Coons wiped out my girls..

[pkloop]

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That sucks..a daytime hit.

Hawks or other birds maybe?

 

[pkloop]

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Don't forgo closing it up..not once..not ever. They WILL get your chickens.

 

[pkloop]

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They really are useless..Fish & game agrees as well it seems.. No Bag Limit- No Set season. As many as you want, whenever you want them. Nuisance/destructive animal. I'm with you now as well (and should have before as mentioned above) kill on sight no questions asked.

 

[pkloop]

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This is coming in the future. But the easy/cheap fix for this week is approx 1.00/10mm round..

 

[TexasTony]

PK,

I'm so sorry for the loss. It's bad for us adults, but with children it can devastate.

I'm actually giving a talk next month regarding predators at our local monthly chicken club meeting. I understand the frustration (believe me, I've had it myself). Consider that many cities don't allow you to fire a weapon inside the city limits. It does help to get revenge, but there are other ways to dispatch them without getting into trouble.

Back when I lived in the city and had rats from the restaurant at the end of the street, my favorite way to dispatch them was to put the trap in a trash bag, start the engine & fill up the bag with exhaust. You'd be surprised, it takes under a minute for the carbon monoxide to render it unconscious. Of course, leave the bag sealed for a while to make sure they don't 'come back to life'. And it was quite satisfying after the damage they did.

Now that I live in the countryside, I still don't shoot the #$^&%%#*&^$ varmints. I don't want to damage my trap! Instead I keep a barrel full of water that is just the height of my trap's length., with a rock on top. If a raccoon can hold his breath for an hour, I'll let him go free. But the same thing, it is a fairly quick death, 30 seconds. It's not cruel (although I've thought about torturing them because of what they've done!!!).

The whole coop needs to be well constructed. If a teenage boy (without tools) can pull things apart, then a raccoon can get in there. They are wickedly strong. I prefer screws rather than nails. Don't use wood under 2x4 and 1/2" plywood in size. Never use chicken wire for the coop (it's ok for daytime runs), use hardware cloth (welded wire with 1/4" holes). And it needs to tolerate a 80 mph wind. Oh, and prevent predators from digging in. After open doors, that's probably the #1 reason for bird losses. You have to be diligent on a daily basis. Not sometimes and not usually. EVERY night you need to lock the coop, and before dark. EVERY chicken needs to sleep in the coop. And EVERY weak point in the coop needs to be secured.

People think about protecting from how other humans would attack. A car thief often tries one door, then moves on looking for a car with an unlocked driver door to steal the radio. That's not how raccoons work. If raccoons were car thieves, they'd have a different approach. They find a car, they work it over and take their time. Try each door. Try any open windows with a slimjim. Try the trunk. Crawl underneath and see if there is a loose floorboard. Search for the hidden key. Get out the basic door picking kit. If its a convertible, tear through the roof. And when all else fails, the raccoon will jack up the car, steal your 4 wheels, drain your fuel tank and cut out your catalytic converter. @$#^&*(@#^@ thieves!

In fact, all these animals is why I designed & sell an automatic chicken door (www.chickendoors.com). But a door alone isn't enough as I mentioned above. It really helps with the consistency of always locking the coop door. Because while a raccoon only comes by 5% of the time when the door is closed, it seems that raccoons come by 98% of the time when the coop was not locked!

Again, I'm sorry to hear about your losses. But definitely make sure it won't happen again.

Tony