My current flock consists of two hens and one rooster, all three of which are the survivors of repeated raccoon attacks. I used to have a flock of six birds, but in the wee hours of a morning a couple of months back, my boyfriend walked outside to feed the animals before work and found two freshly killed hens, one near the coop and the other still inside of it, as though she'd fought tooth and nail to avoid being taken. We set traps out and put a new door on the coop to protect the four remaining birds.
About a month later, the raccoon came back, and this time, my boyfriend woke up at 2:00 am to the chickens screaming. He ran outside in his underwear and chased off the raccoon, which turned out to be a huge critter. Had he not been there, I think we would have lost more birds on both occasions.
Both times, my Marans hen crammed herself into the back of the coop and hid, my rooster flew the coop and went up in a tree, and my BSL hen bolted clear across the yard. Of those three, I'm the most impressed with the BSL. That girl has a strong will to live. She's so slippery to catch in the daylight and sometimes even at night, it's no wonder she got away from the raccoon!
