RIP Lady Buffington.. any raccoon-tapping advice?

[lindseythefork]

Well, we lost a hen to a raccoon the other night.. of course it had to grab my favorite.

Now we've got a live trap out there. It's only been one night, but how long do you suppose it will take to nab the raccoon? I have marshmallows and some apples smeared in peanut butter.

Any raccoon-trapping experts out there?? We only had six chickens to begin with, so any hen lost makes quite the impact.

Oh and to clarify: we know it's a raccoon because the night before we lost Lady Buffington my husband awoke to a commotion out in the coop and when he turned the outside light on he saw a raccoon scurrying off along the fence line. Also, I went and talked to a neighbor that has ducks and he said "Oh, a raccoon? Yeah, he lives in my attic." Thanks, neighbor.

 

[86121]

Marshmallows and tuna mixed with cat food in a large live trap.
Works every time for me.

 

[lindseythefork]

You don't end up trapping your cat? I REALLY don't want to trap my cat and miss an opportunity to grab that stupid raccoon. lol

 

[bertman]

Yes, I would advise against tapping one of those buggers. They will bite the mess out of you. Plus they can carry rabies.

Or, you could do the old 'double tap': one to the chest, one to head.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.



And I'm sorry about Lady Buffington.


If I lost one of my girls I'd go with the double tap.

 

[lindseythefork]

Trap and tap, I say. lol

I desperately wanted my husband to shoot it when we trap it, but our neighbor generously offered to deal with the raccoon for us- we just have to toss the trap in the back of his truck.

 

[urban-chick-mom]

So sorry about your favorite hen. We have raccoons in the neighborhood and I am worried about my 3 hens running around our backyard during the day. At night they are enclosed in their coop so I don't worry about them. The daytime is when I worry. I know they are only chickens but they are also my pets and I would be devastated if I lost one to a raccoon. Hope you catch yours!

 

[zookeeper15133]

I tried for a week with marshmallows and peanut butter. They kept getting the bait but no coon in the trap. The other night I just cracked the seal on a can of sardines. It worked! I caught one a night for 3 nights.

Also I started off with a $25 Harbor freight trap. This is what happened.

After that I went and bought a Havahart!

 

[urban-chick-mom]

oops! I already posted. Sorry about that.

 

[lindseythefork]

If we don't catch it tonight, I will go grab a can of sardines. I work until 3am and I doubt my husband wants to load up the kids to go get a can of sardines for a raccoon (even though I totally would lol).

 

[lindseythefork]

Quote:
Yes, they are definitely our pets as well! We only have six (well, five now) so it's a huge impact when one is gone.