Raccoon visiting to steal feed

[Ninjasquirrel]

Got a raccoon coming by. Saw him 2 nights ago around 4 am hanging around. Caught him again last night around 11pm. I scared him off but I know he'll be back. He's not trying to get in the run but he is reaching through the wire and grabbing handfuls of chicken feed. I know this because he leaves a mess of feed just outside the wire. We have a live trap and I'd like to catch him. I'm not sure if the trap is big enough...hes a big coon. Very fat. He might have been doing this a while now and we just caught him. Need some advice on dealing with this pest. I worry he'll get sick of the feed and seek out my girls. He'd have to dig into the run (the wire is about 6 inches out in the ground so he'd have to be very diligent) and then lift the weighted coop door to get in. Since they're more likely to go for easy opportunities I doubt he'd try.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Deterrent is best... 1/2 inch hardware cloth or an E wire.. both work well.

If I start dispatching it will never end.

 

[The Phantom]

Only one solution.

I tried scaring them off every night from my pheasant pen. A few days later they ate my $600 pheasants. After that we shot 26 in 3 weeks. The put up a 13,000 volt 3 strand hot wire.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Busted!

 

[BYC910]

Coons that have been caught and released, will most times not go back in a live trap. Took me two weeks of waiting in ambush. Had get a female that hat killed twelve of my chickens . She would turn over the live trap to get the bait. I staked it down didn't do any good . Bright light large load twelve gage .

 

[BYC910]

Be realistic when it comes to cost effective pen construction. I saw really expensive pens that my male Pyrenees could destroy in minutes .I watched him tear a hole in a chain link kennel, five feet of the ground and climb through it . Don't kid yourself no such thing as all predator proof . Snakes are predators too. Any varmint that gets in my pens or kills my livestock is fair game . Because the natural predators for most predators have been wiped out by man . Man has to intervene to a certain extent. Fish and wildlife sell hunting and fishing licensees to help pay for just that. Varmints thrive in the fringes of southern cities . Coyotes are so numerous here they kill even small pets in subdivisions . I learned how to trap them isn't that learning to live with them ? Squirrels cute little gray squirrels do thousands of dollars in damage to homes and roofs every year .I guess it's ok if it isn't your roof Critter relocates are simply making their problem someone else's problem . Nope they leave me and mine alone I leave them alone .That simple . They are allowed to live outside of the no varmint zone . Possums coons coyotes all have a place in nature ,it just isn't in side my pens and coops .

 

[HomesteaderWife]

We have had raccoons like this in the past stealing food, and throwing corn in a trap is usually how we catch them. I'd try to leave none in the run, but put a little heap in the back of the trap in a little tiny bowl or can and make a small trail out of the trap door. If you put it just on the ground between the trap mesh, they'll tip that thing over or grab through most of the time without getting caught. Also cat food and canned tuna sometimes gets them. But if he's eating chicken feed, bait with the same. If you've got a standard live trap trust me, they're capable of still catching the big ones. We trapped a gigantic male raccoon last year that barely fit in the trap. Dispatch with a .22 and don't risk it for your chickens' sakes. (If it were still late Winter enough I'd say to give tanning it a try, but the hair would probably be slipping now). Dispatching with .22 is a quick method- if you haven't done it, it can be nerve racking the first time you have to. Just have an extra hand in case it is difficult- it's understandable!

 

[Mvan42]

Where there is one there is more. Remember that. There is never just one. At least where I live there is never just one.

 

[Old Philosopher]

I've had no problem with raccoon here in the northern Rockies, but striped skunks are the new field mice here! I've take 14 off my property, including a female and 5 kits. I can tell you all about trapping skunks. I have yet to be sprayed, but I'll just say this for starters:use the smallest trap you can for the target critter. If a skunk has no room to raise its tail, it won't spray! They don't want that 'perfume' on themselves any more than you do.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I know this isn’t a good situation, but I just started giggling after reading how he sits outside taking handfuls of feed to eat!

What a smart little moocher!

It is kinda funny. When I caught him he looked like he was watching a movie just shoving handfuls into his mouth. He ran off before I could do anything. As fat as he is, he is fast. Either that or I'm not quick enough. I've never had to dispatch a pest before. I think if I caught him I could pass the buck or at least make it easier to be rid of him in a humane way. Idealy Id like to just deter him away...but he keeps coming back.