COONS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chickendreams24]

I'm not saying kill any predator or varmint that shows up but those that become a problem definitely should.

Through most of the US there are laws about relocating animals so your humanely trapped raccoon or possum that you take _ miles away and release is not only illegal it's irresponsible.

That animal will have to fight for a new territory likely dieing in the fights or starve as it learns where to find food in the new territory. Or it will go and feast on someone else's chickens or pets. Many animals will try to return to their original territory and get hit on the road. The problem that should have ended with you and a humane end has now cost more lives. Let alone if the animal you moved carried a disease or illness.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

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 all for trap and relocate when allowed, but wouldn't hesitate to exterminate what needs to be within legal limits.

 

[llombardo]

We have a huge coon that has been hanging around and my chickens aren't even outs yet. I'm panicking!

Same thing happened to me. Raccoons were pretty scarce. We always had lots of skunks. Last year I ger chickens and all of the sudden I have a family of raccoons and within a couple months a family of oppossums joined them, but I haven't saw a skunk in a couple years. These guys live within 20 ft of the coop/run in the trees. I added electric fence about a month after the chickens went outside because I did notice attempts to get in. I left exposed hardware cloth on both sides of the gate and i found blood from them getting ripped up trying to get in. Very unsettling.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Same thing happened to me. Raccoons were pretty scarce. We always had lots of skunks. Last year I ger chickens and all of the sudden I have a family of raccoons and within a couple months a family of oppossums joined them, but I haven't saw a skunk in a couple years. These guys live within 20 ft of the coop/run in the trees. I added electric fence about a month after the chickens went outside because I did notice attempts to get in. I left exposed hardware cloth on both sides of the gate and i found blood from them getting ripped up trying to get in. Very unsettling.

I have already had a huge mommy and babies in my chimney since living here, caught two opposum trying to eliminate a feral cat issue next door. Haven't had coon problems till this year all the sudden, getting into rubbish can. I'm thinking the smell of the chicken bedding in the can might of brought it in. I'm not to excited put my chickens outside.

 

[sylviethecochin]

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 would argue that adapting to a new food source is "natural" behaviour.

 

[sylviethecochin]

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).

There were a few rabies cases confirmed in my area four years ago, so I'm highly suspicious of any animal that acts "weird." And coming onto the property is weird, due to the level of activity, lack of edible trash, and large dogs. So there have been a few animals over the years that caught a bullet to the head.

Also, I'm of the opinion that by buying and caring for the hens, I've accepted all responsibility for them and their quality of life. I've not accepted responsibility for the raccoon.

And my dogs don't do 'dog sh*t' like that—it would not be tolerated. I live in a rural area, and a dog that kills chickens would rapidly end up being a dead dog buried in someone's woods. And honestly, I wouldn't even blame the person that shot the dog.

 

[danceswithronin]

There were a few rabies cases confirmed in my area four years ago, so I'm highly suspicious of any animal that acts "weird." And coming onto the property is weird, due to the level of activity, lack of edible trash, and large dogs. So there have been a few animals over the years that caught a bullet to the head.

Also, I'm of the opinion that by buying and caring for the hens, I've accepted all responsibility for them and their quality of life. I've not accepted responsibility for the raccoon.

And my dogs don't do 'dog sh*t' like that—it would not be tolerated. I live in a rural area, and a dog that kills chickens would rapidly end up being a dead dog buried in someone's woods. And honestly, I wouldn't even blame the person that shot the dog.

I'm not talking about free ranging loose dogs, I'm saying if I have my chicken run in my backyard with my dogs and I have a chicken escape and the dogs eat it, that's not the dogs' fault because killing a small animal in its territory is what many breeds of dog would do without thinking twice about it.

I support the right of farmers to shoot dogs raiding their livestock. Not the same as a possum or a coon. And I don't even disagree with the right of people shooting possums and coons, I just think it's pointless death and that drowning them in the trap as some people do is cruel. If you must kill a varmint, shoot it. Call a pest control company if you're in the city. Or set it free elsewhere.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I'm not talking about free ranging loose dogs, I'm saying if I have my chicken run in my backyard with my dogs and I have a chicken escape and the dogs eat it, that's not the dogs' fault because killing a small animal in its territory is what many breeds of dog would do without thinking twice about it.

I support the right of farmers to shoot dogs raiding their livestock. Not the same as a possum or a coon. And I don't even disagree with the right of people shooting possums and coons, I just think it's pointless death and that drowning them in the trap as some people do is cruel. If you must kill a varmint, shoot it. Call a pest control company if you're in the city. Or set it free elsewhere.

Some people live in town and can't dispose of a problem animal by shooting it, though. Drowning isn't a pretty way to die, but a problem raccoon or (worse) mink, can get through all but the very best of predator proofing. I'd rather give that animal a cruel death than have it give one of my hens a cruel death.

 

[danceswithronin]

Some people live in town and can't dispose of a problem animal by shooting it, though. Drowning isn't a pretty way to die, but a problem raccoon or (worse) mink, can get through all but the very best of predator proofing. I'd rather give that animal a cruel death than have it give one of my hens a cruel death.

People in the city can call wildlife management companies who will relocate the animal, or animal control.

Folks, I would implore you to at least try to call animal control if put in the position that drowning something to death is your only other option. I used to work for municipal animal control. Controlling nuisance animals is literally their entire tax-funded job, and many will remove the animal for you if it is already trapped. This varies by area, but a lot of them will.

 

[sylviethecochin]

People in the city can call wildlife management companies who will relocate the animal, or animal control.

I'm talking small town, 2-3,000 people. Not city. Neither of the local towns have animal control--if it's needed, it's pretty much the domain of the sheriff. There is a pest control, in the "city" (30 miles away) It's a private business, from 9-8:00, Mon-Fri. I believe they do rats and wasps.