Screaming raccooons

[bryan99705]

Hmmm.....screaming coon, must have found that strand of electric fence I left for him!

 

[zengrrl]

Can I electrify the entire building? Its pretty large? Or maybe just the run? I'm seriously scared to death and having heart palpitations over my chicks leaving my garage. The welded wire will be over the ceiling and its pretty high up, like 10 ft? So no fear of them reaching through but at this point I"m not sure my birds will ever leave the garage.

 

[Attila the Hen]

I may have to eat my words, but so far I havn't really had any predator problems and my fencing is "adequate". An outer perimeter of link fence, then a coop of chicken wire and a wooden box inside the coop that is secured for sleeping.
I think my main source of security is an annoying but effective beagle. We see very little wild life because of the dogs. I've heard fox calls so I know they are there but haven't seen them.

Actually, my daughter saw the beagle playing with a fox at our last house. He was living wild himself before I caught him and there was a fox family we often saw. No chickens at that time--just a bird feeder with squirrels. The fox sat at the foot of the tree in broad daylight looking longingly up at the squirrels.
This was in Atlanta. How I loved that place on the river until we got flooded out.
Sorry to have yammered on.
Bottom line----dogs for security.

 

[ragerkid2]

Quote:
X2

 

[zazouse]

We use dogs here and i do not keep my chickens cooped up unless i have some specific breeds pend for hatching eggs.
If something like the coon in the photo happens along to close my birds sound the alarm ,my dogs will investigate and take care of the problem if needed.
Gracie and a trespasser

Elia and a trespasser

Most of the pack in this photo.

I use a hotwire around my garden and it keeps out everything but the rabbits.
So mabe ya could hot wire your perimiter it would be way cheeper than a 6 foot fence.

 

[ninabeast]

I was advised here a few weeks ago that stapling was not enough when attaching hardware cloth; it seems raccoons can tear staples out. So, cursing all the way, I put in washers and screws every 8-10". A pain, but I sleep easier.

 

[feliciamckee]

We trap our coons. We have trapped 7 in the last two months. When they are in the traps I feel sorry for them because when we go out in the morning to see if we got one, they are terrified. They cover their face with their paws and curl up into a ball. My kids always want to keep them! My husband takes them away and sets them out in the mountains about 10 miles away but I am told that they will come back. We may be trapping the same coon over and over but I doubt it. The one good thing is that they are nocturnal and I don't have to worry about my chickens during the day. I just keep the coop locked at night of course and haven't lost a bird yet.

 

[zazouse]

sounds of coons fighting in tree

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
Yo are probably trapping the ones someone is dropping off at your place

 

[zengrrl]

Omg coons can rip out staples? We used mostly washers to attach anything but I put up wire fencing just in case a raccoon can scale a 10 ft sheer wall and get into the rafters of the "barn" type building. We used staples. Odds are they won't ever make it up into the rafters but now I'm alittle worried...again. The good ne ws is they've been out for a week and no issues, and no signs of anything lurking about just yet either.