Raccoon visiting to steal feed

[wyoDreamer]

I had a coon coming into the guinea hen coop every night to steal their food. I never close the door to that coop, I probably should but with the roosts over 7' high, it doesn't seem like there is much that can get to them. Anyway, I started to make sure to empty the feeder at night. After 3 days of that, the coon stole the entire 5 gallon bucket w/ lid that I had the feed in - it was about 1/3 full. Never did find that bucket and lid...

 

[wyoDreamer]

tuna can or cat food can would work.

 

[wyoDreamer]

x2 on more than one!

My neighbor had about 5 bird feeders strung up behind his house along the edge of the woods. He saw a coon raiding the feeders one morning, so he set up in the dining room with his gun that night. About 10 oclock, he turned on the yard light and shot the coon; he went out and moved it to the garbage can so his wife wouldn't have to walk past it on her way to work in the morning and went to bed. The next morning when he went to bury the dead coon, he noticed one of the bird feeders was on the ground; so that night he sat up again, when he turned on the yard light, he popped another one. This went on for 2 more nights. On the fifth night, he fell asleep at the dining room table and when he turned on the light at about 2 am, there were over a dozen coons in the back yard. Some were up on the wire at the feeders and many were on the ground cleaning up everything that the acrobats were dumping on the ground. He just turned off the light and went to bed ... he said it looked like they were having a party back there!

 

[Criticalicious]

Trapping the raccoon is addressing the symptom, not the problem. There will always be more and bigger predators. Move the feed away from the fence, add 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch hardware cloth along the bottom 1-2 feet to prevent reaching in for your chickens. Install electric fence around the entire chicken area. Don't leave feed in the run at night or get a feeder that doesn't allow access except by the chickens. It's just a raccoon today, but next time it could be a skunk or worse, a bear.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

The way my SO put it is "we cant just sit out there with noise makers every night" and even if we did they'd still probably come by because they'd get used to the noise. I love my chickens and will do what is necessary to protect them

To avoid catching cats... bait with marshmallows. Congrats on your catch.

Note.. possum also eat chicken for dinner.

E-wire would be a good choice.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

You can trap and kill predators forever. There will always be more to fill in the void. Instead of wasting your time trapping and killing, put your efforts into making a predator proof pen. Also, trapping in the spring can be quite cruel if you catch either a mother or a baby. The babies are dependent on the mother until fall and will likely starve or get predated upon. Learn to live with your local wildlife rather than blowing it all away with a .22 or trapping it all because you left free food out for it. https://www.cwrescue.org/predatorproofhousing

"He" ended up being a "she" actually. We didnt investigate but we think part of the reason she was so fat was because she was pregnant. So fortunately no babies will go hungry in the wild. I think we saved ourselves a bigger problem by getting rid of her. I havent caught anything more and we are looking into electric wire

 

[aart]

From time to time we trap a raccoon and he goes to our relocation expert, my Hubby. I hope they like Mississippi!! And yes, you CAN catch a big coon in a regular cage.

Not cool!

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Just got home from a trip. Didnt want to go but had to for family reasons. I worried about my birds the whole time but we left them with our very capable neighbor. We didnt reset the trap because we didnt want that to be his responsibility especially since he was nice enough to watch them for us. We checked the game camera as soon as we got back today. We saw a coon. A young one. Definately not as fat as the one caught previously. He was on top of the run because he couldnt reach the food. We only caught a few pics of him because the camera ran out of batteries. Setting the trap again tonight. Wish us luck!

 

[aart]

A dog is a big responsibility, have you ever had one?
Training is essential and takes a lot of effort.
Those breeds can be temperamental and strong willed herders, need a firm owner.
Wonders how it ended up in a shelter?
Don't get a dog unless you want a dog as a pet,
not just because you have predator issues.
Good to have a fenced yard to contain the dog, and strong enclosures for your birds.

 

[Wolfefarmyard]

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!