Raccoons are horrible-slaughtered 30+ birds

[happyhensny]

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Thank you.

 

[aprophet]

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That sounds like a plan. I happen to have cats (cat food) and I live in town, no guns = water is quiet.

I am so sick over this. They just tore everyone apart. Just cannot get the sight of it out of my head. They must have been so frightened.

the more traps you can set the better, when you catch one keep trapping for a week or so a lot of times they will travel in groups they will keep returning as long as there is a food source the best bait is the birds they have already killed second to that is any oily fish jack mackerel sardines etc . When I trap them I set enough traps to catch all or most of them in one night that way they do not get trap shy. good luck

 

[Chickens14]

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That sounds like a plan. I happen to have cats (cat food) and I live in town, no guns = water is quiet.

I am so sick over this. They just tore everyone apart. Just cannot get the sight of it out of my head. They must have been so frightened.

 

[moetrout]

My chicks are going outside by next weekend. I started trapping last weekend and in 3 nights have caught and dispatched a coon and a oppossum. I was not going to wait until somehting happened. About 2 weeks ago I came about 3 feet away in my barn from the biggest coon I've ever seen. Big and old and grey! I'm going to keep trapping until I ge that one. there's an old guy nearby that has traps out all summer and claims he gets at least one varmint a week! Coons are thick where I'm at.

 

[tdgill]

my boyfriend laughed at me when I put hardware cloth wire on all my shed's/coop windows.... he said the racoons would have to have a ladder. I didn't care. And it sure didn't cost much or take long to do. Mostly leftover scrap wire getting put to good use. Now I get to fret and worry over my neighbors new ducks and chickens. I have offered a crate, bunny hutch or ANYTHING that he could use till he gets a predator proof pen. I even mentioned the large racoon we have seen in the neighborhood....its hard enough worrying about my own. Sorry to hear of your loss. As vicious as they can be - just like my outdoor cats at times - I still regret that you have to dispose of racoons. I wish that it was just a matter of keeping your pets in a safe place. and or having a livestock guardian dog.

 

[EweSheep]

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You have to be careful with cages and hutches (with no hardwire wire on them) because coons CAN put their hands in them and yank the birds off their perches and try to take the bird thru the openings, looked like shredded chickens going thru a winger. I had one that did that and the hen was dead with skull missing and neck bone missing with her windpipe exposed to the hole where the coon hands came thru. Never again!

Kill them all until there are no more on the property. Do not relocate them. If you dont have a gun, and you got water deep enough, throw the coon and cage in it and be done.

 

[AHappychick]

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that is what I do except I use my pond. quiet and quick.

happyhensny I felt the same way I would have understood had they killed one or 2 to eat but they didnt they just killed them with out consuming any of them but 1 (probably the first to die and filled them up so they were no longer hungry)
again so sorry.

ETA the image and thought of what my ducks went through haunted me as well. But it did make me feel a little better when I caught them and returned the favor, but it also made me feel guilty having to kill the coon. It just sucks all the way around. I did let the surviving ducks witness the drowning of the coon, I like to think they knew what was happening.

 

[happyhensny]

Just got home from work-put a lock on the pop door, added more fencing. SETTING UP THE TRAP!!!!! Come on Coon, I got something for ya!

 

[lizareny]

I'm really sorry for how bad it was.
It's not so bad when you lose 1 chicken...but everything? A dog wiped me out of ducks, geese, rabbits and chickens one day. Unfortunately it was my dog.......and unfortunately for the dog, she was terminated, by me, immediately. Then I had to go pick up all the dead bodies in the pouring rain, it was so sad, I cried and cried. They filled up 2 black trash bags. You could see how hard they tried to get away....none of them did, but one rabbit . The dog was working on that hutch when I pulled up in the driveway. The dog had bent her kennel door open, and gone over a 5 ft tall fence with hotwire to get my birds. If what I saw from my dog, is what you saw from those coons...kill 'em all, dadgummit.

 

[tdgill]

how did they get into the hoop house??? Jeez... I suggest doing some real predator proofing! There's no guarantee you'll catch him in a trap before he gets the last of your babies! What a shame.