Less than 12 hours and they're at them already!

[RWise]

Dont count on them not coming back, I have trapped coons in my melon patch several nights in a row, in the same trap in the same spot.
They will pay attention to the hot wire.
Good luck!!

 

[centrarchid]

Last year I was able to literally sneak up on an adult raccoon and punch it hard enough to knock it off a work bench in barn. Strong storm made that possible. I knocked it good and it had friends present. I was incensed because of damage caused to feed storage. It, and friends still came back later and all wound up being killed by me or dogs within next few days.

I place hot wire about 2" from chicken wire panels making them very unpleasant to test even for motivated dogs. Screwed in insulators provide spacing.

 

[Unobtanium]

Last year I was able to literally sneak up on an adult raccoon and punch it hard enough to knock it off a work bench in barn. Strong storm made that possible. I knocked it good and it had friends present. I was incensed because of damage caused to feed storage. It, and friends still came back later and all wound up being killed by me or dogs within next few days.

I place hot wire about 2" from chicken wire panels making them very unpleasant to test even for motivated dogs. Screwed in insulators provide spacing.

Where can I buy solar powered hotwire? I'm not enamored with what im seeing on Amazon.

ETA: TSC has what I want, and I think I can be out the door for $150 or less. What amount of power is required (joules) to pop a raccoon well enough?

 

[Trish1974]

Last year I was able to literally sneak up on an adult raccoon and punch it hard enough to knock it off a work bench in barn.

Oh that is hilarious!

To the OP, definitely go for the hotwire.

 

[RWise]

I would get as big as budget will allow, TSC, Atwoods, etc. should have what you need.

 

[centrarchid]

Where can I buy solar powered hotwire? I'm not enamored with what im seeing on Amazon.

ETA: TSC has what I want, and I think I can be out the door for $150 or less. What amount of power is required (joules) to pop a raccoon well enough?

The lowest output unit is what I use. it does not take much of a zap to make critter look elsewhere. Mine all from TSC.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

0.5 joule is plenty for large dogs. Some smaller joule chargers ramp up to 4k volt too and that is what your looking for 4000 volts. Prepare for a stray dog and you've got all the other predators like racoon covered. I'd use the polywire as it's cheap. Thin twine with metal wire in braid. Few lines of that near bottom of run with insulators holding it off run will do the trick.

 

[Howard E]

To the OP.......Orschlens or MFA will have what you need. Small battery or solar powered charger rated for about 10 miles of fence (that will be hot enough to do what you want). Those will be portable and can be mounted on the side of your coop so it travels with it. The only thing you will need to do at each location is set a ground rod, but you seem able to pound rebar in the ground, so a couple feet of that should do it. You can also attach the ground wire to the metal house and/or hardware cloth that forms the side of the run. Backup.....in addition to, not instead of a ground rod.

Easy way to surround that coop would be to use poly electric rope on screw in or nailed on insulators. Two strands.....one about 4 or 5 inches off the ground.....second about a foot or above that. Low wire prevents them from getting close enough to dig under without getting hit. High wire in case they manage to step over the low wire and try to climb the side of the cage. You can stretch poly rope tight enough to keep it off the ground and prevent it from sagging. Or......if you don't want to attach efence to coop, make your own portable fence using the white step-in insulator posts and set them to stand off from the coop about a foot on fresh mown grass as shown in the photo. Once that coop is surrounded by two low strands of hot efence, , you can set it and forget it and go to bed knowing birds will still be safe in the morning. You were correct about the psychological affect, bit it won't come from being shot at. They don't know what a gun is or what being shot at means. It comes from an encounter with a potent electric fence that jars their teeth out. They understand that.

If you want to hasten their journey to discovery, once the efence is set up, hot and you know it is working, drape a piece of raw chicken skin over it and clip it on with a clothespin. That puts the shock on the end of their nose or tongue. If you have a game camera, set it to record video and point it at the chicken skin. We would all love to see that show!

No amount of shooting or trapping is going to protect you from a horde of unfettered coons, nor is a rooster. When faced with hungry coons on a tear, even the best will die with the rest.

 

[RonP]

Hot wire suggestions are valid but...

Your coop and run are small...

If it were my coop, I would reinforce (cover) the 1/2 hardware cloth with inexpensive 2x3 or 2x4 fencing and include a 2 foot skirt (get 4 foot high fence and cut it in half...) don't underestimate a digging predator.

The fencing will keep the coons at bay and the hardware cloth will prevent probing hands.
I have had great success using this exact perimeter defence. Has also kept out several 100+ pound dogs...

 

[chickenluver10]

We had a lot of raccoons and possums in our forest, and we just got one of those cage/trap thingies, where if the critter steps on a metal piece in the back the door shuts them in. We used a hot dog as bait and caught a whole lot of both coons and possums!