what a raccoon will do to your chickens

[LSUROOSTER]

As most of you know, chicken is on everyone's menu. Sometimes i think the local predators are letting me fatten up my hens for the winter when prey is scarce. A couple years ago, when i let my 6 hens free range around the backyard, a raccoon got into the coop one evening before i locked them up. What he did to those hens was brutal. The coon killed one outright and gutted it, but 4 others had their crests ripped off the top of their heads. One after the other, the coon scalped each hen and let them live.

I tried to keep them alive by spraying hydrogen peroxide on their heads, but they stopped eating and died a couple days later. I don't let my new flock out of the chicken tractor anymore. i trap and shoot the coons from time to time and can see where they pull on the chicken wire. Don't get to comfortable free ranging with a small flock.

 

[bugkiller]

Raccoons killed my birds twice now. I have 2 city chickens in a small coop and they tore threw the wire mesh twice. now in the process of building a new coop with welded wire instead of chicken wire.

 

[Grace11]

Raccoons killed my birds twice now. I have 2 city chickens in a small coop and they tore threw the wire mesh twice. now in the process of building a new coop with welded wire instead of chicken wire.

I have had welded wire where the darn welds would pop loose. I would use hardware cloth, a bit expensive, OVER woven fencing. I put the hardware cloth on the inside towards the birds.

 

[FrankHomestead]

I have had welded wire where the darn welds would pop loose. I would use hardware cloth, a bit expensive, OVER woven fencing. I put the hardware cloth on the inside towards the birds.

Agree, hardware cloth all day! I have a city coop secured with hc including the floor, and have not had a single incident. and we had a family of opossums living under our shed not even 20 feet from the coop! We have all sorts of gross city vermin...coons, skunks, stray cats...hardware cloth will keep them all from having a free dinner

 

[Coturnix Quail]

I caught a fat coon once in a Live Trap.. Let it go the next day. They don't bother trying to get into the coop - although they did eat like 6 of my quail, this coop is better protected and they're locked in at night. If you are trying to catch a coon, I found meat flavored cat food works best. I used chicken liver dinner, and the skunks didn't come this time. To secure my coop I used this hard fencing wire for the inside layer and chicken wire wrapped around all of it. They could probably get their paws in if they ripped the wire, but even wire-cutters aren't strong enough to break the fencing, so everything should be fine. Also, what do you think is worst, a coon, or a fox?

 

[LSUROOSTER]

I caught a fat coon once in a Live Trap.. Let it go the next day. They don't bother trying to get into the coop - although they did eat like 6 of my quail, this coop is better protected and they're locked in at night. If you are trying to catch a coon, I found meat flavored cat food works best. I used chicken liver dinner, and the skunks didn't come this time. To secure my coop I used this hard fencing wire for the inside layer and chicken wire wrapped around all of it. They could probably get their paws in if they ripped the wire, but even wire-cutters aren't strong enough to break the fencing, so everything should be fine. Also, what do you think is worst, a coon, or a fox?

which ever one is hungrier.

 

[Coturnix Quail]

which ever one is hungrier.

True.