Raccoons are already here

[BigBlueHen53]

Ok thanks everyone, I decided that I’m going to trap and release the one here and set up the coop for any future ones. Because it’s been in my garden eyeing my nearly ripe tomatoes, so I don’t want to risk it.

Please reconsider the trap and release idea unless you have an actual sanctuary where it is legal to release it. Otherwise you just either make it somebody else's problem, who may also have chickens, or it will return to its home territory, meaning your place. Or it will have to fight other established raccoons to survive in a new location and probably die a miserable death. More humane to shoot it after trapping.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

From what I've always read on these forums, the problem with holes that are large is not the racoon getting thru. It is the racoon reaching in, pulling the chickens head thru and eating it.

We apparently lost a chicken this way last year.

 

[Kenzelton the 3rd]

Please reconsider the trap and release idea unless you have an actual sanctuary where it is legal to release it. Otherwise you just either make it somebody else's problem, who may also have chickens, or it will return to its home territory, meaning your place. Or it will have to fight other established raccoons to survive in a new location and probably die a miserable death. More humane to shoot it after trapping.

I’m going to contact Texas parks and wildlife once I get the trap, but worse comes to worse I do know someone in Austin that runs a raccoon sanctuary.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I’m going to contact Texas parks and wildlife once I get the trap, but worse comes to worse I do know someone in Austin that runs a raccoon sanctuary.

Outstanding!

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

Please reconsider the trap and release idea unless you have an actual sanctuary where it is legal to release it. Otherwise you just either make it somebody else's problem, who may also have chickens, or it will return to its home territory, meaning your place. Or it will have to fight other established raccoons to survive in a new location and probably die a miserable death. More humane to shoot it after trapping.

Good points, there are so many of them that they are to the point of extreme nuisance. It is near impossible to raise sweet corn or to have chickens without going to extreme measures to keep raccoons out of both. They will also damage and waste livestock or pet food if not kept in an area they can’t get into.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm strongly in favor of trapping and permanently removing critters that I consider vermin from my garden and around the chickens. I'be been known to shoot some too. It's up to you how you remove them. Unless you have specific permission releasing them is generally illegal but different jurisdictions have different rules about that. I think it's wise to know what the rules are where you are so contacting Parks and Wildlife is a good move. The critters I'm talking about are not going extinct.

Removing a critter that is actively hunting or foraging n your property removes one and is a good thing in my opinion. But that does not solve the problem. If you have one you have more. It may take a while for others to show up, but they will no matter how many you trap or shoot. I've trapped several critters on successive nights. That means there was more than one foraging to start with. I once had a skunk get through a doggy door and spray inside my garage. I eliminated seven skunks in the next two weeks, I don't know if I got the guilty one.

The only thing that will protect your garden of chickens is good barriers. How you set up and manage those barriers is up to you. My coop is safer than my run so I lock the chickens up at night.

I will mention that I had a raccoon eating my blackberries just as they were getting ripe. A trap took care of that problem. Another time I had a different raccoon that found my corn in the garden just as it was getting ripe. It did a lot of damage before the trap took care of that. I believe a trap has it's place in the overall strategy. But barriers work whether the trap is set or not.

 

[3KillerBs]

Otherwise you just either make it somebody else's problem,

This. Please.

Live-trapped pests should never be released on someone else's property without the property owner's permission. If it was problem for you it's going to be a problem for the people you release it near.

 

[aart]

will no climb wire work for the skirt and the top?

Need the gauge of wire and size of holes.
Do you mean 14ga 2x4 welded wire?

I decided that I’m going to trap and release the one here

If you're going to trap it, you should kill it.
Do not release.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I’m going to contact Texas parks and wildlife once I get the trap, but worse comes to worse I do know someone in Austin that runs a raccoon sanctuary.

Good for you - in my area it is illegal to relocate coons. If you trap it, you put it down.