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kitsunegari

kitsunegari

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I'm a longtime lurker, but I just created an account recently. I had a small flock of 3 Buff Orpingtons and 1 Red Star for a year, but sadly they were all killed by a raccoon a couple weeks ago. It was a really traumatic day, since I really loved my birds. They all had names and were sweet as can be. I've never seen a raccoon in my neighborhood before, but a neighbor has started to leave large bowls of food out for her "pet" cats (and possums and raccoons), so I imagine that might be what attracted them. I'm very careful with securing food and making sure none is left outside for critters to eat at night.

I'm starting over with 3 RIRs and 2 Black Australorp chickies (still inside in the brooder) and am tightening my coop up better. It was raised off the ground, but the raccoon was able to figure out my simple latches and open the egg door to get inside. I'm thinking, since it's a mobile coop, that I want to attach a low-voltage electric wire around the perimeter of the bottom of the coop (which is enclosed with wire for cooping the birds up when I'm not going to be home) and only plug it in at night when the girls are asleep. I'll put the wire around racoon nose height. I'm also going to put a little coyote urine around the perimeter of the yard. If I still lived in Kentucky, I'd worry about attracting coyotes by doing that, but we don't have coyotes here in New Orleans.

If anyone has any advice for securing a coop against a raccoon, I'm all ears. I've read a few posts on here about it, so I'm definitely going to bolt down any hardware cloth I use as well as make sure to use more complicated latches (or just more latches in general). Any advice about what kind of fencing to use would be great. I don't want to harm my birds inadvertently, so the lower the voltage the better. I just want to zing that critter if he gets any more ideas about killing my birds. What a greedy bugger. He only ate one, but killed all four just out of spite!

Attached is a picture of my coop.
 
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I'm in the Baton Rouge area. I think if you secured the coop with hardware cloth instead of chicken wire and strengthen your latches, the electricity will be unneeded.I would be worried about the intricacies of harming the predator and not the birds, while also preventing any sort of possible fire hazard (though unlikely, its possible). Your birds were beautiful and I'm sorry for your loss.
 
There was a window on one end of the coop only secured with chicken wire, and I'm going to replace that with hardware cloth. I don't want to cover it with wood, since I don't want the birds to overheat in there. The fenced/run area of the coop is just for keeping the birds in when I can't watch them, and since there is a solid wood ramp that I raise at night, nothing could get in through the bottom even if it did find itself inside the enclosed run. It's not open underneath the bottom of the "house" part, if that makes sense. Sorry, it's hard to explain. Thanks much for the thoughts! I'm still not sure about the electric fence. It might be overkill. I'm just really paranoid now 0_0
 
I understand what you're describing and think your plan will work. I totally get the paranoia. It's devastating to lose them after so much hard work. I'd maybe try the other adjustments and reconsider the electric fencing
 
I always worry with tractor styles, that a predator will either dig under them or be strong enough to turn them over on their side. Some say that playing a loud radio at night will keep preds away. I guess it depends on what type of music. So sorry for your loss, I'm sure Raccoons are among the most hated predators.
 
This coop is really solid and heavy. It takes me and my husband together to lift and move it and probably weighs 175-200lbs. I'm not terribly worried about the wildlife (at least around here) tipping it over. Maybe if I lived somewhere with bigger animals than raccoons I'd worry (my friend in Colorado has to secure his coop against bears and mountain lions 0_0). The only critters we have in my neighborhood (according to the retired guy up the street who traps animals as a hobby LOL) are raccoons and possums. And yes, raccoons are the worst. I didn't hate them before, but I sure do now.
 
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