches - a Barred Rock pullet, a Rhode Island Red pullet, a Speckled Sussex pullet, and the most well-tempered Barred Rock Roo ever (on top of one of our yearling Welsummers).

Sad day, especially as the raccoons mostly just tore them limb from limb.
Dragged two (and a half) off.
The rest of their remains were just there.