Truth About Raccoons & Chicken Wire? Please add your experience

[banter]

One of the worst experiences I ever had was when a raccoon pulled through 11 out of twelve
bobwhite quail through the chicken wire and ate only their feet. We had to kill them all. The one that survived was scalped and bald the rest of her life!

 

[thechickenchick]

Quote:
Thankfully no bears where I am at, just 50 miles away or so! However we do see coons, fox, weasel and the occasional coyote. We have deer and antelope in our yard all the time. They eat my flowers and whatever they want out of my garden. However my husband and his family hunt around here so eventually they end up in the freezer! So I guess you could say we raise our own food, in a way!?!

 

[thechickenchick]

Quote:
They make a nice leg trap that only coons can get caught in, and they work very well. I borrowed one from a friend, cause they aren't cheap, and cleaned out my area in a matter of weeks, and it only cost me a few marshmallows, and a few bullets!

Thanks for the info on the trap. That sounds like it would do the trick.

Do more coons move in after some time? Have you had this happen? It would be nice to get rid of them now before my ckickens move out of my office and into their fancy new coop!!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

That leg trap looks great and simple and foolproof. I wonder if they are legal here.

I have the "have a heart" but I catch everything in there but coons... for example:

 

[thechickenchick]

You have to admit, its kind of funny!

 

[silkiechicken]

The girls are just not experienced enough yet... my girls now will specifically walk around the door of the have a hearts or walk over the top and jump off the door so that it closes... (The gravity type door closure)

 

[CUDA]

Yes, more coons will come back eventually, it's best to keep constant vigilance! On the traps, you put them in known coon trails, or areas where you see them feed. Take a whole marshmallow and put it in the bottom of the tube, then set the trap, and stick it in the ground at a 45 degree angle. The way it works is the coon actually hast to stick its paw down in to get the marshmallow, and when it tries to pull it out, the trap trips, and holds onto the paw. It also does this soft enough that the coon will just sit there caught until you get there to put it down. I know that guys that trap them around here use them in areas that leg traps are not permitted because of other animals, and seasons. The way these traps have to be tripped makes it so only coons can do it. They are actually quite ingenious. Good luck!

 

[MRNpoultry]

I use hardware cloth since if a chicken she a predtor it will try to get out and stick its head through the chicken wire then the coon can get them. Luckly I ain't had no promblems with them yet.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

When setting a live-trap(or any trap for that matter), be sure to set it near the coop but not close enough that the coon can reach through and grab birds. I've heard of accounts, where a trapped coon still caught and killed birds. The coon was trapped in a live-trap(have-a-heart trap), but the chickens, being curious, wandered too close and met their end through the paws of a very distraught coon.

Just a tidbit of advice with setting a live-trap(have-a-heart), I'm sure the same goes with leg-holds.

-Kim

 

[thechickenchick]

Who would have thought something as cute as a coon could be so sneaky and distructive! Its amazing what it takes to beat them!! However they better watch out because I am learning all kinds of things!