Lots of Raccoon’s

[LJMcGee]

Had my 2 fatalities last week. Thought I did a good job predator proofing my pen. Theres so much brick and shale behind my garage where I build my pen it was impossible to bury the fence the whole way around my run. So I skirted anywhere from 2’ - 3’ on top of the soil in some areas. Then layed cinder blocks on top to weight them down. Buggers are too smart and managed to get in. Think I’m gonna get a few bags of concrete and just pour on the wire mesh so they can’t push it up & crawl the under it. Well I borrowed some live traps from a buddy and just in 5 days I’ve trapped 6 raccoons & 1 possum. 4 of those raccoons were big females. Had to live trap them because my g/f is a vet and thinks they’re so cute . I relocated them about 5 miles away. Hopefully they won’t find their way back. So far haven’t lost another bird

 

[Lor]

Darn chicken killing critters. I hope capturing them has helped!

 

[sdm111]

Does the vet know what happens when you place a stranger into the other raccoons territory and hierarchy? They won't live happily ever after. Research it

 

[Krugerrand]

Does the vet know what happens when you place a stranger into the other raccoons territory and hierarchy? They won't live happily ever after. Research it

Even better, consult the lawyer .... it's typically against the law to relocate.

 

[TOR]

Fix your coup. You can trap them, but there will be more. Alot of places do not want you to relocate or it is against the law. Just make it someone else problem.
get a game camera.

Also that 2 by 4 wire fence. I see some screen. The raccoon can reach in and grab chickens. They will pull the chicken head thru and eat. Might want to look into hardware cloth.

Good Luck

 

[Chickhawk]

...I relocated them about 5 miles away. Hopefully they won’t find their way back. So far haven’t lost another bird

They will find their way back, this is not far enough. And when they will come back, they will be live trap aware, much smarter. Hold on tight, be prepared...

 

[Geena]

Using live traps to catch and relocate raccoons and possums is a good temporary solution to mitigate the immediate threat to your birds. Make sure to relocate them to a suitable location far enough away from your property to reduce the chances of them finding their way back.

It is not a good solution, it is illegal to relocate rabies vector species, primarily raccoons, foxes and skunks, in just about every state. The reasoning behind the law is to help control the spread of rabies, distemper and other diseases among the wildlife. Relocated animals also have a very slim chance of survival. Most of them die within a month of relocation, so it's really much kinder to humanely put them down to begin with.

 

[piasaposse]

Even better, consult the lawyer .... it's typically against the law to relocate.

In my state it's illegal to move a raccoon from one county to another.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

The effort you're putting into trapping, just put it into good fencing. The run is always going to be inadequate and you might always be dealing with predators unless you improve it. The wire gauge is too big, racoons reach right in through that gauge. One quick fix can be hot wire. Check out Coop/Run articles for ideas of what others do to be 100% predator proof. I like your idea of digging down and dumping concrete barrier. Just also reinforce the entire fencing wire. Good luck.

 

[Soujrnr]

We are very, very new to "chicken rustling." We've had our five girls for three weeks. I have cameras set up, and the only thing that I see consistently every night are racoons. They haven't been able to get into our coop though. I have 2x4 welded wire over it, and over the 2x4 welded wire is 1/4" hardware cloth. If they can get through BOTH layers, I'd be surprised. We also buried 1/4" hardware cloth around the entire perimeter of the coop and the run. It only extends out about 12 inches though because its all I had left. Are there any other things I can do to discourage racoons? I don't see any attempts by them to dig, nor have I seen any attempts to pull the wiring off of the coop or run. They just appear to wander around sniffing the ground but don't seem to go very close to the coop or run.