Raccoons are sadistic!!

[CrunchyMeatEatr]

So this spring I got 18 laying hens to add to my flock which have a huge fenced in area to keep out large predators but it does little to keep out small critters. Unfortunately with as much as I'm gone the Coop usually stays open so the chickens can come am go as they please. After a few weeks I notice one was disappearing every few days but there was never any evidence of what happened or where it went. Then I started doing a head count several times a day to try an pinpoint when they were disappearing and discovered they were disappearing at night. The following night before I could barricade the coop or set traps I lost three in a single night. So then I started barricading the coop and went on the offensive with several live traps.
Over the next month I caught four coons and ten opossum but nothing since. The good news is I haven't lost any more of my adult hens since. Durning all this I got 30 meat birds and six layers that have been in a brooder in my garage. About three weeks ago I moved then to a temporary coop (large chain link dog kennel lined with chicken wire and covered with sheet metal) in the run. Since they were still a bit small I didn't allow them to free range for the first few weeks. I ended up having to go out of town for about six days so asked some friends to chicken sit while I was gone only to come home and find that five out of six laying chicks had disappeared. I assumed they found a way to escape because the last one was on the outside of the coop. I also found one of the meat birds dead in the coop (no known cause of death because the other birds had partially eaten it). I also had another with a neck wound which I assumed it may have snagged on a wire while trying to escape.

So at this point I started letting them free range during the day an locking them up at night. I did what I could to get head counts but it can be difficult when you have 20+ birds running around. Anyway a few days ago I noticed I was missing a few and since there was no way a predator could get into the kennel I assumed they were disappearing while free ranging. That is until I counted them yesterday morning and lost one during the night. There was no evidence other than a few feathers on the outside of the kennel as well as a little blood on the bottom bar. The only possibility I could come up with is a sadistic coon has been reaching through the 1" chicken wire an pulling them through bit by bit which would also explain the dead and injured chickens I had found.
So sure enough after fortifying the kennel further and setting the traps around the perimeter I had another raccoon in the trap this morning. So I've now learned even chain link and chicken wire won't stop a raccoon which is more than happy to eat a live chicken one grubby little handful at a time.

 

[sourland]

Their paws are very dexterous, and they will hold a bird against the fence and tear it apart piece by piece. Even raptors can snag, kill and dismember birds through chicken wire. Hardware cloth will help deter them.

 

[bigmomma85]

Dried mint from grocery store hung in satchets on fence will help. Rub at night to release smell. Also can rub diluted mint oil on old cloths and hang. Can drip mint oil pure on perimeter of property every few days as well. Is cheap, works,, plus helps mosquitoes stay away and yard smell nice!

 

[CrunchyMeatEatr]

More than anything I think I'm just frustrated and disappointed, I expanded my chicken run to allow room for my first go at meat birds and even made a pond for my ducks. Instead I've lost 23 birds to predators and another 6 to natural causes this year (≈40%). My main worry prior to this was keeping my neighbors dog out.. Needless to say I wasn't planning on feeding the local wildlife. I'll have to try the mint and have already added hardware cloth. Beyond that I'll just have to keep trapping make sure they're secure at night and hope for the best.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

Can you add some electric hot wires? (I'm looking into the tape kind as it's easier to handle)

I have a major problem with raccoons here, plus coyotes, Hawks, owls, opossum, skunks, occasionally feral dogs, deer(only a problem in the garden and breaking fences to get into the garden), and a few others I'm sure I overlooked. I especially detest raccoons!

I'm going to use cyclone fence (got a great deal) for my run, more of a big circular alley around our garden and orchard really, with cemented posts, 4' hardware cloth, 2' in ground, 2' up sides. Electric hot wires above that, all this on outer perimeter fence. Then extensions up and over top of run tied with cross pieces (conduit) fastened to inner perimeter fence line with some kind of wire net spanning the width . The width on the overhead where the two fences are close will be 5-8' wide (aka a chicken moat), anywhere else the fence will be as high as I can extend it with either more conduit or 3" pvc straight up so I can run fishing line or wire with flags to deter deer from jumping over. The hot wires should keep out climbers, the hardware cloth diggers, the top line the deer, the covered moat the Hawks. The only uncovered area will be the orchard, which I hope will have enough tree cover to deter the flying predators. Interdimentional predators could still be a potential problem.

But like so many people have said, this will need to be monitored constantly for weak spots.

I'm planning to get started on this this winter, early so the ground is soft but not soggy. Sorry, but that's why I can't post pictures now. Hope this gives you some ideas you can use.

