Face-to-face with daytime raccoon, now what?

[My Three Chicks]

I have 3 hens I let free range in my Seattle suburban backyard (1/3 acre) when I am at home (which is everyday right now because I work from home). I'm able to check on them often and also keep an eye and ear out for anything unusual. So this afternoon around 3:30pm I'm looking at them out the window I see one of my girls standing by the fence erect (like on alert) and when I look closer sure enough there is a smallish racoon sitting on the fence not 4 feet from her. It was just looking at her. So I ran outside as fast as I can to try to scare it. It didn't move initially so I tried throwing rocks at it and it scurried up the tree. It's now still up in the tree an hour later. My dog is now monitoring it closely.

I'm so scared it's going to come back until it gets one of my chickens. Would a small racoon attack a full-grown hen? I thought it was uncommon for racoons to come out during the day, is this a fluke?

I'm now going out of town for the next 4-5 days and have a house/dog/chicken sitter staying over. I don't expect her to be as vigilant as I am with the girls. Should I keep them locked up in their run while I'm away?

Please let me know your thoughts on the racoon behavior/risk. And what you think I should do.

 

[nuthatched]

It will be back and likely bring friends. Make triply sure your coop is secure.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

We have this problem where I live. The expert I consulted said that if you are seeing them during the day they are very acclimated to humans and comfortable and prolific. So, yes, it will be back. If it doesn't have success it might give up. I had a raccoon attack and had to move the girls to a different run while I shored things up. Had another attack early one morning last fall. Both attacks happened when the hens were sleeping out in the run but that's another story lol. The expert told me that if a raccoon gets scared it will emit an odor to warn other raccoons to avoid the area. He also said they leave a scent trail and this gets reinforced when they don't encounter a threat. This might sound gross but we haven't had problems since I had my husband and his friend use the area around the chicken run as an outdoor urinal when they're drinking beer and working on a car. I have no scientific evidence this works and its obviously not for everyone lol

 

[My Three Chicks]

We have this problem where I live. The expert I consulted said that if you are seeing them during the day they are very acclimated to humans and comfortable and prolific. So, yes, it will be back. If it doesn't have success it might give up. I had a raccoon attack and had to move the girls to a different run while I shored things up. Had another attack early one morning last fall. Both attacks happened when the hens were sleeping out in the run but that's another story lol. The expert told me that if a raccoon gets scared it will emit an odor to warn other raccoons to avoid the area. He also said they leave a scent trail and this gets reinforced when they don't encounter a threat. This might sound gross but we haven't had problems since I had my husband and his friend use the area around the chicken run as an outdoor urinal when they're drinking beer and working on a car. I have no scientific evidence this works and its obviously not for everyone lol

This is what I was afraid of. Sigh. Will keep them in their Run while I'm away and figure out a solution. Maybe try to trap and relocate them? Not sure how successful that will be.

Did your attacks happen during the day? I think you said morning so it was daylight?

 

[XAshleyX]

Last summer I had raccoons coming out at noon. My chickens were right in front of me as I was sitting down and the raccoon had no fear and approached us. There were many instances during summer where it would be the middle of the day and there were raccoons in the yard who were very interested in my chickens. They weren't easily scared either.
That's just my personal experience with them, but if I were away, I definitely wouldn't let them free range. I'd feel more comfortable knowing they're safe in their run for a few days.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

This is what I was afraid of. Sigh. Will keep them in their Run while I'm away and figure out a solution. Maybe try to trap and relocate them? Not sure how successful that will be.

Did your attacks happen during the day? I think you said morning so it was daylight?

One attack happened at dawn and the other at about 4 am. We see them waddling down the street in broad daylight though. The exterminator told me he could spend weeks trapping and taking them out of city limits to kill them but it would be a waste of money with a problem that big. Its a neighborhood problem. He suggested if I encounter one again to let it have it with a shovel. Our first attack the raccoon was so brazen-i threw things at him, had the dog out, the neighbors' dog was flipping out on the other side of the fence and I even went and got the BB gun. He stared at me and wouldnt budge. The bb gun was out of air or that might have given him a scare but next time I fully plan on whacking him with the shovel. I might not be able to kill him but it will give him a second thought about coming back.

 

[My Three Chicks]

One attack happened at dawn and the other at about 4 am. We see them waddling down the street in broad daylight though. The exterminator told me he could spend weeks trapping and taking them out of city limits to kill them but it would be a waste of money with a problem that big. Its a neighborhood problem. He suggested if I encounter one again to let it have it with a shovel. Our first attack the raccoon was so brazen-i threw things at him, had the dog out, the neighbors' dog was flipping out on the other side of the fence and I even went and got the BB gun. He stared at me and wouldnt budge. The bb gun was out of air or that might have given him a scare but next time I fully plan on whacking him with the shovel. I might not be able to kill him but it will give him a second thought about coming back.

I'm with you all I had nearby were rocks but didn't land one. I don't want to kill/hurt them indiscriminately but if my hens are threatened I have no problem with bringing some major pain. I'll keep a shovel close by. It still in the tree. It I had a BB gun I'd totally shoot at it.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I'm with you all I had nearby were rocks but didn't land one. I don't want to kill/hurt them indiscriminately but if my hens are threatened I have no problem with bringing some major pain. I'll keep a shovel close by. It still in the tree. It I had a BB gun I'd totally shoot at it.

In my old neighborhood we had an agreement with the neighbors that no one would call the cops if they heard a gun shot until we were sure it wasn't for a raccoon. I wouldnt try it in my current neighborhood lol

 

[My Three Chicks]

Last summer I had raccoons coming out at noon. My chickens were right in front of me as I was sitting down and the raccoon had no fear and approached us. There were many instances during summer where it would be the middle of the day and there were raccoons in the yard who were very interested in my chickens. They weren't easily scared either.
That's just my personal experience with them, but if I were away, I definitely wouldn't let them free range. I'd feel more comfortable knowing they're safe in their run for a few days.

Wow yeah this one wasn't in a hurry to get away.
Did they ever try to attack your chickens?
Did they just eventually move on or what happened to them?

 

[XAshleyX]

Wow yeah this one wasn't in a hurry to get away.
Did they ever try to attack your chickens?
Did they just eventually move on or what happened to them?

They did not attack my chickens because I scared them off each time. I had to get the hose and spray one once because it just would not be scared off. It seemed to hate the water. My chickens only free range with supervision because we have so many predators. Unfortunately they did not move on. I have a camera and it's triggered pretty often due to raccoons so they're still around.