Sleepless Night

[llombardo]

I know we have raccoons, skunks, fox, and coyotes. I have not slept well since the chickens/ducks have been out there. Prince(Silver Lace young man) is good about crowing at night when he hears something, he has been right on target twice now. I always check when I hear him because it's not the norm.

Tonite I was playing some ball with one of my german shepherds. We were really into the game and out of nowhere she stopped, went across the yard with her nose in the air. I ran and got a flashlight and there was a huge raccoon climbing out of the tree. I could hear it walking next to the fence, so I kicked the fence to scare it. I now have my back foor open for my male german shepherd to come in and out. He has a great sense of smell and hearing. I will be going out every hour and making noise.

Shooting is not an option. I havd neighbors. I will be calling a friend of mine that is a legal wildlife trapper to see if we can set up some traps and he can relocate to his sanctuary(land he purchased for this purpose).

Now off to a real long night.

 

[Pugsabi]

That sucks! Is your coop reinforced with hardware cloth? Is having electric fencing feasible for you? At least your dog and rooster are doing their job!

 

[llombardo]

The run is hardware cloth from top to botyom. Heavy duty netting on the top. Hardware cloth 2 feet out all the way around. The coop is in the run. It's a pre fab-I added a second layer of hardware cloth in all but one accessible area, where there is one layer. I might just cover that with plywood. There is hardware cloth around the bottom of the coop itself. The duck house Is pretty sturdy with a small area of hardware cloth on the upper top sides.

I worry about the hardware cloth, even though it's bolted down in every area. I have rabbits out there in hutches, the movement drives the dogs crazy(high prey drive), if they were not out there I would put a dog in the enclosure.

This damn thing is still there. The shepherd and the golden keep smelling under the fence. It's midnite and I'm out there cutting branches and removing overgrown stuff between the fences. I'm going to look at the branches over the fence in the light. I think if I roll those over they are to light to hold a coon and the obstruction would stop it from walking on top of the fence. I worry about the netting. It's pretty strong, not sure if they can break that? There are no gaps, I check that every couple days it would be hard to walk across(I would think). I thought about putting hardware cloth about a foot around the ends of the netting, but that might give them some footing.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Sorry for the problems sanctuary does not help killing is the only option

 

[llombardo]

Sorry for the problems sanctuary does not help killing is the only option

Killing is not an option. The sanctuary is acres and acres of wooded area. They can have a good life where they were meant to be.

 

[Pugsabi]

Sorry for the problems sanctuary does not help killing is the only option

Personally, I think that making sure that the coop is as protected as possible is the only way. If you kill it or remove it, that leaves the territory open for another raccoon to take over.

 

[llombardo]

Personally, I think that making sure that the coop is as protected as possible is the only way. If you kill it or remove it, that leaves the territory open for another raccoon to take over.

I knew they were lurking around but really didn't start seeing them until I got chickens--before they were even outside. From what I understand there was t many but they are making a come back. A couple months ago I had 2 babies in another tree. The golden retriever found those. We have lots of skunks, they have tried to dig under my fence, but lots of river rock fixed that. Now they play in the front yard.

Haven't heard the coyotes lately, that could be why the coon population is increasing.

I might add a third layer of hardware cloth. I hate that stuff. It kicks my ass everytime I work with it.

 

[Pugsabi]

I think clearing the branches back, like you've planned, vwill probably help a lot. Hopefully the raccoon soon realizes that it won't be getting a free meal. Hardware cloth is no joke. Small wounds but painful.

 

[2 many chickens]

Personally, I think that making sure that the coop is as protected as possible is the only way. If you kill it or remove it, that leaves the territory open for another raccoon to take over.

This.
Up your protection if you feel it's not well protected enough.
If you get rid of one, more will come. Wether you kill or you move them.
More will come.