Raccoon(s) living in our big red barn & future home of our chickens

[chicka_chicka_boom_boom]

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I'm hoping you're wrong! But I can't count on that, so I guess it's time to toughen up. This is going to be such a change from our city life...

 

[shelleyb1969]

I have a coop that is separate from my barn. Actually, it's on the other side of the property. I keep my trap set 24/7 inside my barn. I'm always either catching racoons or stray cats...both of which are looking for food. I have a barn cat myself, but I put her food away at night so as not to "feed the homeless".

I did trap a skunk last winter....now that was fun!

And I've also trapped a few possums...but not many. As a matter of fact, my dog killed a baby possum last night...I found it inside his "doggie condo" this morning. un And remember, I have horses in my barn, so it's not vacant. If I were you, I'd put my chickens in another area away from the barn. You'd be surprise how many visitors wander thru your barn in the middle of the night either looking for food, looking for a bed, or looking for a place to have babies! I had a coon give birth to 5 little ones in my loft a few years ago...but that's yet another story!

Good luck!

 

[chicka_chicka_boom_boom]

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I'm starting to question whether we are going to love this big red barn after all!

 

[Ang]

We enclosed a corner of our barn and use that as our coop. It has a door that opens into an outdoor run. It has served us well and kept all but one coon out. But that was our fault. We fixed the problem, trapped the coon and things have been fine.

 

[Ugly Cowboy]

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I assume you're joking about the roast coon...

No, I aint jokin! I've ate coon all my life... Trust me, its good!!! Its also good fried.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Don't get discouraged Chicka. The only thing is...if you decide to put your chickens in the barn, you'll just need to make it EXTRA secure...especially in the winter time. That's when the critters get hungry and go hunting for food and a nice warm barn! We've got mink/weasels in our area too, so that's another varmit to worry about! Would you like a puppy/dog? Maybe look into getting some type of cattle dog to keep in the barn...a good working stock dog will definitely keep the critters at bay! But get a pup and raise it with your chickens. When my old dog dies, I'm gonna get a 4 legged "security device" for my barn!

 

[bluey]

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What about creating the smaller structure inside the barn, like converting a stall? I found a couple websites where people have done that, but maybe that would end up being more of a project than just building a freestanding coop. This is getting more complicated than I thought it was going to be...

The problem with the barn idea is that so many different animals are attracted to barns for a place to live, especially up in the rafters. My FIL has bats in one and an owl in another, not to mention all of the climbing and slithering animals...

And I would imagine that the problem becomes more acute in the winter....

 

[chicka_chicka_boom_boom]

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This is what I was thinking of... your website is awesome by the way!

 

[chicka_chicka_boom_boom]

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We are planning to get a dog too, but don't know what kind. I guess we could set them up to be happy in the barn. Dogs don't have to sleep in the house to be happy?

 

[chicka_chicka_boom_boom]

Quote:
What about creating the smaller structure inside the barn, like converting a stall? I found a couple websites where people have done that, but maybe that would end up being more of a project than just building a freestanding coop. This is getting more complicated than I thought it was going to be...

The problem with the barn idea is that so many different animals are attracted to barns for a place to live, especially up in the rafters. My FIL has bats in one and an owl in another, not to mention all of the climbing and slithering animals...

And I would imagine that the problem becomes more acute in the winter....

This is a very good point, and I never would have thought of all this... I'm glad I asked this BEFORE we started constructing inside the barn. We don't even have the barn quite yet; we're still in the planning phase while waiting to close on the sale of the house.

Thanks to everyone for all your help!