Neighbors are feeding wild raccoons, now what.

[GranderTheGander]

The pet is under control.
The wild animal is not.

It comes down to how an animal is behaving: If it's leaving my livestock alone, then I'll leave it alone; if it's causing trouble, then I'll dispose of it.

It's not necessarily that a person cares for the domesticated animal and not for its wild counterpart; it's that we, as people, want to protect out property from threats, and if that includes a feral version of sweet little Rocket the Raccoon, then so be it. Rocket isn't causing trouble, but his cousin is, and so that cousin gets the short end of the stick (boom stick, made of steel) despite being of the same species.

Think of it as dealing with humans: You care about them all, in a way, but if one is causing trouble by harming or stealing, then you incarcerate that individual -- especially if it involves your family, who you value over most, if not all, other humans due to emotional bonding and connection.
Offing a raccoon that's harming a livestock owner's animals is kind of like incarcerating a criminal, only it's permanently putting them in a place where they're rendered harmless, and they're sent on from this life much faster.

Last little tidbit: Someone I know owns a ferret, which is, as far as chicken-killing tendencies go, basically a weasel. He's a cute little thing, and I like him, but I wouldn't hesitate to kill off a weasel that went after my birds, even though I may like one of their relatives.

I'll get off of my soapbox now. I hope that you can figure something out soon, OP; good luck, and may God bless you in life and your feathered-friend-keeping experiences.
(Also, sorry if this is a bit nonsensical; it's rather late over here, so I'm a tad bit tired and may be fuzzed in the brain).

I do understand what you are saying, but it's not "criminal" for a wild animal to hunt and eat. It's just causing you and your own problems, and you are killing it for causing you those problems. But I do truly understand your desire to protect the animals you care about.

 

[McChooky]

Predators have a better change of surviving in cities where hunting,trapping or shooting a gun is against the law. Ironically. keeping poultry is limited or banned in most cites now.

 

[GranderTheGander]

Predators have a better change of surviving in cities where hunting,trapping or shooting a gun is against the law. Ironically. keeping poultry is limited or banned in most cites now.

That's true! They can be trapped, however, and taken away. In addition, some places now are allowing a limited number of chickens, when they haven't allowed them for decades. More and more people are trying to get ordinances changed so they can keep chickens.

 

[Dlepage]

Our neighbors are feeding wild raccoons and the raccoons eat my ducks! They have never got a chicken (so far) we caught two of them and killed them (obviously) and we hung the raccoons tail on the ducks cage, it seems to keep raccoons away (for now) so the first time a raccoon came it was because we didn't close the ducks cage all the way and it got two khaki hens and hurt Shadow duck now she only has one eye and she needed surgery. The second time we were camping and the farm sitter didn't lock the ducks up so a raccoon got one of my two favorite khaki drakes named Juneau. (luckily we brought Shadow duck camping with us!) The third time (and hopefully last) a raccoon came and got Pierre and one of my hens, he was my favorite duck and my last drake! It was right before we went camping so the farmsitter sold us a mixed drake and my hens LOVED him, we named him Fenix. We know our neighbors are feeding the raccoons because we saw some cat food out so we asked our other neighbors if their neighbors are feeding raccoons and sure enough, they said yes! Our other neighbor likes raccoons and even has a raccoon welcome sign right by their doorway.

Can you put an electric fence around your area the ducks use
we had one around our coop a few years back before we built a solid enclosure for our chickens You can get them at the farm store Follow the instructions and make sure you keep the grass low under the electric fence where it touches the ground or it loses it’s shock but the raccoon or skunk only needs to touch it once and they learn quickly It hurts like hell if you you touch it. But won’t kill anyone Turn it on at night or when yo are gone.

 

[McChooky]

That's true! They can be trapped, however, and taken away. In addition, some places now are allowing a limited number of chickens, when they haven't allowed them for decades. More and more people are trying to get ordinances changed so they can keep chickens.

When you dig thru the ordinances in these cities you'll find most of them require permission from the majority of your closest neighbors before you can have them.It sucks.

 

[Pierre duck drake]

The ducks are not trained to go in the coop I have to hard them in and then I close the automatic door. And then in the morning I go out and open it. I can put a electric fence around the ducks area @Dlepage.

 

[McChooky]

That's true! They can be trapped, however, and taken away. In addition, some places now are allowing a limited number of chickens, when they haven't allowed them for decades. More and more people are trying to get ordinances changed so they can keep chickens.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act with our city to find out what their ordinances are here but we haven't gotten them yet. Their ordinances weren't available downtown and aren't posted online either. I was told if I want to know what a specific ordinance is just ask LOL

 

[McChooky]

The ducks are not trained to go in the coop I have to hard them in and then I close the automatic door. And then in the morning I go out and open it. I can put a electric fence around the ducks area @Dlepage.

Ducks are especially hard to train to go in a coop if they have access to a pond.Do these have a pond?

 

[McChooky]

Technically you don't have an automatic door if it doesn't work properly unless you're using as is.

Your door opening in the middle of the night might be fixable.Can you post the make and model or a picture?

 

[Pierre duck drake]

Ducks are especially hard to train to go in a coop if they have access to a pond.Do these have a pond?

My ducks do not have a pond.