coon proof

[chatterbox]

I'm new to this forum and new to chickens but not coons. The place we just bought had a nice coop and run built on it and I couldn't figure out why they just gave up on it. The niebors informed me they had a coon problem and that was the reason. I suspected that because there was an attached building to the coop full of coon poo. They had put concrete floors in the coop, cement around the bottom edge of the run and built nice strong doors and frames on everything. It all looked great. Yesterday I decided to clean the coop and inspect everything. Yep I found the access the little critter was using. Up in the corner between wall and ceiling was a small opening about 3 inches by 3 inches. Now I've read some of the post on here about coons and building things so they can't get in but I haven't seen anything on explainging what that means. You would be amazed at how big a coon can fit through a 3x3 opening. Just think of it as this if he can get his flat little head in it the rest will fit. I wouldn't have believed it but I once had to remove a coon from a commercial dryer that had made a home in the top of it. There wasn't a opening as big as the one in the coop and that little guy was living it up in there. I've also noticed claw marks and bite marks on the bottom of the run door from before. If I see fresh marks on the door then I'm going to set up a remote camera to see what it is. The other thing I did was remove 13 feral cats from the place.

 

[Debbi]

A couple of strands of hot wire will also go a long way deterring coons! My new coop is totally enclosed with 6' tall fence. The bottom part is 4' tall hardware cloth, the next 2' is 2x4 welded wire, and the top is covered with the welded wire. There is also a 2' wire apron all around the perimeter of the run. I am adding gravel on top of that, and am now in the process of adding three lines of hot wire around the run. One line 6" off the ground, one strand 37" off the ground, and one strand on the top of the run. So far the only predators that have come around (that I've seen), are my own stupid cats. They will climb up to the roof and sit on the 2x4 beams. I'm pretty sure that will come to a screaching halt, the first time they get a good ZAP! People think I'm going just a tad overboard, but I'll take my chances and go with my gut feeling. Let them laugh, when I still have my chickens and they don't, they'll be coming around to ask advice,

Here we have coyotes, coons, possums, fox, black bear, feral hogs, bob cats, snakes, Bald Eagles, numerous varieties of hawks, and possibly mountain lions. I don't think I've gone overboard.

 

[theFox]

The raccoons also will pull the chickens trough a hole of that size, if they can get their paws through the hole they attempt to pull a chicken through even if it can't all fit. In other words they have been known to pull the heads off of chickens through 1 inch square holes and given the size of the hole you mentioned there are other animals (weasel for one) that can enter the coop and decimate an entire flock.