What to do about the raccoons?

[onlyonechicken]

A friend of mine has a similar problem with raccoons. His solution was to fill balloons with ammonia then put peanut butter on them. I didn't ask how much ammonia was in the balloon. He hung them where the raccoons move in and out of his pens. They receive a snoot full of ammonia after bitting in to the balloon. He claimed it solved his problem without harm to the animal. Don't know how he assessed the later.

 

[Kakaruk]

Coons will scale walls, I'm pretty sure, because I lost 4 one night nearly two years ago. Two were taken and two were dead but just laying there - coon! Anyway, I put 2 inch chicken wire as a roof on my chicken run, with a suspension beam across the top, like an aviary. Nothing can get in or on top, coons, or hawks, whatever. Rat snakes I think can still get in but I don't leave eggs in there at night. If you can do a rooftop good idea, and even double latch the coop door with two different types of latches.

I agree with others: get rid of the coons. They've habituated your property and will only get worse. I know it's sad to say, well they are just doing what coons do, why kill them? Well, you're just doing what poultry keepers do, protecting your flock! There are probably hundreds of thousands of coons in N. America, a few here and a few there won't hurt the gene pool.

 

[Frankiegirl]

So I have a prefab coop coming this weekend that I am planning to fortify like Fort Knox. I am moving in 3 months so this will be temporary but do not want to take any chances. What gauge/size 1/2 - 1/4 inch HC do you recommend to bury around the coop and run again? I am also going to reinforce all of the windows/doors of the coop w latches and locks as well as reinforce the HC that is used on the coop. I owe it to the girls to make it as secure as possible until i get to the new house with the new coop. This is my first flock so all of this is new to me and I don’t to make any stupid mistakes.

Has anyone had a problem w coons during the day? COVID has me working from home until the year end so I keep a very close watch on them while in their run. There are coons at the new property that will be taken care of swiftly. I am concerned with a prefab coop that I am missing something so any additional tips are appreciated.

THANK YOU!!

 

[chicknmania]

I’m going to be very honest with you. I have heard only this about raccoons. They will only do one thing to your chickens. Kill them. No matter what. They will unlatch any kind of coop lock except for a key lock to be completely sure. That is my stance. Your run must be hardware cloth also to keep them out if you want to do so. They cannot live in harmony with chickens. You are playing with fire. Sorry my friend.

Actually that is not entirely true. We had a problem with raccoons earlier this summer. They were females, coming into our barn to steal eggs. During the day. And that's how I knew they were females. They never bothered the chickens at all. Just stole the eggs. And that's the way it's been for the past couple of years, in past years, they would come and steal a few eggs, and eventually just go away. THIS year I didn't mind if they took a couple of eggs as long as they left the flock alone, but it got to be that they were stealing a LOT of the eggs and very much unnerving our flock, mostly because the hens felt like they had no safe place to lay. And we were unable to discourage the raccoons from coming. So it was at that point I decided to hire a trapper. There was a whole colony of raccoons living under our neighbor's shed, so it was very convenient for them. I was very sad as we trapped five coons and I knew their babies would be orphaned, which they were. They were running around looking for mama for a few days afterwards, and we found a dead baby in our field.

Anyway, not to say that they WON'T kill chickens or any poultry...of course they will sometimes...but my personal opinion is that if it is not easy pickin's, they'll leave whatever alone. Which comes back to what I said in the beginning...if I were you...I'd make my coop and run like Fort Knox....and then do talk radio or whatever you think works best...there are a few deterrents to try...during the daylight and early evening hours until your coop and run are closed for the night. We just set our traps during the day, and picked them up at night....and that took care of our problem.

Just a suggestion, since you would just as soon not kill them. If you do decide to hire a trapper, there are several that are very affordable if you shop around, and the one we found was very responsive and kind as well as being very affordable. He would never leave a raccoon in a trap, he always came right away..

