I knew it was a matter of time

[dreamwallaby]

I live in the suburbs on less than an acre, but my lot backs up to woods where I have seen deer, turkey, opposums and skunks. I knew them pesky raccoons were out there somewhere. A few weeks back I found raccoon tracks in the snow. Chickens were fine and it appeared that the coon had checked out the one side of the run and left. Tonight I went to close the coop door ( a bit late at 930pm). When I opened the door to the run, I heard the run roof bouncing around. I looked up and saw a raccoon scooting up the tree that runs from the middle of the run up and out. It's not a very big tree so I started yelling at the coon and kicking the tree which had him swaying in the top of it. I then went and got a powerful water gun and my dog and did my best to scare the hell out of him. I can't shoot a gun here, and it's not his fault really so I don't think I could kill him even I was allowed to shoot. Well there is no where to go from that tree, so i had to go back in and wait til he came back down. When I saw him starting down I ran back out but that sucker must have made a hell of a run for it because I didn't see him at all when i got to the coop. My girls are safe tonight and I am hoping the coon is too scared to try again. I am also hoping that since I have had at least two visits and my girls are ok that my coop is safe. Fingers crossed.

 

[SLWyandotte]

get a live trap/hav-a-heart trap and bait it with scraps outside the run. catch him and re-locate him. otherwise you will probably lose some birds. when he gets hungry enough he will be back.

 

[LindsayB]

You better have their coop completely secured or they WILL be eaten/killed...

I thought living in the suburbs meant not having to worry about predators but boy was I wrong...Our house backs up to the woods also so theres plenty of wildlife. We didn't think we needed a covered run though or a door on the coop...about a month later something got into the coop and killed our EE pullet. All that was left was a pile of feathers, very depressing. We now have a completely covered run and an automatic door on the coop...lol nothing is getting to them!

forgot to add...

We have trapped about 10 raccoons in the past year and our dogs have killed about 3, plus 10 possums. Theres always more than one...

 

[mxpres]

never relocate a predator,You are only transfering your problem to someone else and making it worse by possibly spreading disease and creating a trap wise raccoon,Making it harder to trap him again,they will get your birds if you don't get him first,If you can't do the (deed),get someone else to do it for you

 

[mominoz]

Suburbs often are full of raccoons, possums and sometimes coyotes. One way I disposed of chicken eating possums, besides the 9mm. was to use a haveahart trap and drop it into a trashcan full of water,cover and come back in 10 minutes. Or hotwire ..... it will be back and it will find a way in.....

 

[AMChandler]

Quote:
True. I never saw more possums and raccoons then when we lived in a more suburban area. They were everywhere!

 

[GarlicEater]

I have heard that breathing pure nitrogen knocks you out. As in dead, if someone doesn't drag you into normal air again.

Hotrodders and boy-racer types are into stuff like putting pure nitrogen into their tires for go-faster speed or some silly hotrodder thing. Thus, it's not that hard to get.

Put the two and two together.....

I need to experiment with this. This could be a way to "turn off" trapped predators, it could even work well for "putting to sleep" chickens we intend to eat, bury as beloved pets, etc.

I used to work for a vet. I held many a beloved dog and comforted him/her as they got the injections putting them out of their pain and starting them on their way to the Great Beyond. It seems odd that those big needles would be used instead of a lil' nitrogen.

But until I've experimented, and verified this method, I consider death by drowning rather awful. I'd use a .22 first.

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
The way the body treats asphyxiation I would never want something to be asphyxiated w/o some kind of strong anesthesia first. IMHO (its horrible)

 

[SLWyandotte]

death by oxygen deprivation, able to breath a gas without oxygen, isn't that bad. most animals with too much nitrogen enter a euphoric state. you can still breath but the brian slowly shuts down. trippy sleepy dead. asphyxiation on the other hand, lack of any kind of gas to breath, is a bad way to die. the body reacts violently. eventually you get step 2 and 3 but it's more panic, sleep, death.