Raccoon deterents

[cmom]

My brother has 50 chickens and some racoons killed a couple of them. He put X-Lax under a bucket and the X-Lax was gone and the coons didn't return.

 

[Nopper]

Get some jumbo marshmallows and the hottest hot sauce that you can find. Poke a hole in the marshmallow and put the sauce in it. Scatter the fire bombs around and let the coons eat. They won't come back. Wear gloves when you are messing with the sauce.

 

[Attack Chicken]

Trap them and take them out to the country and get rid of them. You don't want them coming back and getting your hens.

 

[horsejody]

Kim, is that a Lhasa Apso in your avatar? He looks kinda like mine.

 

[39jdeere]

Hello
put up an eletric fence 2 wires 1st 4" off ground an the secound 8"
high an about 4" awy from your building or run it will cure all cats dogs fox skunks you name it
all animals will stop an smell before trying to climb anything only takes one good jolt

 

[antlers]

Quote:
Where do you live? I will be sure to bring all MY skunks to your place next time I trap some. Take care of your own problems and dont dump them off on others.

 

[Chirpy]

First I would highly suggest you spend the extra money and use only hardware cloth for your fencing. That's the only fence (that I know of) that coons cannot get through. Make sure there are no weak spots where it's attached to the wood and make sure you bury it at least 18" into the ground. Cover your coop windows with the hardware cloth and any openings for ventilation also.

Some of the things I've used to keep coons away that have worked here (but may not where you live):

1) Have my men pee all around the chicken run/coop. Many animals will stay away from something that's been 'marked' by a human.

2) Big dogs - my dog has treed three coons around our barn at the same time and kept them all treed until we got out there.

3) Shoot them with a paintball gun (obviously you have to see them to do this) with the paint balls having been frozen first. This is great in town when you can't shoot a real gun. It would be worth staying up at night a few times to give this one a try.

4) Guard llamas... Ok, you probably can't do that one.

I have done all of the above simultaneously and haven't had any coons come back for almost a year now. (They were living in our barn.) We keep a very close eye out for signs of them though... they are persistent cute little buggers.

Thankfully you know what you are up against so you are getting great advice from different sources and hopefully you'll be able to protect your chickens and keep them safe.


Good luck.

 

[kisat]

Quote:
That would be Irish Spring correct? I've never heard of that, but hey, that sounds like a great idea! Our raccoons have been enjoying wandering around our water pipes. I heard that ammonia in bottles--so they can smell it--works and they hate the smell so we've placed bottles around, but the tricky little buggers enjoy coming around during the rain so they aren't bothered by the smell! lol Luckily, they seem to have no interest in our chickens. More just wandering around our yard.

With the ammonia, I've found that you can place it in water bottles (an inch or two) and then poke holes in the top of the bottle. String it up by the neck, wherever you want them smell it--they can smell it for up to 8 feet away I believe it was. Our animal control people told us it was against the law to mess with them and since "we" (general sense) are encroaching on THEIR areas, they are making homes in our neighborhoods and we can't touch them. She was pretty rude, but another told us about the ammonia idea.

As Chirpy said, the dogs help, but with our coons, they are SO used to the dogs in our neighborhood that they don't even care. Though with the ones we have, they ended up becoming a family and seem not to do harm like most obviously--I've read--do to our yard and everything. Yes, they are bothersome, but they've never harmed our chickens, nor animals. They typically snoop around in the early morning up to the afternoon, or at night--waking me up in the process

However, when they are messing around my room, I just open the window and look right at them telling them they need to leave. [laughing] I know how it sounds, but when you're half awake at 3 am and the lights flashing don't work, dogs don't work--they just come back--on them, you tend to do whatever works and for me? That actually does!

 

[kisat]

Quote:
Hey horsejody, no, Amber isn't a Lhasa Apso. She's a mix breed. Pomeranian, Pekignese and Poodle. They do look similiar though don't they? Way too cute!

A great photo with her little "chipmunk" look. You can see her two little teeth in her mouth, always reminds me of a little chipmunk

 

[Clay In Iowa]

Quote:
Ditto..... Got a huge one last night. He is now fertilizing a corn field.