Conversations with Coons

[SilberHenne]

The other night I had a come-to-Jesus-meeting with a raccoon in my backyard at 3am, but I'm not confident he got the message. The dogs woke me up, so ran out to find a huge, fat, 30ish pound raccoon on my porch. He was very reluctant to leave, even after a few swats with my broom and a very stern talking to, and I eventually had to let my Shiba Inu (vicious monster) outside for him to eventually decide to leave. He had been ripping feathers off one of my Wyandottes, but she was luckily uninjured, just terrified. I'm horrified that they almost died because I neglected to secure their coop. We had gotten very relaxed about letting them roam free 24hrs with an open-air coop (it is hot and wet where I live, so closed spaces are not ideal).

So now the chickens are terrified to enter their coop at all. I don't blame them. Big babies sit at the back door until I let them inside to sleep in the bath tub.

It's back to the drawing board for a new coop so they can sleep soundly outside again. I don't think I can take the smell of chicken poop in my bathroom for much longer. The things we do for our chickens...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would put the chickens back in the coop. Secure it with hardware cloth, and either trap or shoot that raccoon. They can carry rabies so I wouldn't want them so close nor would I send my dog after one.

 

[aart]

and either trap or shoot that raccoon.

Trap and shoot...or don't trap at all.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Trap and shoot...or don't trap at all.

Well it can depend where someone is located. Town folk can't usually just shoot stuff without trouble. Us country folk can.

 

[aart]

Well it can depend where someone is located. Town folk can't usually just shoot stuff without trouble. Us country folk can.

I just read about someone who traps and takes trapped animal out to the country to shoot it because they can't discharge firearms where they live.
Point is, don't trap if you're not going to kill what you trapped.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Trap and shoot...or don't trap at all.

Here that is required and enforced by FWC.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The other night I had a come-to-Jesus-meeting with a raccoon in my backyard at 3am, but I'm not confident he got the message. The dogs woke me up, so ran out to find a huge, fat, 30ish pound raccoon on my porch. He was very reluctant to leave, even after a few swats with my broom and a very stern talking to, and I eventually had to let my Shiba Inu (vicious monster) outside for him to eventually decide to leave...

You can give a coon 10 pounds on any Shiba Inu and it is still not a fair fight.
The Japanese use to hunt bears and boars with Shiba Inus and the dogs bayed the quarry while the Japanese huntsman closed in with primitive weapons to reduce the bear to possession.

 

[Melky]

I would put the chickens back in the coop. Secure it with hardware cloth, and either trap or shoot that raccoon. They can carry rabies so I wouldn't want them so close nor would I send my dog after one.

Mine scared a raccoon off and she is just a 10 lb. papitese. No harm to girls. Usually the dog barking at it runs it off and there is no contact. I do not trap them. I haven’t seen once since. If my girls get nervous about things they go hide in the coop.

 

[SilberHenne]

Yes, Shibas are small but mighty. I wouldn't ever put my dogs in harm. These are racoons that I see hanging out with the neighborhood cats. They are fat and far from rabid and this one couldn't even manage to properly get a chicken.

We are breaking down pallets today to build a hen house inside our existing 9'x12' chick run, which will be getting a secure roof later in the week. The old coop is worthless if they aren't comfortable in it.

I love raccoons (and our bears and coyotes and boar) and have about 0% chance of killing one. Where I live, I can't trap and relocate without permission from a private land owner to do so on their property, and moving him to another raccoon's property would cause trouble for him and potentially allow for a more serious predator or multiple raccoons to take over. I'm hopeful that he's too obese to slip into the run somehow (we have concrete papers and solid wood around the base, and the sides are wood and hardware cloth) or too smart now that we met face-to-face and he knows I'm waiting with my broom.

 

[Northern.Ontario]

Can also toss the trapped raccoon into a barrel of water and see how long it holds its breath for