Chickens Attacked Last Night - Raccoon?

[LRH97]

I agree with Wyorp. I've used these dog-proof traps with great success when unfortunately necessary. Less of a chance of trapping something unwanted such as a dog or cat since they require the animal to actually reach in, which raccoons do most of the time. Potential drawback is you will need to dispatch immediately, on scene.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for the helpful feedback @Wyorp Rock . Are there any traps you'd recommend for a raccoon that we could set at night, while the chickens are in the closed coop and not in harms way of the trap?

These are what I use - linked below. I recommend that you do get the setting tool and learn to use the trap and tool.
I had someone show me how to use them, but I also watched some videos, you can find those on YouTube.

Definitely make certain the trap is wired very well to a post, tree or similar, don't rely on that little spike on the trap to hold the trap in the ground. A trapped Racoon can be fierce.

If you do use these, the Raccoon must be dispatched, do it quickly as soon as it's caught if possible. If you are not able to dispatch, then don't set this type of trap.

Securing your coop door at night will be helpful in keeping them out. I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I'm not a trapper that's for sure, I prefer not, but it's also something that's necessary from time to time.



https://www.fntpost.com/Products/Dog+Proof+Coon+Traps/Duke+DP+Coon+Trap
https://www.fntpost.com/Products/Trap+Setters/Dog+Proof+Trap+Setter

 

[ThatOnePotato]

Hello everyone,
Our sweet chickens (4 of them) were seemingly attacked by something last night. We assume it was a raccoon, but could have possibly been a neighborhood cat. This happened around 1am - we were asleep, but woke up to a text from our neighbor saying he heard chaos outside. This morning, I went to check on them and there were feathers everywhere: in the run, in the coop. The top of their feeder was also taken off (so a pest could access the bulk of the food). One chicken in particular seems to have gotten the worst of it. She has lots of missing feathers, mostly around her bottom half, and her demeanor is very somber. I held her and checked out the exposed skin and didn't see any open wounds, though there could be some underneath her remaining feathers that I couldn't see.
Any tips on healing her up, should I take her to a vet? Keep her away from the other chickens? We are new chicken owners (got them in May of 2023) and haven't experienced anything like this with them.
Also, any tips on raccoon protection? How to verify what kind of pest was in there?
Any and all insight would be so much appreciated. Thank you.

My ducks have been attacked by raccoons aswell but both have had fatal injuries and died within hours after attack. We had gotten hardware cloth and put it around the coop and on the ground of the coop to keep raccoons out and unable to reach our ducks and chickens, But we also make sure to have a light near them because raccoons want to avoid the light. I'm not sure how to help your chicken that's injured but I'd keep her separate and inside so she can heal without being attacked again and also making sure there are no further injuries on her.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Replace chicken wire with hardware cloth. Many predators will tear right through chicken wire, which is flimsy.

Also, just to be absolutely clear. When people are politely saying "dispatch" the predator when you catch it, they mean kill it.