Relocate or Retaliate?

[luvmychicknkids]

Actually, panner, I said TRYING to relocate.

I have personally never relocated a wild animal but always choose to live with them (I do know people who have, however). I agree with what you said and I KNOW what happens when the state send a trapper out...that was someone else who actually believed they would be relocated.

 

[amazondoc]

We're talking about raccoons here, not bears.

Many people successfully keep chickens in areas with raccoons. It can be done.

If you go away for the weekend, hire a local kid to put the birds up. You wouldn't leave your dogs alone for a weekend without care, would you? The chickens create the same sort of responsibility. And if the raccoons are getting over the top of your fence (you didn't say they are), simply add wire over the top of the pen.

If you remove predators either through shooting or trapping, more will move in to the empty territory left behind. IMHO it's much more logical to simply prevent them from getting access to the birds. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[ivan3]

Panner123 Wrote: Now for the humans, I believe we could do without a large number of them too.

I'll only say, I'm glad I'll be gone before the population on this rock hits 9 billion...

We have a LOT of predator activity and we harvest every chicken eating/Southern Nocturnal Squirrel food eating one them. They keep coming, of course. But they don't come as often. And, as the traps are always out, they most always go for the easy meal and don't test the defenses, and those aren't shabby. Everyone has to decide what they will tolerate and act accordingly.

Good luck!​

 

[pkeeler]

90% of all relocated raccoons die in a short, but highly stressful, amount of time. If you can't coexist with the raccoon, it is more humane to kill it. Another raccoon will move in, but hopefully that one will be more discouraged by your defenses.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Can you provide the data to back up this claim?

 

[summerwindsfarm]

We trapped and killed 14 coons in 2 months that were hell bent on eating my call ducks despite a duck pen dubbed fort ducks..and they managed to get most of them too sigh.

Then we bought two livestock guardian dogs. Never had another coon attack. Did lose a few chickens to the dogs as pups before they learned better but far fewer to the coons and now i havent lost a bird to predators for well over a year.

 

[PurpleChicken]

We have a ton of raccoons in our neighborhood. The garbage cans 200 feet from my
coop are always knocked over. We see the coons doing it.

The coons NEVER come near our chickens. A coon could easily climb our chain link run
and masacre our flock but they don't.

Our solution??? Pee all ove the place. We have 3 dogs and our neighbors have 2 more
that pee around the coop area. Me and my kid pee there constantly. The chickens
watch us but we are not embarassed by it.

In 3 years we only caught one coon within 50 feet of our coop and our Coon Hound,
good girl, promptly tree'd it.


Google raccoon repellent. There is a lot of stuff out there. Our just have keg
parties and invite as many guys as you can.

Dogs like beer too.

 

[pkeeler]

Can you provide the data to back up this claim?

I got that from the City of Sioux Falls info site:

http://www.siouxfalls.org/Police/Community_Policing/animal_control/wildlife/problem_wildlife.aspx

I don't know the name of the study.​

 

[amazondoc]

Thanks for providing the link -- but that's not a study or any sort of data, it's just another unsupported claim.

Don't get me wrong -- I agree with the viewpoint of the page you linked to. I just think it's a good idea to recognize the difference between fact and claim.

 

[Solsken Farm]

I have been successfully feeding 5 baby racoons for nearly 3 months. It took me at least 6 weeks to realize the cats in the barn were not eating all the catfood.

I saw them last night, they are huge. Our wildlife rehab neighbor has reassured me over and over again that they won't eat my chickens if they have an alternative food source. I am trying his advice, as he has been doing this for over 35 years. I saw them last night in the barn munching on their dog food. They are now HUGE! I have to admit, I am a bit nervous. I am watching things carefully. Since ours was a family, he did not want to remove them as the mom would have killed them if she were in captivity with them while they were growing up. We live in Maine, where releasing is an option due to our low population.

Opposums are completely docile and easily moved.

Do you have a rehab person in your area?

I think there are alternatives if you want to do something other than killing them. But of course this is a personal choice.

Edited to add: that electric fence is an excellent deterrent. Good luck!