Tips on racoon-proofing

[Margot]

We trap and shoot all the coons and possoms that come around. I dislike this and always believed in live and let live...until they did not let my Batchelor Boys live. (12 free ranger roosters). They roost up in the top of the polebard along the rafters. Couple of weeks ago it started...they would kill one a night. I caught one walking up to them along the rafters...wow they are agile. Hubby was gone, and I don't know enough about guys (he is the dispatcher). So I started trapping and he would take them out in the am. We have removed 6 or 7 so far. Lost 2 roos in the 2010 war so far.

Some great ideas for proofing. I'm building a new coop this year and will incorporate them. I've had coons chew thru T-111 siding and playwood to get to dog food in a shed.

Margot-PawPaw, MI

 

[sevenchickens]

We just removed a family of raccoons from our chimney, I hate being party to a quadruple homicide but when it comes down to my family or my animals and some critter that wants to rip their heads off, the critter is going to loose the battle. I wish that coexistence was possible, I'm all for sacrificial gardens for the bunny but those carnivores you don't want to start providing easy meals for them. I am proud to say, our neighbors had a den of foxes and thanks to our dogs we never lost a chicken to them.

 

[lceh]

Re: hardware cloth -- just make sure you attach it with screws, not with a staple gun. It won't keep raccoons out if they can get their hands under it and pull it up, staples and all. We also used keyed padlocks. I'd prefer combination locks since DD keeps losing the keys

, but I haven't found one that's rated for outdoor use yet.

Good luck!

 

[Windrider]

Iceh, I run a sailing program and we use marine combination locks for locking all our boats and outdoor storage boxes. We use both Corbin Sesame combo locks and Abus locks. Pricy things, but there are some locks we've had for over a decade and they are still working, and that is in a salt and sand-prone environment.

http://www.abuslocks.com/item.asp?CID=2102

 

[lceh]

Thanks for the link, Windrider, I'll check it out!

Love your collie avatar

.

 

[crimsontide]

good info windrider . i hope u ate the fox & coon. lol because hunting & trapping are definately good preventive measures if we are good stewards of this earth, by eating what we kill.

 

[ChooksChick]

I build for bear- there are tips here.

 

[stellair]

Cool you got racoons there. Her in Belgium, we do not have such beautiful animals. We only got some foxes and rats being chicken predators

 

[chrissum]

I'd have a gun handy as well.

 

[stellair]

No we are not allowed to have guns here ;-)