Raccoons!!!

[e from NC]

In the midst of a battle with a tenacious raccoon myself... nasty little bugger took 3 this summer. Closed all the obvious gaps in the run, and all was well for awhile. Turns out that he was taking a break to work on his strategy and managed to find another way in. After about a month of peace & quiet, got a nasty 5:30 a.m. wake-up call this Monday from a distressed chicken in the midst of an attack (one of my favorites, and it looks like she's not going to survive her injuries). Coop has been transformed into Fort Knox by means of 1/2"x1/2" hardware cloth and padlocks on every single door, and he's been back into the every night since, though he hasn't gotten into the coop. Once the raccoons know where the food is, they don't forget and they have every incentive to be persistent. Also seems like Murphy's law dictates that your favorite chickens are the tastiest

Good luck with your raccoons... hoping that we resolve our own predator issues soon too.

 

[Lbrad7]

Quote:
I have to respectfully disagree on this one. As far as coons go, I can't tell you how many people in our area who have had them chew their ways into attics and crawl spaces. So keeping them out of a well built house isn't as easy as you make it sound. They are the most resourceful of all the predators and they have opposable thumbs so they can open latches and enter your coop. You may actually find them going through your fridge someday!

If a coon is prowling around your chicken coop, you can bet he isn't there to give the ole girls a tip of his hat and move merrily along is way. He is there to kill, eat and destroy your birds. My solutions...trap, dispatch, trap, dispatch, trap and dispatch until you trap out the population around your coop. I am not advocating killing all the coons in the county, just the ones sniffing around your coop.

 

[ivan3]

Just an FYI: Healthy raccoons will go on a daytime schedule if they know that is when the food is available. This has happened here twice, during the past five years. One coon was observed attempting to cross from a branch of a hickory outside the run to one inside the run (too heavy, branch broke coon fell about 50ft. and was retired while trying to regain its wits, another got our Royal Palm turkey hen - she was working a second nest in the woodline, along with the predator-proofed nest. Raccoon was suspected so I placed trap at nest location. Heard the trap door slam shut at around two in the afternoon, opened coon up and, sure enough, turkey feathers. A `gang' of raccoons on a daytime schedule would rip out screens in older homes used as student housing off of the MU campus (between 2-4pm - classes) plenty of leftover pizza and Captain Crunch...

We have Ft. Chook, but after finding one coon in the trap while another two were on the roof of the coop pulling off the shingles from the plywood, well... now we keep three traps out. They can use their smarts to try to open those from the inside, and the 6 ft. welded wire fencing, double layered hardware cloth in the windows, baby monitors, buried wire, etc. simply become the second line of defense (raccoons, at this location, almost always go for the easy meal).

One can't keep more from coming but (particularly if you engage in unsupervised free ranging) one can almost always trap the most proximate vermin and, can decrease the overall frequency of predation.

If that isn't an option then spend the money and feed the vermin some current.

 

[ekemily]

Quote:
I have to respectfully disagree on this one. As far as coons go, I can't tell you how many people in our area who have had them chew their ways into attics and crawl spaces. So keeping them out of a well built house isn't as easy as you make it sound. They are the most resourceful of all the predators and they have opposable thumbs so they can open latches and enter your coop. You may actually find them going through your fridge someday!

If a coon is prowling around your chicken coop, you can bet he isn't there to give the ole girls a tip of his hat and move merrily along is way. He is there to kill, eat and destroy your birds. My solutions...trap, dispatch, trap, dispatch, trap and dispatch until you trap out the population around your coop. I am not advocating killing all the coons in the county, just the ones sniffing around your coop.

I agree that some people get them in their attics. Some people don't pay attention to what's going on with their house before it's too late and they end up with a whole family in there.
I also agree that coons aren't there to tip their hat and walk merrily by your coop. They are there to see if they can get in and have a meal. It is a myth that raccoons have opposable thumbs. They DO NOT have opposable thumbs. I can't believe how many misinformed people are out there regarding this simple truth. Regardless of their thumbs or not, however, they are very adept with their little hands. They can manage some latches.
My whole point is, it IS possible to make a predator-free run. If a raccoon does get in and eats a chicken (or 30), then I would probably dispatch or re-locate that raccoon (if I catch him in the act) because now he knows what's up. It has been proven that trapping and killing raccoons only decreases the population for a very short period of time. If you have raccoons in the area, and they are never able to figure out how to get in, then they will give up. They will live in your area and not bother because they know that there is no point in trying. I've seen coons in the daylight walk straight past my coop without so much as a glance towards my chickens because they know there is no point. I'm sure those were his (or his brother's or his sister's or mom's or dad's) claw marks I saw on the coop door trying to get in one night. However, I sleep great at night knowing that they can't get them. So, you can either kill all the wildlife in your area, or you can just build your coop right the first time and not have to bother with all of the hassle of killing everything that moves.

