Orphan raccoon, anyone else raise one with chickens?

[neo71665]

The knowledge and experience on this forum is incredible.

Different levels of nutcases. You get into something you learn about it.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Different levels of nutcases. You get into something you learn about it.

From what i saw the OP hasnt been back. Still, the info here about raccoon behavior is invaluable. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight.

 

[McChooky]

From what i saw the OP hasnt been back. Still, the info here about raccoon behavior is invaluable. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight.

By allowing it to sleep in the same shed as the chickens during the day she is encouraging it to hunt chickens instead of eggs.

 

[illinoishiker]

I have no idea how this will go with your raccoon. But, a couple years ago an orphaned raccoon insisted on becoming a member of my sister's mother dog and her puppies family. The mother dog was a hunting dog and she didn't want a raccoon for a baby but the raccoon insisted on being a puppy. It was never penned. It had a sibling that never came out of the woods to join the family. My sister has chickens and the raccoon never bothered them. When the raccoon matured he gradually hung around less and less and eventually showed up with a family. But then went off to be a wild raccoon. This story went well but often raising wild animals doesn't work well. You can google animal rescues and come up with a rescue for raccoons.

 

[Krugerrand]

I find this thread fascinating. Previously, my only exposure to a 'pet raccoon' was in the Monkees song "Gonna Buy Be a Dog" ("I'd buy a raccoon, but John already has one
Thirty-five bucks") I can appreciate that somebody who has interest in the animal would consider going through the efforts such as neo71665 has to have them as pets. What I don't understand is rescuing/rehabilitating vermin to return to the wild. There are no shortages of raccoons in the world. These animals aren't endangered. Why not just euthanize? Perhaps I sound flippant .... but I am really curious as to why one would go through that effort.

 

[McChooky]

I have no idea how this will go with your raccoon. But, a couple years ago an orphaned raccoon insisted on becoming a member of my sister's mother dog and her puppies family. The mother dog was a hunting dog and she didn't want a raccoon for a baby but the raccoon insisted on being a puppy. It was never penned. It had a sibling that never came out of the woods to join the family. My sister has chickens and the raccoon never bothered them. When the raccoon matured he gradually hung around less and less and eventually showed up with a family. But then went off to be a wild raccoon. This story went well but often raising wild animals doesn't work well. You can google animal rescues and come up with a rescue for raccoons.

Coons typically fear humans. Amazing how the one was friendly but the other wasn't.

 

[illinoishiker]

All these replies about it changing from a cute little pet to a serious problem when it matures is very correct. You need to try to get it to a rehab or have it put down. Raccoons are serious pests. Chickens and eggs are food to them. Lots of people have tried keeping raccoons as pets and it does not work. They are dangerous animals when mature. If you have kids you do not want it around them. They also can contract rabies from wild animals.

 

[MarysAviaryHeartAndZoo]

About a month ago, one of my dogs barked her "something is here that doesn't belong" bark one afternoon. My neighbour had texted me that very morning about an infant coon he saw that appeared abandoned and starving. Sure enough, I went to investigate, and at first spotted only my Chanteclers and other large dual-purpose birds amongst the trees... But then I noticed a grey fuzz-ball in their midst that did not look like a chicken! It was an infant raccoon, starving and near death - the chickens must not have killed it because they understood that it was not a threat (the coon was LITERALLY in their midst! And my birds will attack a mink!)

Anyway, I took in the tiny infant, nursed her back to health, and now she's basically in toddler stage, with the majority of her baby teeth fully emerged. She enjoys spending time with the chickens, and tries to play with them when she's in play mode, but otherwise just leaves them alone - kind of like a puppy. Her chosen afternoon napping spot is the top storage shelf in the minibarn, a large building with four separate chicken pens.

Has anyone here taken in an orphaned raccoon, or similar chicken predator and trained/raised it to leave the chickens alone? Google, as always, has been useless at finding results.

Thank you for sharing this! It’s so tough when you have such a big heart for animals sometimes. I’m in the same situation and wonder if I could possibly raise this pup alongside my grown hens.

 

[MarysAviaryHeartAndZoo]

I was told if the raccoon is fed, he will likely not search for live chickens to eat. It’s when they are starving and can’t find food that they must work hard to get into a pen and prey on live food.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Thank you for sharing this! It’s so tough when you have such a big heart for animals sometimes. I’m in the same situation and wonder if I could possibly raise this pup alongside my grown hens.

Just FYI, this thread is over a year old. If you realized that and just wanted to comment, feel free to ignore me!