Raccoons and raccoon disposal?

[Henry&Friends]

Hey! I've seen raccoons hanging about recently, which my mom would not let me deal with. One raccoon had 5 babies and kept bringing them here... About two weeks ago, a baby coon was left behind in my feed. That made me angry, but my mom wouldn't let me deal with it. Same situation 3 days ago, but this time it launched itself out of the bag right at me. That was super not cool, and i told my mom once more that they're going to ditch the feed to go get chicken dinners, the same thing ive been saying for months. Well, 3 nights ago I was missing a black chick, so I counted and rearranged the chicks twice before i found it behind a nest. That made 7 chicks. The next morning, my mom woke me up and told me there's only 6. this morning, theres only 5, and this time a body was left with the head sqished (?) And a bloody leg... So my mom says that the hens must've pecked it to death. I call bullshizzle, so today I'm biting the bullet and going to ACE and getting a hav-a-hart trap. I dont plan on having a heart, though, they just happen to be the only trap at ace... I'm planning on baiting the trap with a can of wet cat food and maybe some kibble. I'm torn between placing the trap in my mud room where the feed is stored, and the coop where the chickens sleep. I'm thinking the coop, since I can have chickens without feed but it'd be pretty pointless to have feed without chickens, lol. When and if I catch a coon, I dont really know what to do about it... I don't have a gun, but I've got kitchen knives, though I was really thinking of submerging the whole trap in my pond for about 5 minutes,maybe putting a rock on top. All of these seem cruel, so if anyone can tell me a better way, it would be much appreciated. I'm thinking of picking up some extra Hardwire cloth for my coop too, but im tight on cash right now... I might just rescrew what's there so it'll be more snug

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Are you a minor? You say that your Mom is in charge here so I am assuming you are a kid.
If you were an adult I would advise you to take care of business and leave Mom out of it. She might be too soft-hearted.
If you are a kid, you still have to defend your chickens, so trap it and call your local wildlife organization.

 

[Henry&Friends]

Are you a minor? You say that your Mom is in charge here so I am assuming you are a kid.
If you were an adult I would advise you to take care of business and leave Mom out of it. She might be too soft-hearted.
If you are a kid, you still have to defend your chickens, so trap it and call your local wildlife organization.

I'm 18, but live with her. She flip flops between me needing to learn to be independent, but me needing to ask her about things... Although I buy the chicks, the feed, bought the coop, fence, electric fence, and the second electric fence when I realized you shouldnt go cheap on the fence. I'm moving out in a few months, but ive handled the stray dog situation we had (animal control wouldn't come up here for them) but I'll call later today to see if they'd come get a caught raccoon... Thanks! I have animal controls number, but if they won't take it, do you know what other organization might?

 

[centrarchid]

Show a picture of how you house chicks at night.

 

[cmom]

There may be some wildlife animal groups in your area. I had an owl that kept going through some crappy netting I had over a couple of pens because I didn't have quite enough of the original good netting to cover all of the pens. Each time it went through I replaced the section with another piece of the crappy netting. I bought some good netting and replaced the crappy stuff. The owl came back but this time got caught in the new good netting. I got it into a cage and called a wildlife (rescue) organization in my area and they came and got it. Good luck...

 

[centrarchid]

Neighbor with rifle?

 

[cmom]

There may be some wildlife animal groups in your area. I had an owl that kept going through some crappy netting I had over a couple of pens because I didn't have quite enough of the original good netting to cover all of the pens. Each time it went through I replaced the section with another piece of the crappy netting. I bought some good netting and replaced the crappy stuff. The owl came back but this time got caught in the new good netting. I got it into a cage and called a wildlife (rescue) organization in my area and they came and got it. Good luck...

I forgot to mention that each time the owl went through the netting it killed some birds. I moved the birds and put a camera in that pen and the owl came back and went through the replaced netting again.

 

[Henry&Friends]

But

Show a picture of how you house chicks at night.

Broody with 6 (now 4) chicks sleep on this flat board roost

Broody with 1 chick sleeps up here.

My coop is a ~$300 shed that was delivered by Wal-Mart (I think) that I had to put together (arrow E-Z Shed, wish I'd saved up a little longer and got the $500 bigger one)

After going out here and taking pictures, i realize I could trim and reuse the extra length of HW cloth... My mom wanted it put up like this because it was easier, but I've always had a problem with that gap, I knew it was only a matter of time before it proved to be a problem

Hardwire cloth under the tarp in my coop floor.

My electric fence, which I dont remember the cost of the box or wire... I used to have a PE2 box with polywire, but switched to this 10 mile box (it has a lot of joules, i have the box somewhere in the laundry room) and galvanized steel (?) wire. I have the spool too, will find it later. It has 3 grounding rods, one is like 6 feet and the other two are pieces of rebar... I need to weedwhack the fence, but my coworker stole my weedwhacker I'm about to go to the store and buy that trap.

Neighbor with rifle?

Actually, I think i know a guy up the road who might have one... He got chickens after seeing ours and I keep trying to get him to come on BYC. If he stops by today I'll ask him, thanks!

 

[Henry&Friends]

I forgot to mention that each time the owl went through the netting it killed some birds. I moved the birds and put a camera in that pen and the owl came back and went through the replaced netting again.
View attachment 2280067View attachment 2280068

My boss has a picture of when a hawk got in her run, and then she got the hawk... Half her run is made of shoddy netting, and half is made of chain link fence with the small hole chicken wire on top, so I guess it came in the netting way and tried to get out the fence way. Every week when I go there, theres a hen or two out and about a dozen holes that I patch up... I wish she'd protect that area better, but I cant afford all that fencing lol, id definitely put it up for her though

 

[Henry&Friends]

Oh and I've left the fence on for the past few nights, because of the increase of raccoon activity... But I've still lost a chick 2 nights in a row. I want to get a wyze camera for the coop and areas of the run