dont know what to do

[heather112588]

There has been a raccoon trying to break into the coop the last few days. well i finally caught it in a live trap and had to "deal with it" 2 mornings ago. The odd thing is my chickens weren't scared of it while it was in the trap and i find that bothering. Granted they were raised around cats that never messed with them but shouldn't they have a natural instinct that says hey this isnt a cat and means you harm. My roos proceed to inch closer and closer to the trap to check him out... im worried.

 

[thebirdguy]

Hey.. Mama had the big bad raccoon all locked up and besides you gotta show off a little for the ladies!!

I wouldn't worry about it. Most animals are curious, especially about new things in their environment. The roos were being cautious in their investigation and were more than likely just assessing the situation.

 

[CMV]

You should be worried. Chickens have little natural fear for predators until they are taught what a predator can do to them. That's a hard and generally fatal lesson. Chickens are frequently yanked through their run fences by raccoons intent on a meal. Why are they even going near the fence when there is something waiting outside it to eat them? Because they are curious, and don't know any better. My birds never feared hawks until a hawk ripped apart one of their coop mates. To their credit, once the lesson is learned it stays learned, and now my hens freak out if they seeing any large bird in the sky. Chickens need our protection because they are not exactly brilliant about what's in their best interests.

You dealt with the raccoon that was harassing your birds this time. You will have others in the future, no doubt. Good luck with them, too.

 

[sourland]

This is one of the reasons hardware cloth is recommended for use on chicken pens. Coons can actually reach through chicken or large diameter welded wire and grab a chicken's head. Fear of mammals seems to be a learned process whereas fear of flying predators seems to be instinctive.

 

[Wynette]

I really enjoy ALL my chickens, and I'll probably come under fire for saying this....but, I don't find any of them to be the sharpest knives in the drawer.

 

[heather112588]

i only found it odd because they had a natural fear of hawks without ever having to learn the hard way... But i think they thought the raccoon was a cat or something (which all 4 of our cats have never once harassed our birds so they coexist with each other peacefully). I just thought that they would have a natural fear of them and yes- they aren't the brightest bulb.

 

[chkn]

Seems like chickens are dumb right when they don't need to be.

 

[Tala]

My chickens got attacked by a raccoon once but I came out and scared it away. After that my roo who (had attempted to flog the raccoon) would raise cain about raccoons that I trapped. However, after trapping about 10 of them he seemed to forget how bad they are.

He no longer squalks about the ones in the trap, I guess because he figured out that they can't get to him

but I am sure he can't differentiate between a trapped coon and a loose one so I wish he was still afraid of them.

Yes they can learn that coons are bad, and usually chickens end up getting killed during the "learning process" but they can also learn to not be afraid anymore, so now mine are right back where they started

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Remember to keep setting that trap . Raccoons are so thick around here that I suspect there is some kind of raccoon cloning machine running nearby.