i hate racoons

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
When the racoons/coyotes/possums/weasels/whatever/fillintheblank gets a job and spends the money to build a coop, buy the feed, raise the chickens to eating/laying size, spends 2.4 hours daily filling feeders, washing waterers, shoveling poop, and a hundred other chores to be done they are welcome to share in the 'harvest'. Until that time, when they raid* the chicken coop, they are not foraging the forest for food, they become thieves.

*to steal from; loot; to indulge oneself by taking from, esp. in order to eat

 

[bluey]

Quote:
Screws and big metal washers work best for securing hardware cloth on coops...

Just an FYI...I love using the 1 inch diameter washers.

As for raccoons...I just send them right up to Jesus!

 

[Fudgie]

Now as to the hatred of raccoons, they are non-forgiving jerks. They can go hunt on someone else's land. What do they think we set them up with a drive thru! this is not McDonalds and the chicken nuggets are not for sale or free for the taking, and neither are the free food morsels for my babies! YES THEY ARE MY BABIES!!! Sorry for having feelings for the things I bought and raise and care for.

Wanna story about how well I love my babies! "Little Black Girl" cost my daughter 75 cents at an auction. This was the very first chicken she actually bought with her own money. "LBG" was only about 5 weeks old if that. My daughter fell in love with her and she is the sweetest little thing just minding her own business eating bugs and clucking around the yard. WELL DH being the dumb butt he can be let the chocolate lab out the other day before we had a chance to put the babies up.

I call them babies but they are close to a year old now. (I think DH is really blonde under the black labrador hair he has on his head!) (sorry blondies but hey) Anyway Chocolate Lab decided Little Black girl was gonna be lunch and proceeded to chase her little cuteness all over the barn. She just about escaped when here came the lab again and proceeded to pin her between the cattle gate and the dog panels we use for their pens. Of course I could not get there quickly to rescue her as fast as I wanted to. but I did make it in time. Little miss Chocolate lab has a headache and her tail is probably pulled away from her butt because I DID yank her out by her lip and her butt. along with a few swift kicks to the noggin. Needless to say DH is in the doghouse with Chocolate lab woman.

When DD and I finally retrieved "Little Black girl" from behind the dog panels I noticed a big rip in her skin under her wing. It was surface rips and not to the muscle.

I told DD to take her into the house and get a towel to wrap her in to keep her warm. When I got into the house, I yanked my shoes and socks off and climbed into the bath tub to start the healing process (thank God it was warm enough for shorts! LOL) and started some lukewarm water filling up. I knew I had to get her washed off quickly and remove all the dirt from the wound. Choco woman had her smushed into a hole in the dirt and was munching on her like crazy, like a crazed wild animal that had not eaten in a month. As I was washing I found WOUNDS not just 1 but 3 different places this stupid dog got her. Her wing looked like it was almost ripped in half but it was not, She just removed a LOT of her feathers on the wing. Her side had a big rip and her leg(yes you sickies the drumstick) had a big rip on it.

Well being the wonderful seamstress I am, I decided to grab the needle and thread and at least pull her little skin back where it was supposed to be and close it up so no infection can just easily get in there. (there was not blood on her side or on her leg just the wing.) DD held her so I could perform surgery and LBG just sat there like a trooper. DD said "Look Mom, she trusts you so much she is not even moving and she is just softly clucking."

She never acted like it hurt her at all! She allowed me to sew up a hole about the size of a pepsi can top on her side and another all across the fatty part of her leg without flinching at all! Needless to say DH is still on the S list of the family. Especially when he said, "Good Lord, it is just a danged 75 cent chicken for God's sake!" OHHHH that had me fuming! un I don't care if it was hatched or free or 750 dollars, it is my baby and my job to take care of them and be a steward to these cuties. part of being a steward is to remove the mongrels that harm my babies! If that means trapping and murdering coons then so be it. We annihilated 14 in a week span after they raged war on my mille fleurs!

Anyhoo, LBG is living in the house in a rubber maid container until the wounds heal and partially to make my DH suffer a bit for the harm he brought on our babies, and I see no infection. She is healing well for only being in the house for a couple days. She loves it in the house and is a good girl, I think she is getting kind of broody too because we have her right by the newly incubated hatchlings!

 

[balticbabe]

I would work on securing the coop rather than trying to kill all the predators.

Two of my neighbors gave up on chicken raising since they kept losing them to racoons. One neighbor kept shooting them but there are always more not to mention the possums, minks, dogs etc. So far our coop's security is working.

 

[miss_jayne]

ahhhh, i don't hate raccoons, they're great deep fried and next to potatoes!

okay, i never ate a raccoon, BUT, if i dealt with what you are, i just might.

 

[mikeksfarmer]

Racoon wars. I ordered 15 brown egg chicks this spring. kept them in a box with a light bulb until they were several weeks old. Then out to the yard in a big cage with light for warmth. One morning saw this cute moma coon with 3 very small kits in my front yard. So started setting the trap. Remove several coons. Swimming trap dosent work. One night coons get into my pen eat half my chickens in one night, injure two. Ok, move chicks to a new better cage next night on watch. 10pm Three mama coons and at least 6 kits. Three nights of traps and my 22 there are now no coons. They were all living under my deck 6 feet from my chick cage. Not any more. In prevention deck now wired up. No open grain left out. No feeding of pets outside. And of course making sure all cages are protected with mesh coons cant reach through.

 

[Fudgie]

I agree balticbabe, We did rodent proof our brooders that the mille fleurs are in, however, I am not giving them free run to my babies or the food. We reinforced the brooder with tiny wire that you can barely fit a pencil through. We just wanted to irradicate the problem rather than live with the little devils!

Sometimes we have to learn the hard way. Just wish it had not been my mille fleurs that got it.

 

[3peeps]

Quote:
I also agree with this.

I think it's easy to hate something that causes loss, especially in the heat of the moment, making you want to "kill them all." However, in the long run, I believe that building a fort knox coop and run is the best way to get a good night's sleep.

 

[chiknhut]

I hate that you are having to deal with predators. Hopefully, you won't have any more episodes like that any time soon. GOOD LUCK !!!!

 

[Johnnyboy922]

i hate racoons because
there is plenty of garbage in my area for them to eat
he did not try to kill the chicken quickly he toyed with it
there was eggs in there that i did not collect he could have had


i secured the coop more

the trap has been unsuccessful. the coon has taken the bait 2 days in a row. hes smart though. the first day he did not trigger it. the second day i got more tricky in the bait placement and even dangled some from the top of the trap and put a piece of light plywood over it so he had to go in for it. he went in and took the bait then went out flipped the plywood off which set off the trap and then he ate the bait.

today to try to be even more tricky... i put a thick layer of penut butter on bread and then put the pb side down on the trigger plate to cement the bread on there. so with any luck he will be trying to get the bread off and trigger the trap. or he will be licking the trigger clean and BAM the door to freedom shuts.

i wish they were as easy to catch as you all are saying. any tips? they have been taking the bait which has been sliced lunch meat and bread.