Racoon rampage

[Folly's place]

Chicken wire won't work either; it's got to be hardware cloth, well secured, and maybe also woven wire. Electric fencing is good too. Mary

 

[RonP]

Hardware cloth is best, but could get expensive.

To keep the coons and fox out, I used 2x3 fencing on the roof.

 

[patsflock]

We just lost our entire flock to a coon attack. The entire coop is surrounded by hardware cloth (even the ceiling). I cut a 3 inch by 4 inch hole in the hardware cloth for wiring for our heat lamp (I was not thinking at the time) and at least 3-4 coons squeezed through that tiny hole and wiped out all 8 of our ladies. Coons are crafty little critters. Since then we have trapped and eliminated four of them and replaced the hardware cloth so we are back in business. We now have 7 one week olds and we are starting over.

Everyone else is correct, they will rip right through the netting.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome, and I'm so sorry for your disaster! When you have chickens, loving those 'cute little raccoons' goes right out the window! Mary

 

[Mylied]

I feel your pain. I just figured out a raccoon is what killed my bantam rooster that I loved and one of my hens. It figured out how to undo the latch on the door for the nest box and was crawling in that way. I really thought we had the coop secured finally. And yes, fencing or hardware cloth is the only way to keep critters out. Dogs will also tear right through chicken wire. I do put chicken wire inside the fence on the pen I use for my half grown chickens, but that's to keep them in, not things out. My husband will also be out there waiting to shoot it tonight since I'm sure it'll just figure out another way in now that I secured the doors permanently. Predators are crafty.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

We just lost our entire flock to a coon attack.   The entire coop is surrounded by hardware cloth (even the ceiling).   I cut a 3 inch by 4 inch hole in the hardware cloth for wiring for our heat lamp (I was not thinking at the time) and at least 3-4 coons squeezed through that tiny hole and wiped out all 8 of our ladies.   Coons are crafty little critters.   Since then we have trapped and eliminated four of them and replaced the hardware cloth so we are back in business.   We now have 7 one week olds and we are starting over.

Everyone else is correct, they will rip right through the netting.

Wow!!

That would have been a very hard loss for me.

My hat's off....

 

[funandfeathers]

Just lost 14 out of 17 of our ladies this past week to a raccoon. My heart hurts every time I think of it. Most of them had just gotten mature enough to start laying a few weeks ago. Went from having eggs galore to a trickle. Poor things. Just makes me sad. Sorry for you loss.

 

[Millworker26]

Just lost 14 out of 17 of our ladies this past week to a raccoon. My heart hurts every time I think of it. Most of them had just gotten mature enough to start laying a few weeks ago. Went from having eggs galore to a trickle. Poor things. Just makes me sad. Sorry for you loss.

Sorry to hear that. How did the raccoons get in? Are the remaining 3 safe when the raccoons come back?

 

[funandfeathers]

Thank you. Yes, hopefully the problem has been fixed. The coop is a converted garden shed that is totally closed up at night to keep it secure but it had developed a small hole that has since been remedied. A little too late obviously but the remaining girls will hopefully be ok. To watch them hatch out and grow, then to lose them all at one time is a tough. They were most definitely pets, not "just chickens".

 

[DCMuffin]

So sorry for the loss of your girls