Orphan raccoon, anyone else raise one with chickens?

[McChooky]

Getting it "fixed" hopefully will prevent your dog from getting into any altercations with any wild raccoons coming around trying to breed with your raccoon. Best avoided...

 

[James Atlanta]

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.

growing up on a farm in northern Indiana, we always had pet raccoons hand-raised from babies. none of them ever bothered with the chickens. they just did not care about them. your chickens won't care about her, and she won't care about them. you have nothing to worry about.

 

[McChooky]

growing up on a farm in northern Indiana, we always had pet raccoons hand-raised from babies. none of them ever bothered with the chickens. they just did not care about them. your chickens won't care about her, and she won't care about them. you have nothing to worry about.

Having it there will attract other raccoons. That's a big problem.

 

[cmom]

Personally I would locate a wildlife rehab and let them rehab it and let it live the life it was born to live. Not a pet. Just my personal opinion. Good luck...

 

[McChooky]

Personally I would locate a wildlife rehab and let them rehab it and let it live the life it was born to live. Not a pet. Just my personal opinion. Good luck...

I'm putting a couple strands of electric fence around my new run soon as its completed.I like your set up .Simple and effective.They have plenty of room too!

 

[Ann Wellhouse]

@neo71665 What say ye?

You might want to check your laws to see if it's even legal to keep.

Raccoons are very dangerous. Even hand raised they become aggressive and their claws can do real damage. My neighbor tried to raise one and has multiple scars on her arms and face. Your chickens will be lunch.

 

[Ann Wellhouse]

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.

 

[nuthatched]

Raccoons are very dangerous. Even hand raised they become aggressive and their claws can do real damage. My neighbor tried to raise one and has multiple scars on her arms and face. Your chickens will be lunch.

I'm not the one who wanted one, I felt it was obvious to state the danger.

 

[Ann Wellhouse]

I'm not the one who wanted one, I felt it was obvious to state the danger.

Ah. Good. Wild animals should be left in the wild or rehabilitated as needed and released. It was good of you to state the danger. I'm a biologist and have seen a lot of wild animal "pets" go really bad and the animal had to be destroyed.

 

[saracarver3]

Well I haven’t intentionally raised a raccoon with my birds but nature has! I probably have 5-10 raccoons living on my property and they help themselves to the chickens food mid day right next to the birds and so far I haven’t had any issues. They did steal some eggs I hadn’t picked up yet a few times. I do know that the last thing you want to do is keep a raccoon in a house. Had a friend that did this and it destroyed her home. For instance- raccoon lying in sink, water running over on floor, just bathing and playing….it turned on the faucets!