Oh, and btw...hardware cloth does not always work either. WE had a skunk bore through double layer hardware cloth like it was nothing...it looked like a bomb went through there. I posted a picture of it on BYC, several years ago.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I know that opinions vary on this subject, but I think if you dispatch the raccoons - take the opportunity to make a responsible harvest and learn to tan the hides at the same time. I know raccoons can be messy, but even taking and curing the tail or practicing tanning on the hides by researching a variety of methods is wonderful. It's important to be resourceful, and for I personally think it shows respect for the animals in its harvest by being responsible and putting the hide to use. Check your state's trapping/furbearer regulations.

If it isn't something you have the heart to do yourselves, sometimes the state trapper's association will have a list of licensed furtrappers who are willing to remove nuisance animals. There are a good many of them out there who tan and sell hides to make part of their living, so in turn it supports responsible harvest.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Well, after this morning, I realize that I have lost control.

I closed up the coop last night and didn't look in to take a head count. This morning when I opened it up again, only a few birds staggered out. There were only about 8 birds left. I stood there, dumbfounded, for a few minutes trying to figure out what happened. Then I looked up and saw the other half of the flock running across from the foreboding side of the property where the guineas are fed and the raccoons live. I took a head count and I am down another 2 or 3 birds. The #2 rooster was one of the lost. Apparently, rooster #2 took half the flock over to the guinea's side and didn't bring the girls back at nightfall.

The Alpha Rooster is quite beautiful with his bright red comb, broad breast, and massive thighs, but he's totally useless. He prances around crowing and acting like he's the one in charge but when it comes to facing a scrap, he squawks and runs. He knows that he is the one that is supposed to protect the flock from intruders but he's just to chicken. (pardon the pun) I don't think I'll get many fertile eggs from him. Other roosters I've watched are willing to battle to the death to protect their girls. I have even watched him run from an angry hen. The loss of rooster #2 was a great one. I would have been better off loosing the Alpha Rooster. I hope I can get some new hatch roosters out of him before he disappears.

After all this, I looked around again and reassessed the whole bigger picture. Where I located the coop I built seemed to be the perfect spot with the idea of letting my chickens free range. Now that I am facing the possibility of having to confine them to a critter impregnable chicken run, I couldn't have picked a more problematic location. The coop is not a small 8 bird coop, it's an 8 ft. by 8 ft. walk-in building where I can also brood the new-hatch so I no longer have to raise chickens in the house. (I can't believe how much dander dust they generate.) This 8ft x 8ft coop weighs at least 3/4 of a ton and I am not going to move it with my Kubota.

So then, open range is still the plan and I now have to get my battle attitude in place. I grabbed the 22 riffle with scope and loaded up the clip. I am now ready for the battle to take back my property from the enamy, those terrorist raccoons. I have met my 9/11.

p.s. I bought a bag of cat food from MFA. My male cat was sniffing at it and seems to like it. So, that will be the cat's replenishment when their current bag is used up and the raccoons will be gone one way or another.

I know this is tragic for you and you don’t like to have to do it. I wouldn’t either in your shoes but you must. We are all animal lovers on here pretty much. Our hearts go out to you and I for certain wish you the best of luck in dealing with this sticky situation. I have a bad coon problem at my house and we are trapping and trying to relocate- wink wink coons from our land to have them away from our flock also. The neighbors down the road have killed three and one possum as well as one large water rat getting into their coops at night wreaking havoc in the last couple of weeks. Here they get into the water and drain systems and run up and down the pipes of the town and visit everyone’s yards that have flocks which is quite a few folks because we are a small rural town who appreciate having backyard flocks and little parameters or monitoring. We just got a local code enforcement officer who works three days a week I believe to perform her duties in enforcing our local Town’s laws. There are actually several families who have flocks and those with roosters. Luckily we don’t have to have permits for either as of yet. We have all had predator problems this year really bad between coyotes by the droves and coons which are really a problem at my house especially. I do not know of any possums yet but I have seen fox and skunk also a couple years ago. This is prior to us getting chicks. I am concerned about the predators but I believe the coop will be secure. My guns will be close by as well as my dogs and my baby a monitor will be on all the time to listen for them and if I hear or see something suspicious on the cameras also I will be on the move outdoors to take a quick peek to check on them. I wish you the best on your doing away with. It takes guts and a big pill to swallow. I will say a prayer for you!
Pam

 

[Baamaid]

Well, after this morning, I realize that I have lost control.

