Peafowl Housing Question

[Garden Peas]

Several years ago the farm fields had water standing in the low spots due to many heavy rains that spring. We decided to go ahead and start planting corn anyway and come back when the low spots water was gone and the dirt was dry enough to work and plant. My boss had a powertful male German Shepherd that alwasy went to the field with us. That day a very large racoon came out of the ditch and the German shepherd say him and naturally took pursuit They scuffled a few minutes then the racoon took off running towards the standing water which was about 1' deep. I happened to be very close with the tractor and stopped only to then watch the racoon get on top of the dogs head,trying to drown him. After about the second time I got out of the cab and grabbed a 1/2" drive breaker bar about 2' long from the toolbox and ran in the water to save the dog. I know one more dunk and the dog would have been a gonner.Coons are smart for sure and if anyone thinks hardware cloth is tough,this myth can easily be dispelled by clamping a small piece in a table vise,then putting a screwdriver thru one of the square holes and start pulling.It will rip like an old sock Even a razor knife can easily cut thru it.

wow -- if you took on a frantic raccoon with something as short as 24", you are braver (or crazier) than I am. The raccoon that climbed in with my dogs ended up boiling up out of the pen onto the balcony where I happened to be standing, ( I was trying to figure out what was causing the utter chaos in the dark pen...) that thing was hissing, spitting, clawing, yowling and doing a really good imitation of a Tasmanian devil... I didn't have a breaker bar, or even a flashlight, and I may not have even had shoes on... thought I was going to lose body parts just getting out of the way. I yielded the balcony and let the raccoon figure out how to get out of there. Its partner was calling from down the hillside the whole time -- they had quite the conversation while the one on the porch was working it out. It's been 30 years, and I still remember the moment that crazed raccoon came up over the porch railing in the dark...

That's when I found out that raccoons will do anything and take on anything to get dogfood... it's like candy to them. I figure the catfood we feed our peas must have the same effect.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

The racoon was too busy trying to stay out of the mourh of the dog,as well as trying to not go under water itself. I'm not getting on a soapbox here but any dog that will defend a person no matter what the circumstances will always get my assistance if the need arises".Prince" was a fantastic example of a true farm German Shepherd and I had seen him kill many racoons before the same size as this one was,but to deliberatly lure the dog into the deepest part of the water,then clamp on to it's head to keep it under water,and suceeding no less,,gave me no option.

 

[MinxFox]

Several years ago the farm fields had water standing in the low spots due to many heavy rains that spring. We decided to go ahead and start planting corn anyway and come back when the low spots water was gone and the dirt was dry enough to work and plant. My boss had a powertful male German Shepherd that alwasy went to the field with us. That day a very large racoon came out of the ditch and the German shepherd say him and naturally took pursuit They scuffled a few minutes then the racoon took off running towards the standing water which was about 1' deep. I happened to be very close with the tractor and stopped only to then watch the racoon get on top of the dogs head,trying to drown him. After about the second time I got out of the cab and grabbed a 1/2" drive breaker bar about 2' long from the toolbox and ran in the water to save the dog. I know one more dunk and the dog would have been a gonner.Coons are smart for sure and if anyone thinks hardware cloth is tough,this myth can easily be dispelled by clamping a small piece in a table vise,then putting a screwdriver thru one of the square holes and start pulling.It will rip like an old sock Even a razor knife can easily cut thru it.

Since my Dad was a raccoon hunter for many years I asked him if he ever saw a raccoon try to drown a dog. He said he has seen it several times, and saw a raccoon successfully kill a dog by drowning it to death.

I didn't realize they were THAT smart. I know my Dad has also told me stories of coon dogs that were great at killing raccoons. He has told me of one dog that would flip the raccoon over and bite down hard on its chest crushing its ribcage or ones that would just shake one to death. If a dog isn't careful they can surely get hurt by a raccoon that is for sure.

And of course setting up a trail camera pointed to the food dish you can find out if you have any critters visiting your pen. Unfortunately in 2014 I found out I did have some visitors which I started to assume when I saw raccoon paw prints in the water tub so we then set up traps around the pen.

 

[Garden Peas]

The racoon was too busy trying to stay out of the mourh of the dog,as well as trying to not go under water itself. I'm not getting on a soapbox here but any dog that will defend a person no matter what the circumstances will always get my assistance if the need arises".Prince" was a fantastic example of a true farm German Shepherd and I had seen him kill many racoons before the same size as this one was,but to deliberatly lure the dog into the deepest part of the water,then clamp on to it's head to keep it under water,and suceeding no less,,gave me no option.

I'm all in favor of it, and impressed that you pulled it off. I have done some fairly risky things to save my dogs over the years, and I'm glad I didn't have to try that one... I still get nervous taking out rattlesnakes with a shovel. The darned things are quick. And yes, raccoons drowning things as self-protective behavior is something you hear about...