Chicken friendly racoon

[Compost King]

I had friendly Raccoons too... I tried to run them off, my cats even treated them like other cats, never afraid of them, let the raccoons come up and eat cat food (until I started putting it away at night) then they started figuring out how to snag eggs through a nesting box door from under a broody hen, so I fixed that and took away that food source. Eventually they figured out how to work the latch to get into the chicken coop after all their food sources dried up... and 75% of my bantam flock were found headless and spread out through the nieghborhood. Eventually I trapped all the Raccoons and did away with them. They are only friendly until they are hungry enough to kill. Get rid of them. I found the only Raccoon proof door is a door too heavy for them to move... they figure out latches and simple locks eventually.

 

[MROO]

I found the only Raccoon proof door is a door too heavy for them to move... they figure out latches and simple locks eventually.

Coons are very smart ... and very, VERY persistent!

 

[Folly's place]

And they carry rabies, and a very dangerous roundworm that can kill humans.
Very cute in the woods, not at all at the house, or eating your chickens.
Mary

 

[Noobihen]

My mother in Florida lives kind of in the woods. They throw scraps out the door for coons for years. All the sudden 15 to 20 wild turkeys would start showing up every night too. The coons, 5 or 6 of them would just eat next to the turkeys.

 

[Compost King]

My mother in Florida lives kind of in the woods. They throw scraps out the door for coons for years. All the sudden 15 to 20 wild turkeys would start showing up every night too. The coons, 5 or 6 of them would just eat next to the turkeys.

I can see that happening. I had a feral cat that killed and ate one of my chickens and due to my love for cats I can not kill a cat. I couldn't trap a cat because my cats would set off the traps. I found the best option, I put out cat food for the feral cat. He stopped eating my chickens. The predators just want food and some of them if well fed will not kill. But I wouldn't bank on it. If they harm Chickens they gotta go. I don't worry so much about the cats they can escape and see well at night. The chickens are sitting targets in a cage that can be breached after enough tries.