electric fence and racoons? ideas?

[Jo Anne]

Ok so last night my dog who is a 4 mth puppy lab showed a few signs something was wrong. Hindsight is 20/20. I heard my girls screaming I went out side with my 2 dogs. I didn't see anything at first, but then there was 2 big eyed racoons having a stare down with me up in the tree. My tractor has removable sides once I saw the racoons I walked over to the tractor and noticed one side off and my hens gone! I cried out loud NOOOO but my girls heard me and started coming towards me.

The problem was my lab was outside and as I scooped two up in my arms, my lab was jumping up trying to get them I fell backwards on a bush still holding the hens and kicking at my pup

whom I love and would never harm. I had to get the hens back in their home, but there was still one out in the yard, so I put the 2 hens in side the house and ran to get the other hen. Whew..once all three were in the coop, i found bungiee cords to secure the sides.

So today I went to TSC and purchase supplies for a small electric fence enclosure. I move the tractor to the other side of the yard by a window I so I can see them. Let's hope tonight goes all safe and sound...

I really dislike racoons!

I hope my voltage is high enough!

 

[ChaoSS]

While you are at the TSC you might want to look into a trap for them, best to be a little proactive with getting rid of those vermin.

 

[bugflipper]

For a cage trap marshmallows are about the best raccoon bait I have found.

On the electric fence be sure to attach your poultry fence to the ground on the charger. Also it is advise able to pour water on your ground stake to be sure that the soil is moist around it. Since it's a tractor odds are you won't want a ground rod that you have to hammer in deeply then have to remove often. The zapping is accomplished when the critter hits the hot wire and is grounded. It won't work well is the ground is not able to have contact with moisture. They are very smart so how ever they manipulated the side to get it off is where the hot wire needs to be. Hopefully they will brace themselves on the cage simotaneously while touching the hot wire and get a very good shock to know your chickens are dangerous. Without completely removing them you will likely have ongoing issues though, as they are very crafty.
Good luck.

 

[centrarchid]

When such happens encourage pups interest in those raccoons. Later when pup mature he / she will be a very effective alarm and is allowed will chase / dispatch raccoons himself / herself later.

 

[Jo Anne]

For a cage trap marshmallows are about the best raccoon bait I have found.

On the electric fence be sure to attach your poultry fence to the ground on the charger. Also it is advise able to pour water on your ground stake to be sure that the soil is moist around it. Since it's a tractor odds are you won't want a ground rod that you have to hammer in deeply then have to remove often. The zapping is accomplished when the critter hits the hot wire and is grounded. It won't work well is the ground is not able to have contact with moisture. They are very smart so how ever they manipulated the side to get it off is where the hot wire needs to be. Hopefully they will brace themselves on the cage simotaneously while touching the hot wire and get a very good shock to know your chickens are dangerous. Without completely removing them you will likely have ongoing issues though, as they are very crafty.
Good luck.

bugflipper i want to make sure i understand this. i did pound in the ground rod, and poured water on the rod last night. I think you are saying to put some of the electric fence wire on the side that they removed.

 

[Trefoil]

electric fence is very portable, so ideal to protect your tractor. IN ADDITION TO predator proofing your tractor. For Right now run 2 wires around the tractor, I would put then at least a foot or more away from the tractor, but that's up to you. Coons aren't vermin, they are predators and if people set out a buffet for them, they are going to take advantage of it. There are 2 ways to handle it, you can try to eradicate the world of predators or you can predator proof you chicken accommodations. If you don't predator proof their housing you are going to have continual losses, no matter how many predators you kill and then you will be posting about trying to get rid of the rats,mice and other "vermin" , whose predators you have reduced. Once you predator proof your housing, you can enjoy your chickens, the local wildlife, and worry about other things.

 

[centrarchid]

Jo Anne,

Make so coop / tractor has electric fencing very close to it. When raccoons try to get into tractor they will repeatedly expose themselves to hotwire making effort very unpleasant. The dog comment I made should be ignored. I have lots of wildlife and many birds sleep outside without actual containment. Dogs make that possible. Having properly placed electric fencing perimeters, including electrified poultry netting help greatly.

 

[bugflipper]

Yes ma'am, the hot wires should deter them from getting near the whole tractor. They are very intelligent and will work in teams. Not only do you have to worry of them opening it up. Also they have the ability to startle and distract the birds. One racoon laying in wait with his paws in the cage if the wire is large enough. The others pouncing and making noise to chase the birds to their awaiting buddy. He latches on and systematically pulls pieces of the bird through the wire.

You can either make a fence around the tractor. Having the first hot string 2-4" off the ground then additional hot strings 4-6" apart to prevent them sliding through. Use poultry netting electric fence wire which makes a tall barrier fence. Both ways will be a pain as you need to move your tractor so fence posts have to come up each time and the fence re-installed in the new location.

A simpler solution would be to use insulators that nail to wood. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/zarebareg;-yellow-polytape-wood-post-insulator?cm_vc=-10005

Put them around the bottom to allow for unmowed grass height, maybe 4" or so. String another mid way, say 4-6" or so higher to catch them in the belly if they try to stand and prop on the tractor. Run a hot wire that you can easily untwist from the top to bottom string, wherever they figured out how to get the door off. So just loosely attached vertical strings in the problem area where they got the door off.
Just set up the electric wire so you can easily get in it for your eggs, to water and feed by simply unplugging the charger. However make it very probable to light them up so they know that chickens mean danger. An effective way to teach them is to put peanut butter on the electric fence. Be advised it sometimes does kill them though, if you are wanting to prevent that. If they lick the peanut butter or grab it with their hands they get a terrible shock and run away. If it's a mean one and he gets mad and bites the fence for getting him, then he's a goner.

Since your ground rod will need to be easily removed just water it with the chickens if there has been no rain that week. Don't forget to run a ground wire to the existing pen wire as it will ensure the circuit is shorted out if they are touching the hot wire and put their little paws on the cage.
Have a good day.

 

[ChaoSS]

Just a thought on electric wire on a tractor or moveable pen. There's no reason why you would need to drive a grounding rod into the ground at all. Instead of running a single hot wire everywhere you want to protect, run a hot wire and a ground wire right next to each other so that anything trying to get into the enclosure will have to touch them both. So long as the wires aren't touching, you are good to go. People use a grounding rod and ruin the circuit through the ground because it is simpler to do so, but if you are moving the system on any sort of regular basis, it's no longer simpler to work that way and it's going to be easier to go with a two wire system.

 

[Jo Anne]

the charger I picked up is .05 is that enough?