concerned about geese and raccoons

[Hilltopfarms]

im considering the level of security for goose pen. local predators will definately include foxes, hawks and raccoons. i not sure hawks would be a problem with full size geese and i can keep out the foxes with fencing, however im not sure about the necessity of a cover for the pen due to raccoons. this will make my pen expense much higher. any thoughts/experiences would be much appriciated. thanks dm

 

[feathersandfluff]

We had quite a difficult time keeping the racoons away from our Sebastopol Geese. We put up a 5 foot farm fence thanking that would solve the problem. We then learnt that a hungry coon can climb a fence. with no problem at all. We then purchased a hot wire and battery and ran it along the top of the fencing. Then we learnt that a hunry coon can dig under a fence. So we then ran a hot wire along the bottom. We have had no more problems with preditors. We have a supper large area fenced and he total for the elgectric wire, charger and clips cost approx. $80, It would cost a lot less for fencing a small er area.


Taking list for high quality Sebastopo goslings. Whites or colored

 

[mominoz]

Years ago I lost my geese to raccoons, They were in 2 fenced 4 ft yards. We caught the coons one night on the last goose, 2 coons working together , huge coons. That was Before backyard chickens and the net so I plead ignorance then. $ for security or $ for new stock , plus the pain of losing them. And coons come back for a good food source. Read the predator section on Raccoons. Someone told me , think of them as little smart bears..... Hot wire seems to do the trick, but hot wire and roof and chew proof wire and aprons around or solid bottoms are varmit proof.

 

[feathersandfluff]

Even the dog yard you get from Lowes etc. has a gap where the gate closes. You will need to take a scrap of wire and close up the gap with it. I have a lot of Sebastopols but it still hurts to lose one. My husband walks around our fencing each evening to check it out and make sure all is secure Those little racoons are hungry and smart little devils.Dorothy

 

[Hilltopfarms]

Thank you all! Great help

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I find it much easier and cheaper to coop them at night ...

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
A couple of things I would like to add, We raised a pair of young coons when Mama coon hid in the Motor of our tractor and got chopped up bad when we started it up. We found the kits about two hours later when they were crying to be fed. Bottle raised them and nobody ever got bit. We had a cage 10x4x4' door in the 4x4 end held closed by a hook and eye near the top everything covered with 1 inch hex chick wire. Once they were weaned and were curious playful pups we found them out a lot. With those little hands they had they would reach through and unhook the door! to keep this short we tried just about every fastener we could find & buy, within a week they would figure out the current fastener and would get out at will. We ended up with a padlock and I really thing that if we had left the key where they could get it they would have figured that out too. These are smart animals, keep that in mind when you do gates and doors. Finally they tore the chicken wire! These were half grown and had the strength to tear chicken wire! at that point we let them go wild. They would come back and raid the cat's bowl or beg for food if we were around.
Hot wire- when I moved to NC and had waterfowl (and wild coons) I went the hot wire route. Low wire to prevent digging, high wire to prevent them climbing. Frankly that low wire was hard to maintain, grass would short out the wire and ground the whole system. So I took a page from deer control and baited the wire. Nice thick peanut butter will stick for a while but strip bacon wrapped around the wire works better.I put My night vision video camaras on it and watched the coons come and sniff the wire , get zapped and try again to get zapped again, they learn fast but I did have two coons and a squirrl (sp) that bit the wire and were killed by the current (wet mouth too close to the brain. I had one old sow (female mother coon) that would come and try to break into my feed drums or clean up any spills but wouldn't go near the fence, nor would she allow her kits to go near the fence. I think this baiting is worth the effort to train the local coons, far better than trapping and killing becouse a new coon will move in replace the one you kill. ~gd

 

[Hilltopfarms]

how much of a threat to full size geese are raccoons? also i have loads of cats around, some mine some feral/neighbors. are they a threat to geese, chickens? i realize raccoons wlll easily kill chickens but geese seem so large and aggresive when provoked. i've seen wild geese chase away dogs and kids from their nesting areas. again i apologize if these questions are stupid but before i get the animals, i want to be able to protect them. anyone have experience with dogs protecting the flock. can this behavior be taught to older dogs? or do they need to be raised together from pups. my german shephard is 12yo and i have a very protective 3 yo bull mastiff who loves to terrorize/chase the cats but never actually bites them or anything. thanks again for all your imput! you people are wonderful to help others so much.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Well I respect geese but put one in with a coon and the coon will eat him for lunch. Unless the cat is a bob cat you are likely see it for the last time with a goose hanging on its tail. Cats are a threat to goslings though.

 

[JordanFamily]

If they can't eat them they will still stress them out and break their eggs... I just caught two opossum two nights in a row in my chicken side of the barn... I kept getting a dead chicken every night for the past week so went and got me a large live trap at tractor supply... Those opossum killed two full grown standard sized chickens so I would think they could kill a goose as well if they got it while it was resting... And those are only half the size of a coon... It was a horrible ordeal to kill the things when we caught them... Learn from me: "NEVER open the trap while your husband has the barrow of his shot gun 12" away from your head, waiting to shoot the animal... It's now two days later and I still have a ringing in my ear... And everything still sounds like my left ear is under water... So please if you do have to kill one make sure the gun is far away from your ear!!! And the worst part of the whole thing is my husband was so preoccupied to see if I was ok that he missed the darn animal completely!!!

Oh well if he comes back to the trap we'll get him next time....