how long after dark does a raccoon come out?

[Melissa_WV]

Here in WV we expect raccoons to come out at night. On my game camera footage I spotted one at 4 in the afternoon just this summer. It was entering the henhouse and dining on cracked corn. He poked his head out the hen door every 2 minutes or so and stayed in about 20 minutes total. He also does laps around the henhouse at night about every 2 hours looking for a way in anytime from full dark to just before sunup. We installed a game camera to figure out who was killing our free range hens, turns out raccoons are the worst!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Raccoons are active at all times of the day or night. For instance in the past I patrolled the yellow poplar den trees on the neighborhood creeks when the Sun was out, the temperature was cold, and the wind still. You could almost always find a coon or two spread out on the tree limbs taking in the midday Sun. The thing to be on the lookout for is the coons' bush or tail hanging down from or peeking over the tree limb. If a good shot did not at first present itself then a big ol squeaky-sucky-kiss on the back of you hand would get the best of the coons' curiosity and he would be sure to bestire himself enough to see where the strange coon was calling from. That is your opportunity to perform a little lead-based coon plasticsurgery and turn Mr Raccoon into a three-eyed coon.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I would secure them. If you can help it, don't ever leave door open after dark. Plus you never know, you might get detained or delayed.... Foxes, Coons, coyotes, Owls.... a lot of animals will go through an open coop door for a chicken dinner. And like Aprophet said, it has a lot to do with your behavior patterns. The coons might just watch til you leave to go check things out. I would not put it past them.

 

[deepbluesea]

I'd definitely shut them up before you left--the lack of people activity with an open coop and sleepy chickens would be a sign that the buffet was open for the raccoons.

 

[cmom]

 

[spookymonster]

I would keep the coop door closed to keep them safe if a coon is hungry enough it will make it's way to eat on them.. just last night I had a raccoon eat on of our baby kittens. this is the 2nd time it's happened in a year. we have two wild cats that both have baby's that we feed. the mama cat just felt comfortable enough to bring her babies to the front porch wher the other bigger stray cats sleep. and I walked out to see blood everywhere and the coon was eating the kitten. I chased it away and picked up the remaining body parts and stood up all night making sure it didn't come back to get another. it did come back but I was able to scare it off. as for the mama cat she stayed with her other two babies and just kept meowing crying. looking for her other one. she kept smelling wher the coon get it so I had to poor some vinegar water so she wouldn't smell her sent anymore.. so keep your pets safe. better then Lossing one or more to the coons.

 

[Penpal]

They are for sure out between 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.

How soon they leave the den can depend on how far away they have to go to get food; if the summer has very long days and the winter very long nights, or if it is more even.

I once opened my back door to check on my chickens and a small raccoon was not two feet from my door. It looked at me but did not seem fearful at all. This was well before dusk, about 8 p.m.

If you see a raccoon in the middle of the day it is probably rabid, call animal control. Or, just shoot it.