I don't know if this should be here or in coop design,but here goes. I am building a coop and we have racoons and foxes. My whole run area will be 12x5 . Would it be better to cover the entire bottom of the enclosure with wire or wire down the side and bury a couple inches and run 18 inches away from the run all the way around. (probably lost ya with that last sentence ;-) ) More to the point, What is the best way to keep these guys out,cause I know their coming. Thanks !!
Quote:Hi and welcome to BYC! We just caught a raccoon last night that got one of our baby Ameraucanas, so this topic is a hot one for us. We have since reinforced our security measures and learned a lesson the hard way. Our run is dug about 12 inches into the ground. We initially used chicken wire, but chicken wire is more for keeping chickens IN, NOT keeping predators out. After a hawk pulled one of our girls through the chicken wire, we reinforced the bottom of the run with hardware cloth. After the recent raccoon attack, we reiniforced all of the areas that were just chicken wire, including the front and sides of the run. This photo is pre-reinforcement, but you get the idea. They're crafty little devils, gotta stay a step ahead of them and you're doing that by asking the right questions.
We often have some raccoons around my home, but so far we've been fortunate to not have any issues with them attacking chickens or ducks. The coops are inside a fenced in area, but I doubt the fence stops them from getting in... However, within the fenced in area, I have numerous pairs of DVD on trees to look like a pair of big eyes as I heard this helps deter hawks, so perhaps this also deters the raccoons.. not sure about it, but at night I notice the DVD look red. I know these raccoons have gotten onto my porch at night and also know they dig in the garbage.. So I put the garbage in the back of my pickup parked down the hill on the other side of the house, far from the coop.. I think it lures them away from the house and away from the coops since they're interested in trying to get into the trash. OH.. I also have a plastic owl perched on top of one of the coops.. Maybe it works. Once concern you should have regarding raccoons is not only your bird's safety, but if they're defecating and or urinating near or on your coop, etc because it frequently contains eggs of raccoon roundworm which is often lethal to birds and humans if the eggs are ingested. You could also install a motion sensing floodlights around the run/coop, etc There's battery and solar ones available too/
I know of one guy that kept a radio on all night long to keep coons out of his corn--he lived far enough from anyone else to bother them. The best deterrent is a big dog or #9 shot. if you're fencing, remember the fence goes on the side of the posts where you expect the break through to come from. To fence in it is on the inside, to fence out on the outside. Keeping predators out fence on the outside.
