Oh boy. Big trouble..............

[WrenAli]

Contact your local county extension office *if you have one* They should have a trap you can borrow.

Probably not the chickens that brought them in but the cat food. Coons are lazy if they can be and love cat food. We have young-uns that get into the cat food on the porch at the In-laws all the time. We just quit feeding them or trap them and send em about 25 or so miles down the road. No chickens there to worry about yet.

Guess I am kind of spoiled out here since rabies is very very rare. So mostly we just relocate. Watch out if live trapping opossum though. They will destroy traps. Evil little critters.

 

[Davaroo]

I don't care much for relocating myself. I just think it's moving the problem somewhere else and giving it to someone else. The raccoons in questions haven't done anything "yet", but they were in the barn for a reason and I bet it wasn't a good reason by our perspective. LOL

Kim was pretty much dead-on with this one. No way to sugar coat this issue with feel-good rhetoric.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Quote:
I totally agree....

 

[Solsken Farm]

Quote:
I live in Maine. We have a huge state with a low population, so we would not plant them in someone else's backyard...... They would have a nice long trip into one of our gazillion parks. So I respectfully disagree about this.

The little buggers did not show last night. Hmmmmmm.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
I live in Maine. We have a huge state with a low population, so we would not plant them in someone else's backyard...... They would have a nice long trip into one of our gazillion parks. So I respectfully disagree about this.

The little buggers did not show last night. Hmmmmmm.

See, you gotta tell us this sort of stuff. We dont know you live in the middle of BFE.
We end up sticking our feet in our mouths when you dont include that sort of info...

Its only courteous, ya know?

BTW, keep in mind that where one female has bred a litter, there is at least one more raccoon (and likely others) in the area. Be on the alert.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
I live in Maine. We have a huge state with a low population, so we would not plant them in someone else's backyard...... They would have a nice long trip into one of our gazillion parks. So I respectfully disagree about this.

The little buggers did not show last night. Hmmmmmm.

You are more than welcome to disagree and I'm not one to be upset that you do. LOL I live here in NC, even if I took them to a national forest, they would still be plenty close enough to wander into someone's coop. Not saying we are over-populated, but we aren't "that" far from eachother.

Do what you wish with the little buggers. I was only offering my own opinion.


-Kim

 

[Solsken Farm]

Quote:
I live in Maine. We have a huge state with a low population, so we would not plant them in someone else's backyard...... They would have a nice long trip into one of our gazillion parks. So I respectfully disagree about this.

The little buggers did not show last night. Hmmmmmm.

See, you gotta tell us this sort of stuff. We dont know you live in the middle of BFE.
We end up sticking our feet in our mouths when you dont include that sort of info...

Its only courteous, ya know?

BTW, keep in mind that where one female has bred a litter, there is at least one more raccoon (and likely others) in the area. Be on the alert.

LOL Fair enough. I will put in my location.

I did some research on Racoons today. It is very interesting. They are primarily plant eaters and prefer to live near the woods and fresh water, but are opportunists.

Wolf Kim. I disagreed with Daveroo, not you.

I don't dare share with you all what my rehab guy wants me to do. We are pondering his advice....

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Why won't you share what the rehabber would like you to do?

I'd be interested to hear it!

-Kim

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Oh h*ll yes. We gotta know!!

 

[Solsken Farm]

Quote:
Okay.

As I said, he used to trap on this farm, 50 years ago, and he and his wife have been rehabilitating all the wildlife here for the past 35 years, at least. They rescue deer, coon, fowl, you name it.

He asked us to consider feeding them dog food until they leave. He is certain it will work as this is what he has done in many cases. His belief is that coons only kill when they have nothing else to eat. Interestingly, the research I did today supported that. They prefer plant material and aquatic life from freshwater bodies, according to one of the extension services. He doesn't want to trap them as his experience is the mom will kill them if he keeps them captive and or abandon them.

We really don't want to trap them, as we don't have experience doing this. He is willing to do it, but said his method would be the best.

Being the peaceful naturalist that I am, I am seriously considering trying this. I have never killed anything in my life. We have lived peacefully here for 13 years, among coyotes, fisher, bobcat, etc.

I left the dog food out last night, and they didn't touch it. So we will see. Truth is, they have been here for weeks. I thought it was our goats that were eating the catfood, now I know it has been the racoons.

I know alot of folks have had terrible experiences with coons and when I called him to come help us, I was thinking take them. But I am going to rely on his expertise and take a chance.

Obviously I am nervous, but I do have a respect for the natural order.

If one chicken gets it, they will be removed......

Okay now, no flaming, anyone. Please. I already know the dang dangers these critters can pose.....