Racoon living in attic

[hayley3]

The rabies virus is transmitted in the saliva of infected animals. ... You cannot get rabies from the blood, urine, or feces of a rabid animal, or from just touching or petting an animal. (Copied from the Centers for Disease Control website)

 

[Ginmary]

Although extremely rare there is some concern about aerosol transmission when infected animals are in an enclosed space such as bats in a cave.

"...Constantine [10] documented aerosol transmission of rabies virus to experimental animals in Frio Cave. This Texas cave, which is home to 110 million bats, was the location where 2 humans were believed to have contracted rabies via aerosol. Constantine was able to demonstrate transmission of rabies virus to animals housed in cages that excluded all but cave atmosphere. Rabies virus was isolated from samples collected via air condensation techniques that were used to monitor the atmosphere in this cave [14]…." (https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/195/8/1144/816583)

An enclosed attic is similar to a cave. In either case, it's never a good idea to have wild animals of any kind, healthy or not, living in the house uninvited.

 

[hayley3]

Not to be adversarial...but if you read the bottom section of that study it says:
The lack of morbidity and mortality in bats after exposure to aerosolized rabies virus suggests that an aerosol route of exposure does NOT play a major role in bat-to-bat transmission of rabies.
And that's with millions of bats in an enclosed space.

I did have raccoons living in my upper barn and I remember reading you should be careful around where they have pooped and not breathe in their droppings but I can't remember now exactly what it was.

 

[Howard E]

I have had a racoon living in my attic for the past 8 months along with her baby that is also her size now. I have tried every humane way to get rid of her but she wont budge.
Hence I have had to cover the run and coops with another bigger run. But how do you keep a racoon away from chickens without harming the racoon. I have 4 arlo cameras and motion sensor lights on my for girls. But after reading about a loss on BYC I want to make sure my girls are protected.

Getting back to the OP's original question.......how to:

1. Remove (not kill, simply remove) coons from attic?... while at the same time....
2. Making sure the removed coons do not harm the chickens?

For starters..........assuming your coop/run are safe from coons to begin with, no worries. If the coon was a threat.......living that close....or evicted and on the run..... it would have already been there and killed them. But if you have done your part to provide safe housing for the birds........again.....no worries.

Back to the coons living in the attic. Best guess.......how they getting in? The entry point where they come and go? ID of that is the critical first step in removal. Everything revolves around that.

And once coons are in, where do they live? There is likely a pocket or den somewhere that it/they go to hole up in. And what trapping methods have the professionals tried using? Your first post made it sound like you have concern for the coons too.......so have the professionals been trying to take them out alive and unharmed?

Last......very last......on my list of options would be poison. I would not want the stench of a dead rotting coon in my attic.

 

[hayley3]

Getting back to the OP's original question.......how to:

Last......very last......on my list of options would be poison. I would not want the stench of a dead rotting coon in my attic.

Good point... the stench of a raccoon would last a while if they died up there. I know a mouse carcass smells for 10 loooong days.

 

[David61]

Not to be adversarial...but if you read the bottom section of that study it says:
The lack of morbidity and mortality in bats after exposure to aerosolized rabies virus suggests that an aerosol route of exposure does NOT play a major role in bat-to-bat transmission of rabies.
And that's with millions of bats in an enclosed space.

I did have raccoons living in my upper barn and I remember reading you should be careful around where they have pooped and not breathe in their droppings but I can't remember now exactly what it was.

Baylisascaris https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/baylisascaris/resources/baylisascaris_fact_sheet.pdf
Baylisascaris is a roundworm parasite most often found in raccoons. Infection with Baylisascaris, baylisascariasis, can lead to severe illness

 

[aart]

the stench of a raccoon would last a while if they died up there. I know a mouse carcass smells for 10 loooong days.

A LOT more stink for a lot longer!!

 

[BBHF1775]

I wouldn't mess with raccoons, they're full of germs, parasites, rabies and more. We had a bear cub sized raccoon making a huge mess around our coop. We had a trapper come and he ended up catching four in the space of five days. He relocates them "elsewhere"...

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Worms, rabies, what next?? You guys are scaring the poor OP! She's probably in panic mode right now as we speak, high blood pressure spike and all!

 

[Folly's place]

Some fear is a good thing, if it encourages raccoon removal!
Mary