well this morning I woke up to hear two coons fighting near my coop at 2:30 this morning I let the dogs out to scare them off then went to sleep at 4:30 I wake up to multiple coons near my coop so I let them back out again I hope the coons don’t come back it was a close call
COONS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter Farmer jr
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Report your first post in the thread requesting it get moved to that forum.
I think they will be back. Is your coop and run predator proof? If not, I would get to work making it so.
You will find lots of folks here of the "shoot the varmits" mentality. The biggest issues I see with that are 1) the coons are just trying to survive and have found a food source and 2) you can kill them but something else will just come in to take their place. Predator proofing is the way to go.
Good luck.
- Aug 17, 2016
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I moved it.
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- #5
Last summer I had the babies playing and making all kinda of noises in the trees. They woke me up a few times. I leave my back door open so my dog goes in and out. I wake up with his paw prints on the frnce because they try coming down the tree and he lunges until they scoot back up.
My neighbor was attacked by a raccoon last week on his back porch. He did kill it.
My neighbor was attacked by a raccoon last week on his back porch. He did kill it.
danceswithronin
Crowing
I think predator proofing the coop and run is the most important thing, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I have a really secure run/coop and I've never had a predator loss other than my own dogs catching a chicken when I stupidly left the gate ajar when I was in a rush and the hen got loose.
I think killing varmints is cruel personally, and unnecessary. They're just wild animals doing wild animal sh*t (same way my dogs eviscerating my hen were just dogs doing dog sh*t). And killing off one coon in a trap doesn't do anything, they are common as table salt so if you live in an area where one shows up, there are plenty more where that came from.
I think killing varmints is cruel personally, and unnecessary. They're just wild animals doing wild animal sh*t (same way my dogs eviscerating my hen were just dogs doing dog sh*t). And killing off one coon in a trap doesn't do anything, they are common as table salt so if you live in an area where one shows up, there are plenty more where that came from.
Mybackyardpeepers
Free Ranging
We have a huge coon that has been hanging around and my chickens aren't even outs yet. I'm panicking!
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- #9
Sorry this is going to be long but I think it's worth a read.
I am of a mixed opinion.
I have a lot of experience with wildlife and personally I love wildlife doing wildlife things but some of them have to be killed.
Firstly coops should be as predator proof as possible. It's true.
Secondly if you free range expect that there will be occasional losses from time to time. Cars, Hawks, eagles, coyote, wolf, fox, mink, anything.
However wildlife can become a problem when it no longer fears people and becomes accustomed to unnatural food sources. Chickens, pet food, livestock feeds.
You'd kill a mouse in the house or a rat in the horse feed.
It's no different some animals carry disease and some over populate areas where people have messed up the ecosystem and lessened or eliminated the natural predators.
Some animals can both attack your birds and teach them bad habits. We had a possum that was coming out in broad daylight eating eggs. It took us weeks to figure out why our flock "wasn't laying". It taught several members of our flock to eat eggs as well. Those are lasting problems. One chicken can teach another.
The same way a mother coon teaches her offspring every year where to find food. If there are plentiful sources of natural food but a raccoon knows that every day food is put out for barn cats etc. It will continue going to that easy food source. If a raccoon raids a coop it will continue going to it even if it is secure. Now assuming it's secure that's not a problem but let's say the food source is barn cats being fed on a back porch by an elderly woman. The raccoons become accustomed to the routine and lose their fear of the little old woman and her small Chihuahua. They even come out during the day when the routine is changed. They no longer run when the door is opened 2-3 feet from them.
This goes on for a time it seems harmless but then the raccoons lose their fear of the dog completely and begin growling and snarling at the little woman and the dog.
The raccoons are not exhibiting natural behaviors. Sure they're finding foods but none of it is natural for them. They also become a danger to the woman and the dog. They chase the cats from the food that is there for them.
This woman is my Grandma and I've seen these things first hand. I've lived them. We've also had possums exhibit similar behavior even trying to enter the house. It doesn't matter what time the cats are fed. It doesn't matter where they're fed. It doesn't even matter that possums and raccoons are considered nocturnal species.
A mother raccoon will teach it's offspring that chickens are the easiest prey if she has tasted chicken. Even if she hasn't gotten them in years. She will always go back to the old food sources and teach them to look there first.
So should we cull these animals that are just trying to survive in rural areas by exhibiting learned behavior that isn't natural?
Will more predators move in? Of course they will but if you've then predator proofed your coop or even if you haven't they won't naturally first think of chicken. They will forage and find food in creeks and rivers and berry patches. Gophers and rabbits.
Wild food sources for fox and coyote and badger and even mink are all plentiful in our area. But the ones that have learned there is an easier way will abandon nature and always be on the lookout for a free ranging chicken, a door left open past sunset, an easy meal.
Of course it takes less work and that gives the predator an edge in life. Sure. But before you know it you have six raccoons eating on your back porch and you can't let your dog out because they posture and threaten to attack. The mother raccoon spurred on by the high protein and fat is heavily pregnant again and soon there will be more raccoons.
The booming population sparks fights as they fight for territory and the screaming wars resound in the valley. It makes your hair stand on end. Wakes you in the night and continues in the day. Desperate the raccoons chew into secure buildings even through flat sheet metal designed to keep them out searching for new territory.
They trash the once beautiful buildings and everything inside is covered in feces and urine.
The raccoons even fight to the death and every year we find the bodies of several massive dead coons.
In the multiple sheds the woods the garage. Several years ago we went out into one if the sheds an unused block of stables. In one of the stables there was the body of a dead raccoon. Directly above the dead one a box was a litter of babies. New babies. They were thriving and it was clear the dead raccoon wasn't their mother. But the horror was shaking.
