Hey, Will Raccoons Eat My Chickens?

[DLA]

Our dogs were barking at the grasshopper farting in the grass. At least, that's what we initially thought. Then, my husband spotted a bandit with stripes peering into our 2nd floor window, straight across from the top of his garage...he was LARGE!!! He told me with baited breath about the size of this interloper staring back at him, and thought of the different colored eggs that I collect everyday. Now, a raccoon might eat these eggs, but now I'm wondering, could a large raccoon devour my beautiful bird babies? Just asking for advice and information from some of you long time chicken mommies, if this may be a threat? If so, shotgun is handy....my husband says that this furry character is probably around 40 or 50lbs. and our dogs are not big enough to handle him. Ignore, trap or shoot it?

Raccoons will certainly eat chickens and keep coming back until they are all gone. They can be quite aggressive predators. They can't open carabiner clips, I've seen them try and fail. They can't chew thru small gauge hardware cloth but you do have to put an apron on the coop/run cause they will dig to get in. Don't use wire with larger holes because they'll reach thru and grab the chickens. They're pretty smart. You can just shoot them or trap then shoot which is easier in my opinion. We have a lot around so I leave them alone unless they're trying to get into my coop/run. I never leave my chickens out unsupervised. If you see one there's likely more. Wild bird feeders or any food left outside (like a compost pile for kitchen scraps) will draw them.

 

[Zenmonkey]

I see you're in Florida. I'm in PA. Exactly once in my life, as I was about to relocate a day-walking skunk in my yard to another plane of existence, and it occurred to me that the proper way to handle a furbearer would be to consult the state commission dedicated to such things. So I called them.

Oh my yes! That's the way to do it. You're not supposed to take matters into your own hands. Call either of these two numbers and they'll help you right away.

Strange that they're offering 2 numbers, rather than just transferring me to another department, but OK.

This was a quarter century ago. I'm telling old man stories from my youth. I say this in case someone is incredulous that a human answered the phone. It used to be that way back in the day before the AI came to power.

The numbers were for professional nuisance control trappers. They offered me a rate per trap per day, no guarantees as to actual removals. I was welcome to pay for as many traps for as long as I wanted. They took credit card numbers. Average cost to solve a problem ran about $300 back then, so I was told.

Just tossing that out there. Perhaps in some places asking the government for help is useful.

 

[TOR]

They can have worms though

cook to temperature, extra protien. hahaha
But raccoon roundworm can be very serious. Known cases of young children which died . The worm can migrate in the body.
The couple cases I have seen is very small children, very small young children like to put stuff in thier mouths. get raccoons in park settings etc and leave their droppings in the grass.Worm eggs in the droppings.
Raccoons are part of the eco system. Plenty of them by me. Just have a coop they cannot get into, have a game camera. If the predators cannot gain entry they will lose interest and move on.

 

[Tormund]

Our dogs were barking at the grasshopper farting in the grass. At least, that's what we initially thought. Then, my husband spotted a bandit with stripes peering into our 2nd floor window, straight across from the top of his garage...he was LARGE!!! He told me with baited breath about the size of this interloper staring back at him, and thought of the different colored eggs that I collect everyday. Now, a raccoon might eat these eggs, but now I'm wondering, could a large raccoon devour my beautiful bird babies? Just asking for advice and information from some of you long time chicken mommies, if this may be a threat? If so, shotgun is handy....my husband says that this furry character is probably around 40 or 50lbs. and our dogs are not big enough to handle him. Ignore, trap or shoot it?

Raccoons will absolutely kill chickens and will keep coming back if they discover an easy meal. Racoons are nocturnal though so make sure all eggs are picked up before dark and keep your hens inside the coop from an hour before sunset to an hour after sunrise if you free range them.

 

[Shoshannim55]

Our dogs were barking at the grasshopper farting in the grass. At least, that's what we initially thought. Then, my husband spotted a bandit with stripes peering into our 2nd floor window, straight across from the top of his garage...he was LARGE!!! He told me with bated breath about the size of this interloper staring back at him, and thought of the different colored eggs that I collect everyday. Now, a raccoon might eat these eggs, but now I'm wondering, could a large raccoon devour my beautiful bird babies? Just asking for advice and information from some of you long time chicken mommies, if this may be a threat? If so, shotgun is handy....my husband says that this furry character is probably around 40 or 50lbs. and our dogs are not big enough to handle him. Ignore, trap or shoot it?

