Coons -- big discussion in the family

[calista]

Quote:
Those opposable thumbs, unfortunately, do a superior job of yanking the head of an unwary chicken through one-inch wire, unlatching an unsecured gate or coop door, and snatching the bait from a trap without springing it.

The first time you lose one of your birds to a coon, you will forget all about those thumbs.

 

[captwalker]

I have heard some people say that they kill the coons and cook them up to serve to the chickens, kind of a roll reversal. I myself couldnt kill the racoons, when I was growing up my parents would feed them and they were just like pets. They would sit on my lap while they ate and I would pet them like a cat. In the evening my mother would go outside and yell "here coony" and they would come running out of the woods. They even started to bring their babies with them. Really cute animals and some of the smartest I have ever seen.
That being said I made sure my coop was tight and the run is surrounded by hardware cloth , buried in the ground, netting over the top as well. So far no problems with any animals.

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. Do we just kill'm and toss 'em

It is usually what I do. The vultures make sure they are gone pretty soon.

2. Do we skin em and keep/sell the belts

Wrong time of the year here.

3. Do we stop being so inhumane and take the varmints up the road and let them go

That is usually illegal. All you are doing is releasing a trap savvy animal to be someone else's problem.

Raccoons are not territorial in the sense that a lot of people use that term. They have their own hunting territiory, and in breeding season two males may fight if they meet, but the hunting territories may overlap. How else can you explain a bunch of raccoons in the same corn patch at the same time. When you remove a raccoon, you remove one that has your property in its hunting territory. That does not mean that there are not others that also hunt your property. And people have reported interesting cooperation between raccoons caught on game cameras. Of sourse, those may be siblings.

If you re putting out cat food every night, you are luring raccoons, skunks, and who knows what else to your area.

In winter, when the pelt is good, a neighbor taxidermist will usually accept a gift of the raccoon. He can stuff it and make a profit off of it. He is not interested in summer pelts though.

 

[Mattemma]

I have killed and disposed of. I don't keep them in the yard due to the ticks on them,or the risk of roundworm from their guts.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
this is very dangerous after puberty they start to go back to their wild instincts

http://wildlifetrapper.com/blog/raccoons-try-to-eat-baby/

it finally came out the g'parents had a pet raccoon

 

[RHRanch]

I do neither one, two or three. You can focus your efforts on the construction and design of your poultry housing to resist predators. Hardware cloth is your friend. Use washers and screws to attach it to sturdy wood framing. I like a metal roof on any housing, its really hard for predators to pry loose. Bury hardware cloth bent outward away from your pen along the bottom, 10 to 16 inces. Use concrete in the rut before you bury it back, if you like. This makes it hard for predators to burrow under your pen. Some people use old chain link or fencing and bury it on the entire underside of a run. Follow my advice and I promise you that racoons won't be an issue 90% of the time after this. (BTW: I often see racoons on my pens and around them, but they can't get in.)

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Patman, then why aren't we allowed to kill coyotes? No opposable thumbs there, and I would love to see fewer neighborhood cats and bunny rabbits eaten.

There was a hilarious segment on Animal Planet about a guy who made the bad call of rescuing a raccoon and keeping it as a pet. As it grew up, it literally started eating through his house - insulation, etc. He released it in the woods behind his house but it came back no matter how many times he sent it away. His house was being destroyed by this one little raccoon!

 

[teach1rusl]

I'm a huge animal lover - even of the wild critters. I won't kill a raccoon unless I find one attacking my animals (but my run is pretty daggone secure and I have a motion light over it too). That being said, I don't consider it inhumane to kill them as long as it's a quick kill. I would not relocate one unless there was a huge (100s of acres) forest around without houses anywhere around, because then it's just passing on the problem. I think there will always be more raccoons to take the place of killed ones (or relocated ones), partly because their natural habitat is dissappearing. I think a secure coop/run is anyone's best bet in dealing with predators. Who cares if wild critters are around if your own livestock/pets are safe?

 

[captwalker]

Quote:
this is very dangerous after puberty they start to go back to their wild instincts

http://wildlifetrapper.com/blog/raccoons-try-to-eat-baby/

it finally came out the g'parents had a pet raccoon

We never let them in the house or around really small children and the one my mother called coony came around for several years along with her offspring without any trouble. I'm not reccomending that people feed them because after all they are wild animals, I was just sharing why I dont have the heart to kill them.

 

[Spongegirl]

this thread is hilarious and entertaining!!!!

I also am wondering what to do about the coons. I'm really mad at them right now, wanting to trap them and let them starve for what they did to some chicks of mine. But really it's my fault and its hard for me to kill things, even snakes. So I really, really like the trap and turn loose idea. If they fight until death naturally, well, that is survival of the fittest and I don't have to be the one.

Taking care of chickens is challenging and I really like it, although my experience and knowledge is limited. I just want to have a really great safe place for my birds and am really trying to keep them safe. They are very useful to have on a farm.