 

[CrunchyMeatEatr]

Can you add some electric hot wires? (I'm looking into the tape kind as it's easier to handle)

I have a major problem with raccoons here, plus coyotes, Hawks, owls, opossum, skunks, occasionally feral dogs, deer(only a problem in the garden and breaking fences to get into the garden), and a few others I'm sure I overlooked. I especially detest raccoons!

I'm going to use cyclone fence (got a great deal) for my run, more of a big circular alley around our garden and orchard really, with cemented posts, 4' hardware cloth, 2' in ground, 2' up sides. Electric hot wires above that, all this on outer perimeter fence. Then extensions up and over top of run tied with cross pieces (conduit) fastened to inner perimeter fence line with some kind of wire net spanning the width . The width on the overhead where the two fences are close will be 5-8' wide (aka a chicken moat), anywhere else the fence will be as high as I can extend it with either more conduit or 3" pvc straight up so I can run fishing line or wire with flags to deter deer from jumping over. The hot wires should keep out climbers, the hardware cloth diggers, the top line the deer, the covered moat the Hawks. The only uncovered area will be the orchard, which I hope will have enough tree cover to deter the flying predators. Interdimentional predators could still be a potential problem.

But like so many people have said, this will need to be monitored constantly for weak spots.

I'm planning to get started on this this winter, early so the ground is soft but not soggy. Sorry, but that's why I can't post pictures now. Hope this gives you some ideas you can use.

Wow that sounds like one heck of a setup you are planning! I have been looking at electric fences and it will likely be the next step. I know my security is lacking but I've never had a big issue with predators before. I've lost a bird here or there and a few to dogs but never like this. I've got over 400' of fence around the run, which keeps out the large predators but that is it and I've been lucky enough not to have an issue with hawks. In the past 5 years I've only had run-ins with three opossum and the coons but I guess word has got out about the all you can eat buffet. Deer haven't been an issue this year but I've been planning a large garden so I'm sure I'll have to deal with them in addition to the predators next year. I've also been looking at adding an automated door to my main chicken coop that'll be timed to open and close automatically in the morning and night. I will just have to enlarge my main coop or build a secure tractor for any meat birds in the future. The dog kennel was only supposed to be temporary. I know chickens aren't that smart but when it gets dark they are like lemmings, any concept of danger is forgotten. They just go with the idea of survival through numbers as the outer ones get picked off just pack tighter and hope you're not next..
Anyway I'll probably start out with two to three electrified wires. Maybe at 6", 12" and the top of the fence.

 

[MeepBeep]

I know chickens aren't that smart but when it gets dark they are like lemmings, any concept of danger is forgotten. They just go with the idea of survival through numbers as the outer ones get picked off just pack tighter and hope you're not next..

It's because they are almost totally blind in low light, they don't flee because they have no concept of what direction to flee in or even where the predator is located in most cases...

 

[Chipper Chicken]

Wow that sounds like one heck of a setup you are planning! I have been looking at electric fences and it will likely be the next step. I know my security is lacking but I've never had a big issue with predators before. I've lost a bird here or there and a few to dogs but never like this. I've got over 400' of fence around the run, which keeps out the large predators but that is it and I've been lucky enough not to have an issue with hawks. In the past 5 years I've only had run-ins with three opossum and the coons but I guess word has got out about the all you can eat buffet. Deer haven't been an issue this year but I've been planning a large garden so I'm sure I'll have to deal with them in addition to the predators next year. I've also been looking at adding an automated door to my main chicken coop that'll be timed to open and close automatically in the morning and night. I will just have to enlarge my main coop or build a secure tractor for any meat birds in the future. The dog kennel was only supposed to be temporary. I know chickens aren't that smart but when it gets dark they are like lemmings, any concept of danger is forgotten. They just go with the idea of survival through numbers as the outer ones get picked off just pack tighter and hope you're not next..
Anyway I'll probably start out with two to three electrified wires. Maybe at 6", 12" and the top of the fence.

Thanks. That sounds like a good solution to me too. Losing birds to those (insert bad words here) raccoons sucks! Or opossums, or skunks, or whatever beast thinks you laid a place setting at the table just for them
I'm going to have the automatic doors too, at least one anyway. Google chicken moat. Several people on BYC have built some. It really struck me as combining the best off both worlds, chickens and gardening. My biggest issue is I work away from home for unpredictable stretches, so for when I do get chickens they need to be as safe as I can make them. I've got great neighbors, but I can't expect them to be over here standing guard while I'm gone.
Plus, The nice thing about a moat is, once you've built the outer perimeter fence, the inside one is a lot easier. It only has to keep the chickens out of your garden. ;~)