Raccoon attack

[Emilyann234]

Hi everybody. I'm devastated and I apologize in advance for my lenghty post. A raccoon broke into my duck pen and killed my drake 2 nights ago. We found it's point of entry & fixed it, but I'm concerned it will find another way in. They are kept in an enclosed run with a house inside that doesn't lock. The run is enclosed on 2 sides and the roof with hardware mesh. (1x4 everywhere, and 1/4inch on the bottom 3 feet and half the roof on top of the 1x4) the other 2 sides are 6ft privacy fencing which attaches to the hardware mesh roof as well. The point of entry was a small space on the bottom of the privacy fence where some of the wood had gotten weak. I could barely fit my hand through the hole, it was so tiny. We screwed new wood along the bottom of the fence and lined the ground inside with 1.5×1.5 foot heavy pavers.

My surviving 2 ducks are so scared, one of them trembled for the entire day following the attack. They will not go into their duck house, they cower in the corner of their pen. They barely eat anything. The raccoon came back at least 4 times last night but was unable to get in. My husband and I stayed up most of the night guarding them, and our 2 shepherd mix dogs guarded them all night. We cannot keep staying up all night though and I know it is only a matter of time before it finds a new way in.

How do you all keep coons out of your duck pen?? I can tell it's nearby based on the ducks behavior. They are so terrified they barely even touch peas. How do I make them feel safe again??? The coon seems to return as fast as 15 min after we scare it away. I live in a neighborhood so I cannot shoot it and I don't have a trap.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Hi everybody. I'm devastated and I apologize in advance for my lenghty post. A raccoon broke into my duck pen and killed my drake 2 nights ago. We found it's point of entry & fixed it, but I'm concerned it will find another way in. They are kept in an enclosed run with a house inside that doesn't lock. The run is enclosed on 2 sides and the roof with hardware mesh. (1x4 everywhere, and 1/4inch on the bottom 3 feet and half the roof on top of the 1x4) the other 2 sides are 6ft privacy fencing which attaches to the hardware mesh roof as well. The point of entry was a small space on the bottom of the privacy fence where some of the wood had gotten weak. I could barely fit my hand through the hole, it was so tiny. We screwed new wood along the bottom of the fence and lined the ground inside with 1.5×1.5 foot heavy pavers.

My surviving 2 ducks are so scared, one of them trembled for the entire day following the attack. They will not go into their duck house, they cower in the corner of their pen. They barely eat anything. The raccoon came back at least 4 times last night but was unable to get in. My husband and I stayed up most of the night guarding them, and our 2 shepherd mix dogs guarded them all night. We cannot keep staying up all night though and I know it is only a matter of time before it finds a new way in.

How do you all keep coons out of your duck pen?? I can tell it's nearby based on the ducks behavior. They are so terrified they barely even touch peas. How do I make them feel safe again??? The coon seems to return as fast as 15 min after we scare it away. I live in a neighborhood so I cannot shoot it and I don't have a trap.

You should catch and kill the raccoon. You can buy DP raccoon traps for around $10 a piece. Just guarding against raccoons isn’t always good enough. They will terrorize birds to the point they will constantly be scared. You don’t have to shoot them.

 

[Macchickenman]

Thanks to the Roosterhavoc reply I just bought some rat traps.... 9.99 and a drywall bucket.... Have four hens and when they are in the yard, I leave the run door open... A small rat got in and was running around... Disgusting........I am sorry about your ducks... I would lay out under a blanket w a pellet gun...Hide from the neighbors so they don't see you out there and get that coon!!!

 

[Timothy Menezes]

I think your local animal abatement, dog pound, or local SPCA will loan you a trap. If not you can buy one new or used, bait it, and trap him. I doubt most pellet guns will kill it but that’s also an option. I used a 12 gauge on the last killer coon we had to deal with, and was amazed at just how tough raccoons are.

 

[hillbilly91]

If you do try to trap use a egg and thump a small hole on the side of the shell to release some smell. If the coon is a smart one it might try to grab the bait and run but when he reaches threw the trap to get the egg it will bust and it has no choice but to enter the trap

 

[MissChick@dee]

Since you only have two ducks now could you bring them in?? A dog crate perhaps. At least buy yourself some time to get a trap. I sure hope you get him. Best wishes

 

[Miss Lydia]

Call animal control and see if they can suggest something. your poor ducks are traumatized and it will take time for them to recover and if the coon is coming back every night then it will take longer. You need to figure out how to get rid of that coon then your ducks can begin to heal from the terror of seeing their drake killed.
You have hardware cloth all over your pen? That is the only way to keep them from sticking their arms through and grabbing hold of a duck and trying to pull them out of their pen. You might consider a coop with a door so you can lock your remaining ducks up every night.

So sorry for your loss.

 

[Emilyann234]

Thank you everybody for responding! My husband is setting a trap and we're going to be altering their house so that it locks in the next couple of weeks. We also will be putting another layer of harware mesh around the ENTIRE pen. I dont care if it makes it look ridiculous as long as they are safe. In the meantime I'm going to see if they will let me bring them into my house at night. I have an extra large dog crate they can stay in. The problem is that they don't let me pet them or pick them up, they are very skittish. The drake was the only one that liked affection and would eat from my hand.

Also, I collected 2 eggs, one yesterday and another this morning. I'm thinking about incubating them so maybe I could get ducklings from my drake. How would I go about that? Would I need to purchase an incubator or is there another way? The current duck house is 9sq ft and their run is 80sq ft, do you think this is enough space for all the ducks if I get lucky and both eggs hatch? They also get the run of my entire back yard during daylight if I'm home to watch them, but I work 40hrs a week so its only on weekends and a few hrs here and there throughout the week.

Thank you everybody so much.

 

[happy duck]

I hope you find a way to get your ducks back to normal.

 

[happy duck]

I hope you find a way to get your ducks back to normal.

Also change is linked with trust so don't change there run to much so they can gain back some trust.