Iv got the racoon blues!!! Help! *UPDATE* caught the coon! W/ PIC

[rrgrassi]

Where I live, in the county--no city limits, the only animal control is our own firearms. So, I trap and kill stuff routinely. The .22 is great for dispatching.

 

[oliviad51]

Also if anyone else needs to catch raccoons, possumes or and animal that size, MARSHMALLOWS are the best bait. They work so well! just this week we caught 2 possums, two raccoons, and one cat! (of course we let the cat go)

 

[True Grit]

Reading these posts makes me very nervous. Is it impossible to keep your birds safe from racoons in their run/coop? Will a raccoon ALWAYS get in if they want to badly enough?

 

[PortageGirl]

Nah, you can keep em safe. Just make sure there are no holes in the coop, and lock them up at night. Raccoons won't bother them very often during the day, almost never. I have windows but they all have small hole hardware cloth firmly attached and the roosts aren't near the mesh either.

Raccoons can climb very well, they can get over almost any fence, they are clever and they can twist toggles to open latches. (this is cleverness, not real intelligence, it's a lot of luck but they are determined.) They are strong and can pull or push chicken wire apart, so hardware cloth is the much better choice.

Keep feed bins tightly closed and latched. I use galvanized trash cans with bungee cords holding the lids down tight. Don't forget to get the coop doors latched tight at night, and don't leave feeders or scraps out over night.

Even after all that, I seem to only have problems every few years. They seem to have a learning curve.

 

[Turkeyrun]

We have had good luck with dry cat food in the live traps. Easy to spread in the trap from opening, over trip plate to back. Very easy to sprinkle in place and the raccoons/opossums can not get a hold of it and drag it out. When I had a raccoon getting into the chicken feed I used a hand full of feed with good success as well.

Also I have started placing a board or old mat under the trap to keep the raccoons from digging up the yard under and next to the trap.

 

[Chickiemama1010]

I had a raccoon CHEW the front door of our coop, which is an old tool shed modified for the flock. Its plywood, and that crafty coon was able to chew a hole in the door just big enough to get in. Problem was after he ate one of my roos, he was too fat to get back out. In the morning I had a surprise. When I went to get the eggs, there were a bunch of frantic birds out in the run, they werent acting right. Huddled up together, squaking and nervous. I noticed I was missing a rooster, and when I opened the door there was a roo body and a raccoon. It was in the corner, hissing and looking mean. I closed the coop door, ran into the run and closed the pop door, and got the .22. Shot the coon right in the coop. I THOUGHT my coop was pretty secure, but I guess this critter was determined. Hope he enjoyed my rooster as his last meal.

Coons also have opposable thumbs, and they are pretty smart. They are fairly good at opening simple latches. We just had a hook/eye latch on the pop door then. We have a much better latch now.

I also have a friend in NC that keeps a backyard flock. They live in a very isolated area, and have had everything from opossums to bears get into their coop. They just lost a few birds recently to coons that peeled up the metal roof on their coop. There were 1" ventilation holes around the top, and the coons were apparently able to get their hands in the hole and peel back the roofing material just enough to squeeze in. Crafty little buggers, thats for sure.

From my experience, the raccoons will try, but give up if its a more trouble to get in thAn they want to go thru. But it all depends how hungry they are and what other options for dinner they have in your area. right now theres plenty for them to eat, but they are also teaching their young to forage and hunt, so that comes into play as well. Babies are born usually in april or may, and this is the time of year they are learning to fend for themselves, so mama coon may be a bit more patient when it comes to scoring a meal

 

[Sunny Side Up]

There was a big ARMADILLO in one of the traps this morning

It came in after the eggs that were in there for bait. They'll do that occasionally, but usually just dig for bugs & worms instead. I let it go, it isn't any threat to chickens or chicks. They are mostly nocturnal and all the eggs have been collected by nightfall.

 

[Chick-N-Antics]

Quote:
I've lived in the country for three years now and had chickens for two, I had never seen a racoon on or near my property in all that time, until about two weeks ago when I went to put my girls to bed and walked in on a racoon helping themselves. I nearly fell over because it was less than a foot from me. Honestly, I thought one of my girls was in the box and was going to shoo her away with a gentle swat, good thing I didn't. Instead, I sreamed like a girl...because well I am a girl. I'm learning that even with the best defenses there can and will be casualties. Its a learning curve and you just have to keep beefing up until you get ahead of the game, oh and be ready to make some hard decisons and stick to them...regardless of what others may say.