The racoon brought a skunk

[miss_inscan]

It began Wednesday morning after I had left for work at 1:00.
Our (indoor) cat attemped to wake my husband to alert him that there was a creature in our yard. He ignored her, but soon heard the girls making a fuss in their coop. He flew downstairs and out the door with a broom in hand. He chased the coon away.

Next morning around 5:00 he aheard noise outside and ran out with the broom again. He chaised the coon away, right past the skunk. He turned his flashlight just in time to see the tail raise. Then he ran for the house, closed the windows and took another shower. Although he didn't get sprayed, our neighborhood smelled really bad. Our vegetable garden and shed got the worst of it.

This morning we just had the skunk around 1:00. He seems to be more interested in bugs and hasn't noticed the chickens.

He girls are okay and now we're trying a scarecrow sprinkler. It's a motion activated sprinkler.

Has anyone else tried the scarecrow sprinkler for coons?

 

[SandraChick]

haven't tried it for coons...but my dad uses it for the neighborhood cats that seem to think his garden is their litter box.

My gut feeling is that it might work at first, but that they'd get used to it.

I'd put an electric fence around my coop/run. Add a hotdog to the wire to make sure they get a good shock.

sandra