Raccoons Eating Chicken Feed

[ashtx]

Help! Raccoons are eating our chicken feed every night. We first started noticing a disturbance around the coop a couple weeks ago, put out a trap, and have been catching 2-3 raccoons a week. I stopped putting food scraps in the chicken run to avoid attracting predators, but that didn’t seem to help. We finally put a camera out, and sure enough, every night a raccoon or two comes up to snack on the chicken food. We use this feeder:
https://rentacoop.com/collections/all/products/25lbs-mounted-metallic-feeder
They don’t lift up the lid to get to the food (we have it strapped down), but are able to get to the food from the bottom.

We use Purina Organic Layer Pellets. I’ve read other posts on here that say raccoons aren’t interested in chicken feed since it is mostly grains, but they sure seem to enjoy it here! Our coop itself is very secure, so thankfully they haven’t gotten to our chickens yet.

Anyone have any suggestions for a feeder we could use that is more “raccoon proof”? Completely enclosing the chicken run is not practical for us, as it’s a large area. We do have a fence around it, but the raccoons obviously climb right over it. I also realize that we could bring the food in and out of the garage every morning/night, but this is a little bit of a pain for us.

Thank you in advance!

 

[saysfaa]

Raccoons are much stronger, much more dextrous, and much smarter than chickens. Most are heavier, some are smaller. There is nothing short of something high tech like a facial recognition trigger that will keep the raccoons out of a feeder that a chicken can get into.

Electric fence is probably the most affordable way to fence raccoons out of a large area.

You might consider securely fencing a small area within your large area if you want to leave the feeder outside.

 

[Folly's place]

Electric fencing! @Howard E , @cmom , and Premier1supplies.com all have good advice, and Premier has excellent products too.
Our feed is only in our secure coop/ run, never out where other critters can reach it. One day those raccoons will show up when your coop is open, and you will loose your flock too.
And a smaller really safe run will also be good; that's what we've done; a coop and small run, roofed and secure, so that when our birds can't be out, they still have plenty of space.
Mary

 

[Brooks_]

Our coop itself is very secure

In that case, putting the feeder in the coop overnight would be the easiest.

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

In that case, putting the feeder in the coop overnight would be the easiest.

**nod**

I agree... I have a secure coop and keep the Grandpa's feeder in there with the girls 24/7. This also helps with rodents.

 

[Isadora]

Either a hot wire around the run or the food shouldn't be outside.

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

Either a hot wire around the run or the food shouldn't be outside.

I use a hot wire around the run and it works fine. But, remove the temptation and you remove the threat .... maybe.

 

[Folly's place]

The threat will still be there, because these raccoons know where the chickens and their feed are located.
Mary

 

[Brooks_]

The threat will still be there, because these raccoons know where the chickens and their feed are located.
Mary

Maybe, probably. I'm sure the coons here know where the chickens are, but still focus on the low hanging fruit....the trash can behind the house.

 

[The Tiny Homestead]

I use a hot wire around the run and it works fine. But, remove the temptation and you remove the threat .... maybe.

When people on the site mention hot wire, I think fence charger. Are you really talking about 110v? That would be dangerous