The raccoons keep on coming...

[techbsmith]

Here is a picture of the little fella' mocking me, looking at the pile of "junk" ( aka potentially useful stuff that collects in a shed) that I stacked on it's burrow after I filled it in.

I know some of you are looking at this picture and saying "not sure that's a groundhog, it looks more like a woodchuck to me"... and to you I say "i'm pretty sure it's a 'dirt squirrel' either way you look at it"!

Dirt Squirrel!!!

Are you sure you're not really Bill Murray and that was the set of Caddyshack?!

Anyway, I've hijacked this raccoon thread, so my apologies to @techbsmith ...but maybe some of this info will help in a few months when the raccoon invasion lets up and the groundhogs starting pouring over the wall

No need for apologies at all! I've enjoyed all the posts, had some good laughs, and like the fact that folks are talking about ways to keep their livestock safe. It's all good!

 

[bruceha2000]

Dirt Squirrel!!!

They are actually a member of the squirrel family (Marmot) and apparently can climb trees though I don't think they do it often.

 

[aart]

I trapped another raccoon last night, but it looks like a coyote got to it before I did this morning.

Was it in the DP?

A .22 LR with a good scope takes care of them

Yeppers! That's exactly what I used.

 

[techbsmith]

They are actually a member of the squirrel family (Marmot) and apparently can climb trees though I don't think they do it often.

Yeah - I was aware of the Genus Marmota, which of course falls under the Order Rodentia. I've always called squirrels "furry tailed, tree rats", I suppose all of them falling under the Order Rodentia makes them close enough to be cousins, eh?

 

[techbsmith]

Was it in the DP?

Yeppers! That's exactly what I used.

Yes Ma'am - those DP traps are the best I've ever used for opossum or raccoon. I felt bad for the raccoon, I know the .22 would have been a quicker and less stressful ending.

 

[Cryss]

GROUNDHOG!!! Dam@ critter destroyed my peas and lettuce. My garden has buried hardware cloth but he chewed through the corner of chain-link and hardware cloth fence door!! Are they chicken eaters?

 

[OhZark Biddies]

GROUNDHOG!!! .... Are they chicken eaters?

I'd never say "never" but it would be an odd thing for a groundhog to kill chickens.

I had an old timer tell me that that groundhogs killed his chickens one time... but I just about bet raccoons got in through the ground hog burrow into his coop ....

When I asked a few questions he didn't seem to know much about groundhogs, raccoons or chickens... just goes to show that not all old timers are 'built' the same.

 

[techbsmith]

I agree with @OhZark Biddies - I really doubt a groundhog would kill a chicken, but I wouldn't say never. They're typically herbivores, but they will eat insects and perhaps a small mammal such as a baby field mouse, mole, or even bird.

 

[lazy gardener]

Being in the rodent family, I'd not put it past them. Rabbits will eat their young if stressed, I had a hampster do the same. I've seen chipmunks eating frogs. But, generally, they prefer vegetation, especially a well planted garden. My chickens go on high alert when I have a ground hog show up in the yard.

One year, we had a pesty hog that defied getting caught or shot. One day the chickens were out, and they actually chased him out of the yard!. Not full on running chase, but a gaggle of hens encroaching upon his space till he left!

 

[bruceha2000]

One day the chickens were out, and they actually chased him out of the yard!

In 2015 I watched 2 hens, who were raising chicks, chase a full grown chuck back to its tunnel. Full speed. It wasn't paying any attention to the hens or chicks but they weren't going to allow it to even consider same.

Are they chicken eaters?

No, I had the little buggers raiding my hanging feeder in the coop daily a few years ago. Didn't care about the chickens but ran like the dickens when I came into the barn.

I had an old timer tell me that that groundhogs killed his chickens one time... but I just about bet raccoons got in through the ground hog burrow into his coop ....

I'll buy that, I'm 99% sure that is how a coon got into the barn and killed a hen that was in a not quite secure coop. There was a 3" gap at the top of the stall wall. Plenty of problems with chucks and their tunnels coming into the barn alley. Block the tunnels all you like, they'll just dig them out or make a new one right nearby.