Coons -- big discussion in the family

[sab]

I agree with the secure the coop concept. The coop is new. The floor is solid as is the roof. Surely they can't dig their way through 3/4 flooring and 1/2 inch plywood roof. The roof does not have tin but it's something that looks like the tin but is a very heavy corrugated something or other. I am supposing it's some kind of plastic resin. Hubby would know. The eves have hardware cloth over them and on that the entire overhang areas are enclosed in soffet. My windows have hardware cloth over them. I tried to make the building coon proof. But I don't intend to put hardware skirt around the bottom. The building is about 12 inches off the ground and has a solid floor. Is that not safe enough?? I lock them up every night - I even have an automatic open/closer so when I am not around they are closed up. I lock the front door with a latch that a coon can't do - I can hardly do it.

I started on catching them when I was sitting out by the coop after dark and considering what else needed to be done to the coop/run when one walked right up to my foot. That's when I set the trap. The run isn't coon proof but like I said - they are locked up at night.

 

[aprophet]

just stay paying attention they will kina pick at your coop a little each day just keep it coop and run knox sometimes a little hole won,t look like much but after 3 hours of digging they are in and eating

 

[Spongegirl]

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!!!!!!!!!! VERY ENTERTAINING THREAD! I love this forum!

 

[JulieNKC]

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[sab]

So my thought in starting this thread was that perhaps if we skinned the varmints, and made a skirt of skins around the bottom of the coop - instead of a hardware cloth skirt... that would be a good deterrent. What's ya think??? I picture the entire backside of my new coop dressed out with hanging varmints. Or around the bottom.... either way... Kinda of a voodoo fashion statement to the coons to stay away....

 

[deerman]

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Doesn't work and skin not any good this thing of year.

 

[nop169]

Personally when I have a coon (or skunk or opossum) who begins giving us trouble - I trap & release. Releasing for me isnt a big issue as I have national forest land about 8 miles away and I trap so rarely that I am not overextending the area.
In the last 20 years of having poultry I have only had 2 issues. About 15 years ago a coon broke into a pen and killed all but 2 RIR bantams - trapped her the next day & relocated her.
3 Weeks ago another coon broke into a coop and killed DW's pet polish frizzle.... the next day the coon pulled young chicks through 1x1 wire. It escalated from there to the coon trying to break into other coops, the free ranging muscovies lost about half of their babies and eggs were getting ate. SO i trapped with a vengence & relocated. So far I have caught 1 coon (killing stopped after catching her) 4 skunks, 2 opposum, 2 feral barn cats of neighbors & 5 turkey vultures!
I was amazed at the number of possible predators I am catching & can only contribute it to it being dry & hot here and my dogs are housed at night. I understand now why the guineas havent raised in 3 years and why I haven't found guines eggs. The ducks tend to lay & set in boxes I provided up off the ground but we lost about 20 hatchlings to 2 weeks old ducklings during this time.
Note that the poultry are next to the house in a well tended yard. Also note that it has been 15 years since my last issue. So I simply reevaluated each coop (mostly kennel tractors) and repaired any holes found in the wire tops above the tarps. I did have to add a ground skirt around one kennel (I am sure it was a skunk digging in for eggs) but as it is inconvienant when moving the tractor I only used it short term. Funny thing is that they only killed bantams & chicks - haven't bothered the adult layers or my call ducks other than eating eggs once they got in. As I also have a 7 foot blk snake who eats eggs at times - needless to say I was surprized at the number trapped.... and it isn't done yet as 2 of the skunks were caught last nite. All of the animals seem to be young (size wise). Maybe a couple of litters? As the skunks are all similar in size.
As to relocating - I have a small lake within 10 miles that I released the skunks & opossum at - the coon went about 12 miles to national forest land at a creek. All of the animals look healthy & glossy - if I had thought they were sick or possibly rabid, I would put them down. Also with coons you not only have to be concerned about rabies but also about a parasite they shed in their feces that is fatal to humans... not to mention distemper from the coons & skunks can affect unvaccinated dogs.
SO I look at it like this ...... it is my job to secure my livestock against predators..... the predators are doing their job - surviving. I will kill a sick, injured or especially violent animal but only for those reasons. The others I simply relocate. In a world where little national forest and farmland remains - it is to be expected that the wild predators will encroach upon our poultry and although losses sicken me - it ultimately is my responsibility to outsmart the predator! Altough to be honest,..... sometimes the predator is smarter than I am!

 

[Karen09]

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I agree with this! It hadn't been a problem with any predators for 3 years. Our coop was strong (made about 70 or so years ago and reinforced many times) and then a mama and her 3 babies moved in and tore up the floor, 2 blue orphingtons dead the next morning. Then we nailed thick 2 by 4's over the hole and a big rock on that, again, the next morning 2 more dead and one missing. they had learned to lift the chicken door. So we put extra latches on those. Then 2 more dead and the bloody footprints ran straight up a 10 foot wall to an airvent that should not have anything fit through it. I did not know that raccoons were part spider-man, part make my bones flatten out to 1.5 inches. My husband made the coop really coon proof so they waited until daylight and then slaughtered the chickens as they came out of the coop in the morning. My husband stayed up a few nights with lights and his .22 but they are too smart and did not come out and play. So he got a live trap. Got a young one, very docile. He took it 10 miles away to an area away from people. Then the neighbor said it will be back so just shoot them. Through that week, he got Mama and 3 more young ones (one young one was very nasty, spitting, hissing and trying to attack through the cage). My husband learned that the neighbor also had trouble and got 4 of his own so being the smart-aleck he is, he was telling someone else (as they were standing next to him but he wasn't in their conversation) that yeah, the coons are really bad this year and so he got a live trap and caught 4 and just took them over to the neighbors. Well, he turned around really red in the face and was ready to say something when he noticed my husband was grinning. He then laughed cause he realized my husband was just kidding. The coons also pulled back some of our closed in fencing and got in the coop with my Cayuga Trio. Total loss, 21 ducks and 15 chickens in less than a month. In our area, coons many times have rabies so we have to be really careful around them. Now we have a fox who loves a chicken every 5 days to feed his family. We have always freeranged, but we are building a big strong fence!

 

[inohio]

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hahaha... I was thinking skin them and hang the pelts on the coop... either it will warn others off or you'll get enough hides that they coons can't get in at the chickens anyway.

But I like the head dress thing... imagining rooster wearing a coon tail down his back.

 

[inohio]

Just a warning. In some (many?) states, relocating racoons is not legal due to rabies control efforts. In OH and PA they are strict about this, so I wouldn't go advertising around town that you do trap and release. Here you can call fish and game to come get them (and they'll be angry that you didn't just shoot the d*** thing). In OH, for some predators, they might pay you as much as $5 per lost bird, but I think that's mostly losses to coyotes. You also can't trap/release foxes. You definitely can't carry them across a state lines. PA game makes it sound like they'd try to take your whole vehicle if they catch you carrying a wild animal across their state lines.

Oops... guess the Ohio fund went the way of the dodo in '09 ( http://sheep.osu.edu/2009/07/06/ohio’s-livestock-indemnity-fund-cut-from-budget/#more-275 )