I need advice on dealing with a big fat murderous raccoon!

[Kscott45]

My grand mother had her own way of dealing with coons, she pasted this along to me when I had a raccoon attacking my pheasants and it even enter my green house by knocking out the wood stove vent pipe and killing the ducklings I had inside. My Grandma would put a few Ohio blue tip match heads into a chicken thigh and would hang it on the outside of the coop on a string. Just make sure your dog, cat are not able to get to it as it will cause death by dehydration. I also agree with others that prevention is key. I have my flock inside a chain link dog run with chicken wire zip tied inside it 4 feet up all sides, this has worked well for me but its costly. I also recommend you check with your states conservation department and obtain a nuance permit so its legal to eliminate your problem. I don't agree with relocation, Canada flooded the fur trade market years ago, dropping the price of coon hides to an all time low, so folks just don't hunt them, and there population has exploded. So relocating just means moving your problem from one place to another or into an area already over crowded with its own population of coons. Raising stock always attracts unwanted critters, thats part of it, its best to eliminate them as the come. I will bet once you remove it, it won"t be to long before another chicken thief moves in to take its place. Good Luck

 

[judyt]

i feel your sorrow

i have lost 9 hens to raccoons over the last 3 weeks. 7 of the poor girls in one night! Myself and my neighbor have gone in together and are baiting coon traps with tuna. Over the last 2 weeks we have caught 11 raccoons and 1 baby possuum. You will need to kill the raccoons. They can find their way back home even if relocated several miles away. Once they find your coop it is down hill from there

. We thought that we had our Fort Knox very secure, but they found a small spot to squeeze in that we had missed.

 

[bakerjw]

If you start thinning out the coons you'll be amazed at how many are around. I've killed 4 in the last 2 weeks and I know that there are at least 2 or 3 more lurking around. And one or two of those know what it is like to have bullets zinging by as they dash back into the underbrush.

FWIW. I always carry a shotgun when I go check my coops for the night. Unless it is dark then I take a rifle and night vision.

 

[Niss]

I understand why some advised against poison. However, it worked great for us. We picked up a small can of fly bait--little blue crystals--at TSC. We put it out one night and had two dead coons less than 6' from the pan. Anything that ate it would have died in that area, and we took care of the coons so we didn't have to worry about what might eat them.

 

[marilyn15]

I had to respond to this because since now and last year we have had a coon and coyote murder 14 chickens.
We are on to them now, and of course more secure. ( they used to free range all the time i.e. coyote). Now can only free range when we are out there. But we had an old farmer tell us the same fly bait and beer. the coons love it, but they die instantly and you definitely have to be aware of pets, and other animals. If you use something like this you must take major caution! Keep it closed up and put up during the day and only use it at night, then of course dispose of the pest so not other animal will eat it and get the poison! Just thought I would share my two cents.


Quote:
MORE THEN A FEW FARMERS USE FLY BAIT AND SODA SOME USE CAT FOOD AND TYLENOL ( or generic acetaminophen) there is more then one way to poison something the problem with poison is you need to pick up pests daily and put them in a burn barrel

 

[poultrypatch]

OH NO !!!!! MISERABLE COONS !!!! I'm all for killing them....anyway U can !! I too have lost kids. One night I lost 2 Guinea hens from my chainlink dog run. IT HAD A HEAVY welded wire cover on it !! They ate one of my girls right down the side. Took the 2nd one with them. I feel like I penned my Guineas up that night and set the table for the coons. About a month later, having 're secured' that pen I put 3 extra little Banty roos in. They came back that night and got 2 out of 3. I have trapped 2 coons in a Hav A Hart. I have a 6' dog leash attached to handle, brought it over to my 4' deep fish pool...only has 2 fish in it, and tossed it in for 15 mins. So much for those miserable little #@% ! I know I have more and keep trap set. I think they are going up the gate and over...about a 6" spot I can't block. Now getting the squirrels that are eating my peacock food. Same ending for them. It's all out war here. In MA it's against the law to relocate these animals due to rabies.
I have a TS about 25 miles away, I'm calling them and finding out if they have those fly things. I'll place it in that MT pen and leave the door open. Will also go buy them a can of anchovies and make that up too.
Thanks for the info and good luck to all.
Liz
MA

 

[ketcham]

I lost all 8 of mine last weekend.I'm now shooting them with a .22.I have gotten over 12 so far in 4 nights.Think I have a coon problem????

You gonaa kill my birds,I'm gonna kill you!!!!

Kevin

 

[Kitty Cat]

I'd try the poison but the shotgun sounds like it would work well too!

 

[awesomefowl]

Get a Havahart trap, trap it, then shoot it through the trap with a .22. That is what my dad did to about 5 possums. It worked!

 

[Jennine746]

I wish I had a solution to raccoons too. We just had one laying hen killed and another one injured. My hubby set up a motion sensor inside the chicken pen (6 foot high chain link fence), so we're out almost every night with the .22. The raccoon's days are numbered (I hope). He seems to travel through the tree limbs and climb down into the fenced in area. We've beefed up the door where he got into the coop before, but he sure seems to be outsmarting us, although we've had no more fatalities...knock wood.