 

[aprophet]

"My whole point is, it IS possible to make a predator-free run. If a raccoon does get in and eats a chicken (or 30), then I would probably dispatch or re-locate that raccoon (if I catch him in the act) because now he knows what's up. It has been proven that trapping and killing raccoons only decreases the population for a very short period of time.

I for one would like to see the "study " that proves this. this contradicts what I do and see every day


If you have raccoons in the area, and they are never able to figure out how to get in, then they will give up. They will live in your area and not bother because they know that there is no point in trying.

unlike people coons do not reason at all if they had this capacity they would not get caught as easily as they are caught in my traps

I've seen coons in the daylight walk straight past my coop without so much as a glance towards my chickens because they know there is no point. I'm sure those were his (or his brother's or his sister's or mom's or dad's) claw marks I saw on the coop door trying to get in one night. However, I sleep great at night knowing that they can't get them. So, you can either kill all the wildlife in your area, or you can just build your coop right the first time and not have to bother with all of the hassle of killing everything that moves."

I trap about 5-6 cities during trapping season approximately 50-60 mile radius from where I live, when trapping season is over I do ADC work it overlaps alot. I do not "kill everything that moves" but quiet a number of folks here do not have predator problems. exclusion is only half the battle trapping and dispatching nuisance animals / pests is the other half of the battle

 

[Lbrad7]

It is true that coons do not have opposable thumbs but what they do have is incredible dexterity and sense of touch in their front paws that enables them to manipulate objects unlike most other animals.

To say that the trapping and killing of any animal doesn't reduce the population for any length of time is rediculious. The more breeding pairs you take from an environment can't help but lower population. Unless the remaining coons have meetings around the council fire and decide to increase their litter sizes to make up for the coons that have been removed, the population WILL go down.

You will see how this math works when they start eating your birds. One coon in your coop will drop your flock population drastically and if you think that the coon you have seen walking around your coop isn't the one leaving the scratches on the doors you are naive. I can also guarantee you that he will NOT give up no matter how well your coop is built. If they see or smell prey in that coop, they will keep trying.

Good luck to you and your birds. I hope for their sake, that coop is as well built as you say it is.

 

[ekemily]

oh, I give up. People either agree with killing wild animals because of the potential for harm or they don't. I guess I am kind of a hypocrite, because if I ever saw a grizzly bear in my yard, I would shoot it dead for fear of eating me!!!!
My run and coop are very secure. I have never had a predator loss and don't intend to. I do have some other hens that free range 24/7 and I am prepared for some losses there. They have all been fine for many years now, I think, because we house them in the same field as our buck goat and he smells horrible and is very aggressive. The hawks also don't seem to bother. My guess is that we are in an area where all of the little wild animals can find easier food. Maybe the wild animals where you are at are starving or something.

Lbrad7 I like your signature

aprophet I understand what you are saying. I don't know the study. It was just something in the encyclopedia and it supported my argument

If people want to trap and kill things, that's their decision. All I am saying is that it is possible to coexist with raccoons and oppossums and all of the other animals out there without any livestock losses.

I am going to unsubscribe to this topic now, because, quite frankly, I really could care less about it at this point.

 

[StupidBird]

(I just found this, thought I'd share...)

 

[kartking22]

Quote:
Don't give up quite yet. I have had problems with them too in the past. Same problems as everyone else. You just need to keep one step ahead of them. I haven't has a bird killed in over two years with my coop. A simple suggestion from a friend helped me find an easy fix to keep the coons out of my coop. Since coons can't climb the sides of a metal building, I found a neighbor that was tearing down an old shed and I asked if I could buy the old corrugated tin from the roof. He agreed to sell me the tin for scrap price and I put up two sections of this high all around the coop. ( 5 feet) I have 1" chicken wire above this to the top of the run just in case the coon does find a way over the tin. If the coon does breach the sides, I have 1" knotted netting covering the entire top of the coop. There is no way for them to get into my Fort Knox of a coop anymore. Biggest problem that most people have is that they buy the cheapest stuff to construct thier coop. Never buy the cheap braided netting. The knotted netting is a few bucks more and three times as strong. If you need a good cheap supplier of chicken supplies, go to cutlersupply.com. I found that they are very resonable on thier prices.

 

[moparmatthew]

HI ALL!! A friend of mine told me a simple solution to keeping the coons out and other four legged critters out an AM/FM radio set on a talk show playing in my run and coop.they hear the voices and stay clear,hes been using it for years says hes never lost a chicken to coons or any other ground based attacks.fish line zig zagged across the top of your run will help with air born attacks hawks,owls ect ect Hope this helps you keep the bandits out if you are not into shooting um,Me i see one I'll hit it or shoot it if it's a legal shot of course.Rabies shots suck and managing wild life in an area is critical to healthy animals and people.Hope this helps,Peace.