I closed up the coop last night and didn't look in to take a head count. This morning when I opened it up again, only a few birds staggered out. There were only about 8 birds left. I stood there, dumbfounded, for a few minutes trying to figure out what happened. Then I looked up and saw the other half of the flock running across from the foreboding side of the property where the guineas are fed and the raccoons live. I took a head count and I am down another 2 or 3 birds. The #2 rooster was one of the lost. Apparently, rooster #2 took half the flock over to the guinea's side and didn't bring the girls back at nightfall.

The Alpha Rooster is quite beautiful with his bright red comb, broad breast, and massive thighs, but he's totally useless. He prances around crowing and acting like he's the one in charge but when it comes to facing a scrap, he squawks and runs. He knows that he is the one that is supposed to protect the flock from intruders but he's just to chicken. (pardon the pun) I don't think I'll get many fertile eggs from him. Other roosters I've watched are willing to battle to the death to protect their girls. I have even watched him run from an angry hen. The loss of rooster #2 was a great one. I would have been better off loosing the Alpha Rooster. I hope I can get some new hatch roosters out of him before he disappears.

After all this, I looked around again and reassessed the whole bigger picture. Where I located the coop I built seemed to be the perfect spot with the idea of letting my chickens free range. Now that I am facing the possibility of having to confine them to a critter impregnable chicken run, I couldn't have picked a more problematic location. The coop is not a small 8 bird coop, it's an 8 ft. by 8 ft. walk-in building where I can also brood the new-hatch so I no longer have to raise chickens in the house. (I can't believe how much dander dust they generate.) This 8ft x 8ft coop weighs at least 3/4 of a ton and I am not going to move it with my Kubota.

So then, open range is still the plan and I now have to get my battle attitude in place. I grabbed the 22 riffle with scope and loaded up the clip. I am now ready for the battle to take back my property from the enamy, those terrorist raccoons. I have met my 9/11.

p.s. I bought a bag of cat food from MFA. My male cat was sniffing at it and seems to like it. So, that will be the cat's replenishment when their current bag is used up and the raccoons will be gone one way or another.

I went thru the same thing- I kept finding dead hens, not totally eaten- just dead in the coop. I set up a Humane trap and caught nothing- yet I keep loosing hens. I would find one dead in the coop and no signs of who did it (there were signs- I just didn't know it). I then put a security camera in the coop. It was the most gruesome video I have ever seen and will be emblazoned in my mind forever. It was a raccoon. I changed the bait in the trap to those fat marshmallows (based on a hunter's recommendation) and caught the biggest, fattest raccoon I have ever seen. The raccoon is no more but I lost 15 of my hens over it....and the video of him pulling my setting hen off her nest and gutting her alive gave me all the hutzpah I needed.

 

[Sams Backyard Flock]

Hi, interested in your PVC feeder, I made mine with single 4” vertical pipe with a PVC wye for feed to gravity flow , See that yours is horizontal, was wondering how food gets to the openings?

 

[Sams Backyard Flock]

Gravity and my chickens seem to move the Feed around while eating . I haven’t had to really push it around too much. Occasionally it gets a little stuck if there’s some Large clumps, but not often. I love our feeder. I took the pipe and cut it length wise to cover at night to keep out any pests. I recently trimmed Between the fittings and it Snaps on tightly. Wish I could automate that Lol. But I let them free range for a couple of hours in the late afternoon until dusk while we’re relaxing or working in the yard. We have Several red tail hawks, so can’t let them out alone. I cover it when I lock the run up at night.

 

[jeepgrrl]

What kind of locks are best? I use a carabiner for the storage containers And these for the gate. Are these good enough?

I use carabiners on all of my coop latches. A raccoon would have to be exceptionally smart to figure out how to keep the carabiner open while maneuvering it to remove it.