Raccoon in yard at 11am. Is this normal?

[paddock36]

In the area that I work we were having a problem with racoons. Animal control said they believed it was distemper. It has been a few weeks since there has been any reports of them, but they would come out during the day. Some seemed like they were drunk, while others appeared aggressive. So be careful, you never know.

 

[kcardella]

We see them routinely during the day here in south Florida. I lost a duck a few weeks ago at 3 pm while we were outside and within sight of the birds! We never heard/saw anything. I think she wandered too close to the trees where the raccoons live, and just got knabbed.

 

[feathersnuggles]

While nighttime is their preferred time to prowl, I've seen raccoons show up in our yard all times of the day: 7am, 10am, 1pm, 2pm, 4pm, etc. However, in our recent cold snap, I haven't seen them around as much. We also recently closed off a lot more "holes" in our fence around the yard, although I know raccoons can go *over* just as easy, I wonder if that also slowed them down a little?

 

[mandelyn]

Only young, hungry, or sick ones tend to come out during the day. In an area heavily populated with coons you'll see them more often due to food shortages and competition.

Never let the dog out after a coon, specially in daylight. Unless you're 100% confident in the effectiveness of the vacines. Distemper is the #1 cause of day-time activity in a lone coon.

You may notice foam around the mouth, a stumbling/staggering walk, a look of confusion. The early signs are daytime sightings, slow moving, aggressive. If you see the same coon the next day, it'll be in much worse condition.

Distemper happens when the numbers get too high, sort of natures way of thinning the numbers.

Leave the .22 by the door in case it's a sick one. If it's a young one... it may not survive the winter if it's already struggling. Just don't feel sorry for them and feed them.

 

[2chickenrich]

Well it may be old time but when the moon is close to full the animals deer ,fox ,coons ext. will feed more durring the day take a look at the best times to hunt and fish on some calenders this is a fact that i have found during many years of trapping , hunting and fishing

 

[gsim]

They attack in daylight more often than people would think. A man here in E Tenn was looking out his kitchen window and saw two coons doing a tag-team thi9ng on each side of his 8 ft wide run . Run was made of 2x4 welded wire. They killed/dismembered/decapitated three hens before he could get outside to chase them off.

This was in the summer time when food is plentiful and folks have gardens everywhere for coons to raid. Imagine what they will do in the winter time when food is more scarce.

They dig well and are really great climbers, so I set my 6 ft fence in cement and put a fence charger on it too with 4 courses of hot wire.

I still lock up the inmates every eve regardless of how secure I think the run is. I have only the greatest respect for all predators.

 

[gsim]

I almost forgot this warning. Never let your dogs go after a coon if it is near water. It can easily drown a dog 3 times it's size in only 2 ft of water.

 

[rainbowgardens]

Wow, it's pretty scary reading all these reports. There's absolutely nothing I can do to build a secure run for my girls anytime soon because I lack the money, knowledge and ability to do it. The ground is frozen so I can't even dig postholes.
I'll do some research over the winter on building runs and hope that I have the money to buy supplies next spring. I'll be haunting the coop building forum!

I just hope we can keep the girls safe in the meantime.