Raccoon Problem

[Nbullinger]

Alright… 3 months ago a raccoon got my chicks and spewed them around the yard. So I bought a better coop, made a run of dog crates and reinforced it with hardware cloth and chicken wire and a screen on the inside… we got 12 more chicks. Last night a family of SEVEN raccoons ripped off the hardware cloth (which was nailed, screwed, and then had locktite on it to keep In place) and pulled each of my chicks off the roosting bar.

My 5 hens were untouched.

I don’t have funds to install an electric fence. I do have cameras and lethal fixes but I’m within city limits.. there are over 50 cats that roam the neighborhood (yes I’m serious there really are that many) I’m done with chicks for the year. But how can I prevent this again in the future?

 

[Folly's place]

If those miserable critters can get in, your coop and run aren't secure enough. It may look fine, but raccoons are smart and strong, and need a really serious structure to keep them out.
Pictures of your coop and run will help here.
And it's awful to looses the birds to varmits!
Mary

 

[Nbullinger]

If those miserable critters can get in, your coop and run aren't secure enough. It may look fine, but raccoons are smart and strong, and need a really serious structure to keep them out.
Pictures of your coop and run will help here.
And it's awful to looses the birds to varmits!
Mary

 

[Nbullinger]

My husband tore it apart in anger but the run was an extra large dog crate attached to a prefab coop with hardware cloth, chicken wire, and screen around both our hens free range with the least secure coop but these chicks just keep getting taken out

 

[Folly's place]

Pictures!
It doesn't sound secure at all to me.
Here's a photo of a section of our coop wall on the south run section;

The coop is built on an old concrete building foundation, with an old concrete floor. So a small roofed run, large enough to be fine when the birds have to be locked in,
hardware cloth with fence staples, overlapped, to the framing, then 2"x 4" woven wire over the lower 4', also stapled to the framing, with 1"x 4" boards screwed in over all of it.

This is how it looks in winter, with rolled plastic over the lower section of the run area. th whole thing acts as a coop, and only mice are a problem...
Mary

 

[Nbullinger]

Pictures!
It doesn't sound secure at all to me.
Here's a photo of a section of our coop wall on the south run section;
View attachment 3177626
The coop is built on an old concrete building foundation, with an old concrete floor. So a small roofed run, large enough to be fine when the birds have to be locked in,
hardware cloth with fence staples, overlapped, to the framing, then 2"x 4" woven wire over the lower 4', also stapled to the framing, with 1"x 4" boards screwed in over all of it.
View attachment 3177643View attachment 3177646

This is how it looks in winter, with rolled plastic over the lower section of the run area. th whole thing acts as a coop, and only mice are a problem...
Mary

Ahh yes! I think boards over the cloth to secure it more would have helped a lot. Thank you so much for sharing this!!!

 

[RosemaryDuck]

If you have the funds for it, I would suggest hot wire/electric fencing for your run. It's pretty great at keeping all sorts of predators out.

So sorry you lost some of your birds!