racoons abound!!!!!!!!!!

[ruby]

for the last four or five nights I, my husband and local kid have been trying to trap the raccoons that have invaded my chicken feed. I secured my feed so that they couldn't get it, but I worried about my girls being next. So we started trapping. The first night the traps were empty but thrown into the woods hmmmm so there is something out there. The next night I used a motorcycle tie down to keep them from moving or tossing the trap. Got one! the other looked like the bait was taken from the side. hmmmm So we cover the side of the trap with a box and got another one. I know we have more and they are cute little buggers but we have to keep the population down. My neighbor's son is a wildlife guru he says we have some bobcats. So that's good. The raccoons will set loose on property that they hunt and train coon dogs. So he will have a fifty/fifty chance. That all I can do for them.. We had some clearing done by a neighbor that's probably what displaced these guys. Trap is set we will see in the morning! wish me luck!

 

[acdoc]

what are you using for bait

 

[teach1rusl]

You're right, they sure are cute buggars. As long as they keep to themselves, I'll admire them from afar. But if they were breaking into my covered run or coop, I'd ask my DH to "dispose" of them (unless I actually caught one attacking my birds I would feel too badly to do it myself). Good luck with your problem.

 

[ruby]

The local kid used sardines. I'm too cheap! I am using cheap cat food. I think it said 'tuna and seafood in gravy' it smells real bad! uck no wonder I never liked cats. .58 cents a can.

 

[Luna_Chick66]

The raccoons will set loose on property that they hunt and train coon dogs. So he will have a fifty/fifty chance. That all I can do for them..

I am so glad that you are doing that.

Sometimes I feel so bad for the innocent fox or raccoon or whatever else that found a way to get someone's chickens (and believe me I feel bad for the chickens, too) because they are a part of the enviornment, too, and just like people and everything else on this planet they are opportunistic.

I have had a fox in my dog yard... my female dog cornered it under the shed and I had to have a neighbor shoot and kill a raccoon because he looked and acted rabid (sure enough I took him in to be tested and he was rabid).

I have a deal with the deer for the past 15 years - I give them some cracked corn (and fruit, veggies) around dinner time and they leave my garden and shrubbery alone. For the most part this has worked out fine.​

 

[ruby]

the deer would eat me out of house and home if I did that. We have a large population of white tail deer here. They eat my acorns, that's fine. No one hunts on my little 11 acres. And I do have a doe that has twins each year it seems. We re home non-poisonous snakes caught in the nests. We are the invaders here. I try to adjust to what nature way.

 

[acdoc]

thats the right bait if they are around you should catch one

 

[gsim]

My wife recently had a conversation with a man at our local tractor supply store regards his experience with racoons. He said one day he looked out his window towards his chicken run. It is one that is only 8' wide. He saw two racoons, one on each side. One would stampede the poultry towards the other side, where the other would reach thru the 2x4 welded wire fence and grab and kill a chicken. He lost three chickens before he could get out there to stop it.
We had been worried about coons grabbing our chickens through the sides of our pen. It is a large one, about 180' in circumference and made of 6'tall welded 2x4 wire, set in concrete all the way around to stop any predator digging under it. We are adding a 24" tall roll of chicken wire to the base of it after we finish adding the already-planned fence charger (4 strands). That will stop the chickens from putting their heads thru the fence. A friend of mine recently had a loss of 24 young pullets due to a weasel. His coop is located inside of where he has goats and a jenny donkey for protection from dogs and coyotes. The weasel came in at night and killed his whole flock. Donkey has down time too it seems.
We have all types of wildlife on our place and we practice live and let live. However, I will not do any catch and release of any predators. Have read of eggs being good bait for coons. Traps need to be reinforced though as full-grown coons will destroy a standard catch-and-release trap.

 

[ruby]

We didn't get a coon last night. After rebuilding the local kid's trap, because ours had a coon in it. But we covered the area where the bait was with plastic sheeting, and then put a short box at the end. The kid will bring my trap back at dark. My husband closed the trap this morning so the guineas won't get in. Will trap till no more are caught. We have a pond down at the end of our property and the creek that feeds it. I think we have more coons.