Raccoon droppings spotted near coop!

[shannon84]

Ok I'm worried I seen for sure raccoon droppings right at the coop. I have the coop and run I think pretty safe, it has that cloth hard wired mesh ( the good stuff I hear) and stepping stones for the perimeter. It's newly built so nothing is old on it. I bought a live trap today. Anything else I can do? I'm just freaking out and paranoid please help thanks!!

 

[bobbi-j]

OP, if it makes you feel any better, we have a big grove - probably 15 acres - of trees around our place. It was planted over 140 years ago by my husband's ancestors when they homesteaded the farm. It holds, raccoons, skunks, hawks, fox, Great Horned Owls, and who knows what else. (Deer, but they're really not a threat to my chickens - just the garden.) I know they're there. We've seen them. We even saw a river otter near our place once! (We're on the prairie of western Minnesota, so who knows where that came from!) The thing is, I know that my coop and run are secure enough to keep all these critters out. We'll shoot one if it comes onto the building site and bothers the chickens, but I'm not going to panic just because I know they're close by. I've even seen coyote tracks in the snow by my coop in the winter. A good, strong coop is priceless.

 

[jpalmatier83]

An old timer I knew used to trap raccoons when they were being destructive around his property.

His advice for disposal- toss the trap in the lake, then wait for the bubbles to stop, then GO TO LUNCH, then pull the trap up. He said he learned this by experience.

 

[ChristopherMic]

Lol, Good Luck!

 

[bobbi-j]

What do plan on doing with whatever you catch?

 

[shannon84]

That's a good question, I was thinking either taking him far off from our place to a wooded area, or maybe calling my local DNR?? But I never seen any signs of the raccoon trying to break in. Maybe he realized he wouldn't be able to get in you think? We planted sweetcorn this year and I wondering if that's what draw him to our house?

 

[bobbi-j]

How long have you had chickens? You've probably had raccoons come visit for as long as you've had chickens and just never knew it. Something that can give you one more layer of protection would be a few strands of electric fence around your run. Putting an electric fence around your sweet corn will also help keep them out of that. Ours seem to know just when it's ready, then go ruin the whole plot the night before we want to pick it. We have had no such problem since we started putting up fence around it. We put it up to about 4' high to discourage deer also.

Please don't trap something if you're not going to kill it. For one thing it's illegal - you can spread diseases like rabies (raccoons are carriers) and distemper to areas not yet affected. The released animal won't know where to find food or water, could get killed by another animal who has already claimed that territory... In my opinion, that's just plain cruel. You're much better off making sure your coop and run are secure enough. If nothing has gotten in yet, it probably won't.

 

[PingoBags]

I wouldn't worry about it. If the coop is secure, you shouldn't have an issues.

I have many raccoons. If I can't break into my coop, a raccoon sure as hell can't.
If they ever become a serious problem, I'd shoot them. For now, they can go do whatever they want.

 

[Cluckington101]

I have lots of raccoons, one thing I didn't expect is having a raccoon come at 1 pm and chew through one of our turkeys, at least I have a nice raccoon hat now

 

[Folly's place]

Pictures of your coop and run would be helpful here; a really secure coop and run is so important! When I stopped spreading treats and goodies outside of my run and coop, very few critters came to visit. Much better! As bobbi-j said, only trap if you will shoot! Mary