Growing up on a different farm we had one mother raccoon that had one litter a year in a huge old tree. She lived for well over 9 years and almost felt like a sibling to me. She did develop a taste for cat food but mostly her life was natural and she never chased our barn cats away. She never lost her fear of people staying 10 feet away at minimum.
Every animal population will boom while food is plentiful but when the natural foods wain in the fall the overpopulation will often starve or be driven out to look for alternatives like chickens.
So because people have so changed the natural world and so effected it. It's our duty to keep creatures in check that can become dangerous or damaging. Not just for us both for others as well. Overpopulation causes the areas of rabies and many other diseases.
Coyotes and raccoons run rampant in the cities because they've discovered easy food and they've learned that they have nothing to fear from city dwellers. They don't know it's because of gun control and common sense- you don't shoot in a populated area. The coyotes are bold and will not only take pet food and rodents that live in the cities. House pets are also on the menu.
Of course some animals are protected no matter where they are or what they're doing.
So should some animals be killed?
Should we think more about what our actions do to the environment and how we can and do change it?
I'll let you decide.
I am of a mixed opinion.
I have a lot of experience with wildlife and personally I love wildlife doing wildlife things but some of them have to be killed.
Firstly coops should be as predator proof as possible. It's true.
Secondly if you free range expect that there will be occasional losses from time to time. Cars, Hawks, eagles, coyote, wolf, fox, mink, anything.
However wildlife can become a problem when it no longer fears people and becomes accustomed to unnatural food sources. Chickens, pet food, livestock feeds.
You'd kill a mouse in the house or a rat in the horse feed.
It's no different some animals carry disease and some over populate areas where people have messed up the ecosystem and lessened or eliminated the natural predators.
Some animals can both attack your birds and teach them bad habits. We had a possum that was coming out in broad daylight eating eggs. It took us weeks to figure out why our flock "wasn't laying". It taught several members of our flock to eat eggs as well. Those are lasting problems. One chicken can teach another.
The same way a mother coon teaches her offspring every year where to find food. If there are plentiful sources of natural food but a raccoon knows that every day food is put out for barn cats etc. It will continue going to that easy food source. If a raccoon raids a coop it will continue going to it even if it is secure. Now assuming it's secure that's not a problem but let's say the food source is barn cats being fed on a back porch by an elderly woman. The raccoons become accustomed to the routine and lose their fear of the little old woman and her small Chihuahua. They even come out during the day when the routine is changed. They no longer run when the door is opened 2-3 feet from them.
This goes on for a time it seems harmless but then the raccoons lose their fear of the dog completely and begin growling and snarling at the little woman and the dog.
The raccoons are not exhibiting natural behaviors. Sure they're finding foods but none of it is natural for them. They also become a danger to the woman and the dog. They chase the cats from the food that is there for them.
This woman is my Grandma and I've seen these things first hand. I've lived them. We've also had possums exhibit similar behavior even trying to enter the house. It doesn't matter what time the cats are fed. It doesn't matter where they're fed. It doesn't even matter that possums and raccoons are considered nocturnal species.
A mother raccoon will teach it's offspring that chickens are the easiest prey if she has tasted chicken. Even if she hasn't gotten them in years. She will always go back to the old food sources and teach them to look there first.
So should we cull these animals that are just trying to survive in rural areas by exhibiting learned behavior that isn't natural?
Will more predators move in? Of course they will but if you've then predator proofed your coop or even if you haven't they won't naturally first think of chicken. They will forage and find food in creeks and rivers and berry patches. Gophers and rabbits.
Wild food sources for fox and coyote and badger and even mink are all plentiful in our area. But the ones that have learned there is an easier way will abandon nature and always be on the lookout for a free ranging chicken, a door left open past sunset, an easy meal.
Of course it takes less work and that gives the predator an edge in life. Sure. But before you know it you have six raccoons eating on your back porch and you can't let your dog out because they posture and threaten to attack. The mother raccoon spurred on by the high protein and fat is heavily pregnant again and soon there will be more raccoons.
The booming population sparks fights as they fight for territory and the screaming wars resound in the valley. It makes your hair stand on end. Wakes you in the night and continues in the day. Desperate the raccoons chew into secure buildings even through flat sheet metal designed to keep them out searching for new territory.
They trash the once beautiful buildings and everything inside is covered in feces and urine.
The raccoons even fight to the death and every year we find the bodies of several massive dead coons.
In the multiple sheds the woods the garage. Several years ago we went out into one if the sheds an unused block of stables. In one of the stables there was the body of a dead raccoon. Directly above the dead one a box was a litter of babies. New babies. They were thriving and it was clear the dead raccoon wasn't their mother. But the horror was shaking.
Growing up on a different farm we had one mother raccoon that had one litter a year in a huge old tree. She lived for well over 9 years and almost felt like a sibling to me. She did develop a taste for cat food but mostly her life was natural and she never chased our barn cats away. She never lost her fear of people staying 10 feet away at minimum.
Every animal population will boom while food is plentiful but when the natural foods wain in the fall the overpopulation will often starve or be driven out to look for alternatives like chickens.
So because people have so changed the natural world and so effected it. It's our duty to keep creatures in check that can become dangerous or damaging. Not just for us both for others as well. Overpopulation causes the areas of rabies and many other diseases.
Coyotes and raccoons run rampant in the cities because they've discovered easy food and they've learned that they have nothing to fear from city dwellers. They don't know it's because of gun control and common sense- you don't shoot in a populated area. The coyotes are bold and will not only take pet food and rodents that live in the cities. House pets are also on the menu.
Of course some animals are protected no matter where they are or what they're doing.
So should some animals be killed?
Should we think more about what our actions do to the environment and how we can and do change it?
I'll let you decide.
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