A raccoon killed all of my daughter’s chickens in a single night! They can eat right thru chicken wire with no trouble. If you trap it be careful they can be super dangerous if they are trapped. Plus you need to take it more than15 miles away if you don’t want it to come back.

 

[Campshappy]

Our dogs were barking at the grasshopper farting in the grass. At least, that's what we initially thought. Then, my husband spotted a bandit with stripes peering into our 2nd floor window, straight across from the top of his garage...he was LARGE!!! He told me with bated breath about the size of this interloper staring back at him, and thought of the different colored eggs that I collect everyday. Now, a raccoon might eat these eggs, but now I'm wondering, could a large raccoon devour my beautiful bird babies? Just asking for advice and information from some of you long time chicken mommies, if this may be a threat? If so, shotgun is handy....my husband says that this furry character is probably around 40 or 50lbs. and our dogs are not big enough to handle him. Ignore, trap or shoot it?

Get rid of them! They eat the heads and basically kill for sport. Gruesome scenes

 

[Campshappy]

Get rid of them! They eat the heads and basically kill for sport. Gruesome scenes

 

[Caitboyce]

Our dogs were barking at the grasshopper farting in the grass. At least, that's what we initially thought. Then, my husband spotted a bandit with stripes peering into our 2nd floor window, straight across from the top of his garage...he was LARGE!!! He told me with bated breath about the size of this interloper staring back at him, and thought of the different colored eggs that I collect everyday. Now, a raccoon might eat these eggs, but now I'm wondering, could a large raccoon devour my beautiful bird babies? Just asking for advice and information from some of you long time chicken mommies, if this may be a threat? If so, shotgun is handy....my husband says that this furry character is probably around 40 or 50lbs. and our dogs are not big enough to handle him. Ignore, trap or shoot it?

Simple advice from someone who was bitten by a raccoon and had to

Our dogs were barking at the grasshopper farting in the grass. At least, that's what we initially thought. Then, my husband spotted a bandit with stripes peering into our 2nd floor window, straight across from the top of his garage...he was LARGE!!! He told me with baited breath about the size of this interloper staring back at him, and thought of the different colored eggs that I collect everyday. Now, a raccoon might eat these eggs, but now I'm wondering, could a large raccoon devour my beautiful bird babies? Just asking for advice and information from some of you long time chicken mommies, if this may be a threat? If so, shotgun is handy....my husband says that this furry character is probably around 40 or 50lbs. and our dogs are not big enough to handle him. Ignore, trap or shoot it?

As someone who was bitten by a raccoon and had to undergo the rabies series of injections, and pardon my bluntness, they will tear your chickens, ducks, turkeys, cats and small dogs to shreds. Their teeth are like needles. Trap and release and BE CAREFUL!

 

[ViggoRoo]

I trap my interlopers and cart them off to a nature spot. We are rural and for whatever reason (not very progressive) there is a "city" lake that is not at all tended to. Has a natural walking trail around it where I often take my dogs. I let the coons go there. That way they have a water source. I always look down on people who take the easy way out and say, "just shoot it." But someone has to be on that rung of the ladder I guess. Just not me.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Our dogs were barking at the grasshopper farting in the grass. At least, that's what we initially thought. Then, my husband spotted a bandit with stripes peering into our 2nd floor window, straight across from the top of his garage...he was LARGE!!! He told me with baited breath about the size of this interloper staring back at him, and thought of the different colored eggs that I collect everyday. Now, a raccoon might eat these eggs, but now I'm wondering, could a large raccoon devour my beautiful bird babies? Just asking for advice and information from some of you long time chicken mommies, if this may be a threat? If so, shotgun is handy....my husband says that this furry character is probably around 40 or 50lbs. and our dogs are not big enough to handle him. Ignore, trap or shoot it?

yeah, they eat birds. had one stop by for a few weeks, bit the head off my blue egg layer, and one of my RIR. last year I lost 14 birds 'cause a whole family of racoons made a den on the edge of my property. I felt bad for them though, so I relocated the raccoons to an unpopulated area of woods. that's not exactly legal, just saying you don't need to shoot the raccoons if you don't want to.