Repeated deadly attacks in one of 3 pens--suspect raccoon

[yeye5]

Thank you to those who created and moderate this part of the forum.

In one pen of my total 3 (the only one without lighting at night) I've had sporadic attacks in the past, solved by simply re-enforcing the "weak points" and deterring further issue. A friend had helped me and pointed out what were in fact raccoon paw prints in one area.
During the past approx 2-3 weeks I've had repeated problems in that same area. Night pen/enclosure is made of wood frame with hardware cloth walls and roof (roof is covered in addition to the hardware cloth). It has heavy logs surrounding the perimeter, chicken wire around the bottom, and roosting areas off the ground.
The first recent attack killed my OE. I thought I'd re-enforced More than sufficiently. Some days later, it happened again.
I had, in that area, a very feisty tough rooster and he did well keeping things safe. During one of the attacks, a hen was killed and although I saw a small amount of this rooster's feathers, the rooster vanished (only time a body wasn't found) and has neither been found dead nor returned.
Problems I see with the area are lack of motion sensor lights and distance to the house. Both other pens have electricity/lighting available and are closer to the front of my house.
While a solution could be to run electric out there, it surely isn't something I can do immediately. I also doubt if that alone could break the pattern.
Today (2 killed last night) I moved several of the hens (that I perceive more vulnerable) to the front. There is no room really for them no less the rest of the roosters and hens housed in the problem area.

That is my problem and I'm in search of as many ideas and options for solving this already bad predator problem.
Thank you any and all in advance.

 

[bobbi-j]

If it is coons they will keep coming back . They run the perimeter to find a way in . The best way is to trap them with a foot trap or conibear , or if you don't want to hurt them use a live trap .

I'm going to put my 2 cents' worth here. Foot hold traps are fine, but you run a risk of catching an unintended target - your cat or dog, or a neighbor's pet for example. I'd suggest using a live trap, then killing it. That's the ONLY reason for a live trap - so if you catch your pet, you can turn it loose unharmed. NOT for relocating a predator...

Thanks for the feedback.
I just took some pics. That process in itself was very educational. It showed me where I need to place stronger wire. That's not even counting the idea of hot wire.





The pics are 1) the original hardware cloth that I see is way too wide barred. 2) Much stronger metal over the hardware cloth (from a disasembled shelf). 3) the level I resorted to once the 2nd metal pieces didn't do it.
Question: will they/can they simply climb up a ways and enter by bending the bars again? If that's the case I need the hot wire and/or unbendable metal everywhere and/or I need to just give up on that pen and build another.
What would you do?

Yes, they can and they will - so you need to put up several strands of hotwire. Start out about 4" off the ground, then put one another 4-6", and so on with 4 or 5 strands. You want the first one low enough that they can't crawl under it, then the next ones close enough together to keep them from squeezing between, and the top one high enough that they can't just reach up over it and climb up.

 

[yeye5]

Thanks again. I definitely Need to step up my time frame. I'm sure you all can guess, it happened again. This was by far the most gruesome event. I had to come inside and sit down or it was going to be barfing in the woods.
Not that the following question changes the solution/s but this time and the past couple instead of being eaten and left in the pen the predator/s are removing some of the bodies, I guess when they can.
Would this indicate a different or additional type of predator?
Again, it still ends up with killed chickens. I'm going to get brave and try to finish the job up there and then start on the solution.

 

[yeye5]

This is the light I have up for my run since running electric out there was way too expensive!! It has stopped many things from sticking around including my dog. Thought I would throw the idea out there for you! This solar light really does wonders and is as bright as a hard wired light. Good luck!

Thank you! That's great! It's not that the coop is a huge distance but it is far enough that it has no electric access (yet). The property is jusr 2.5 acres. I was discussing with a friend this evening the safety pros and cons of running at least an extension cord up there. I'm nervous taking risks with electricity. But solar powered would be the best on so many fronts. I do have several very good light fixtures IF they could be attached to solar. Or this idea is all built-in. Who'd have thought keeping chickens was going to run me this money. It makes sense when I think of it objectively but of course it's impossible to do that until there exists something to be objectively observed...

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Can you take and post some photos of the pen in question? This will better enable us to see what you are dealing with and identify weaknesses you may not have seen as of yet.

 

[Mr Pink]

I installed 3 electric "hot" wires around My 24 x 32 run in an afternoon start to finish ...doesn't take long and not that expensive !

 

[yeye5]

Can you take and post some photos of the pen in question? This will better enable us to see what you are dealing with and identify weaknesses you may not have seen as of yet.

I'll do that tomrrow. It's too dark at the moment to get a clear pic but it's a very good suggestion.

 

[yeye5]

I installed 3 electric "hot" wires around My 24 x 32 run in an afternoon start to finish ...doesn't take long and not that expensive !

Thank you. I have no skills to do that but I do have friends to help. I'm leary only because if one of my dogs got out of my grasp I don't know how powerful the zap could be. I'll do some research this evening and see where they're sold, how much, safety etc.

 

[bobbi-j]

Thank you. I have no skills to do that but I do have friends to help. I'm leary only because if one of my dogs got out of my grasp I don't know how powerful the zap could be. I'll do some research this evening and see where they're sold, how much, safety etc.

The zap would be powerful enough to make them think twice about going near the fence again, but wouldn't be enough to do permanent damage. We had electric fences in the presence of young kids and dogs for years. Despite the occasional run-in, everyone survived.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The zap would be powerful enough to make them think twice about going near the fence again, but wouldn't be enough to do permanent damage. We had electric fences in the presence of young kids and dogs for years. Despite the occasional run-in, everyone survived.

X 2 -- also, there are different ways of setting it up that can be pretty straight forward - if you are attaching the wire along wood posts or boards you can use the "screw in" insulators (as easy to use as it sounds - literally just screw them in, can generally be done by hand) to run the wire through. There are tons of different solar chargers, and for a small application like yours you can get away with the smallest one they have - wiring it up is really straightforward (the employee at the farm store can walk you through it and/or you can find lots of videos on YouTube, etc).