Trapping Raccoons as a Procautionary Measure

[llombardo]

There are lots more around this year already. I'm seeing them all the time.

My dog just spent an hour in one spot not letting one come down the tree. As the weather gets warmer, he has access to go in and out all night. By far the best deterrant there is and I aldo have an electric fence around the whole run. I don't get much sleep in the summer, to busy checking on chickens all night.

 

[Stephine]

Ok - I never ever lose any sleep over keeping my chickens safe at night and we have everything here, cougars, bobcats, racoons, possums, rats, snakes, etc... everthing except bears. The coop is 40 feet from a creek serving as a wildlife corridor. We are deer fenced and the coop is Fort Knox. No openings bigger than the 1/2”hardware cloth. The flock is cooped at night and that’s that.
Having a secure coop and locking it at night really should be the priority.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

... I never ever lose any sleep over keeping my chickens safe at night ..Having a secure coop and locking it at night really should be the priority.

Same here, I don’t worry at night about raccoons ...and I agree with the secure coop idea ...

... but I also agree with the OPs thought that reduced numbers means a reduced chance of problems...

I see it not much differently than preventativly removing mice before they infest and tear things up...

...infact it always kind of stands out to me that we never see any “live and let live...” comments on the mice and rat related threads of BYC....

Preventativly removing raccoons is a viable strategy...I’ve done and it works.... before removing the raccoons, there were multiples in the yard every night, tearing up bird feeders, consuming a large amount of sunflower seeds, “rearranging” flower pots, digging in garden areas, etc....

...now when I set a trail camera out at the coop...I only occasionally see one....but our mulberry tree will fruit soon so that will likely change soon...

... as I mentioned previously, raccoons are hard on wild quail, turkey, and other ground nesting bird populations, so there is also a benefit to them that comes from reducing the raccoon numbers ( which are often artificially high due to living around people)...

... we enjoy seeing deer and other wildlife in our yard and do not wish to have a dog to keep chicken eaters away as it would keep other wildlife away, but that might be another strategy that the OP could use to keep raccoons away...

... so removing and reducing the numbers via preventative trapping is simply a strategy we’ve used to manage the raccoon population on our property...to me it makes more sense and has more benefits than removing them on a case by case basis...

... but again I would recommend that the OP become familiar with the local laws concerning this first... because many places require proof that the critter was causing issues before being removed... unless you are trapping in a designated season with a trapping permit.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Everyone’s area is different. I’ve killed a raccoon with distemper in my yard at 1pm on a bright sunny day. I’ve caught one around 9 am too that was perfectly healthy
As ozark biddies already said the populations are artificially high around housing because of the abundance of food that comes with people. A few years ago I caught 32 raccoons during the trapping season just in my yard and about 20 yds into the woods around my yard. The following spring only a few months later I had 13 raccoons cross in front of me on my way to work around 4 am right in front of my house. If you see 1 raccoon there’s usually at least 10 or more around. I’d rather not have any wildlife harassing chickens through my secure coops, electric wire and pens.

 

[Folly's place]

Both an overabundance of food in cities and suburbs, and an undersupply of predators, and the effective ending of fur trapping out here, has led to very large numbers of raccoons, IMO.
Some of us have fewer, some way too many, and they can often carry diseases and parasites that none of us need in our backyards.
Mary