What to do about the raccoons?

[Howard E]

To the OP Thomas....and others like him......doing battle with coons, the solution is a whole lot simpler than it might seem. Put your birds in safe housing at night and 99.99% of your coon problems will be solved. Coons can be stacked up 3 deep and it if they can't get to the birds, it won't matter.

I have built two such safe houses......a Woods house and the little 6' x 8' Victory house.......and in both cases, when the doors close at night, birds are safe. Nothing gets in.....so varmints give up and move on.

Had a discussion with a hay customer a week or so back, and he too had suffered losses from coons.....and had embarked on an aggressive trapping program. I think he might have snuffed 8 to 10 in one week. Pretty good success, but it won't help. As soon as he quits trapping, new replacements will move in and the carnage will start anew.

So trapping and killing is mostly a short term, stop gap measure to stop the carnage until you can do better with the housing. Unless you enjoy trapping and killing coons and have use for a dead one(s), in which case have at it. Will keep you busy and out of the bars at night.

BTW, feeding coons is an effective strategy if you want to assemble a mass of coons for some other purpose. Recall the account of one guy who did that and on the first night of coon trapping season, nabbed 15 from his bait site. Got about 30 before the crowd bgan to thin out. Not sure if baiting like that is legal, but sure sounded effective.

 

[Folly's place]

My barn cat gets really good cat food, as a daily meal, with no food left outside all the time.
No rooster can win against a big raccoon!!!
Build the birds a safe house, and use a safe run, and then some free ranging will be possible again, after your current 'human adapted' raccoon family is removed, and no birds are outside at night.
Mary

 

[GC-Raptor]

I've seen raccoons on my game cameras since I got them nearly 4 years ago.
They can climb a fence.

Climb up walls, notice 2 raccoons, one on the roof.

A secure coop with locking latches and 1/2 inch hardware cloth fastened securely is needed.
Electric fence surrounding coop is additional protection.
I set traps last fall because a raccoon was coming into my new pen, and harassing chickens nightly. Egg production dropped during that period.
No electric fence here because my pens are surrounded by bittersweet.
I caught the coon and dispatched. They love canned cat food that have fish or seafood as the first ingredient. I buy the small cans with a pop lid. Just pop open, don't remove lid. I found mice like it too.
Coons are strong, notice the bent door. The trip plate was bent. I had to straighten the deformed parts.
The good news is I didn't see another raccoon on my cameras for 4 months.
I think the Coyotes and Bobcat in my neighborhood keep the coon population in check.

So far the current raccoon hasn't harassed the chickens, but if it does! GC

 

[Ruthster55]

Raccoons love sardines.

Build really good poultry housing, set traps, and use a .22 if necessary. No more firepower needed than that.

I don’t like guns personally, but out of necessity have dispatched a few chicken-killing raccoons with a .22.

Really good fencing and housing is the best permanent solution to this problem. Housing needs hardware cloth as a minimum, with no gaps, holes, or places where a predator can dig under. “Chicken wire” keeps chickies inside but does nothing to keep raccoons, dogs, or coyotes out.

Yes, raccoons have little hands and they can open latches. The latches to the coop need to be “locked,” even if it’s just a hasp left open so you don’t need a key every morning when you go to let the chickens out.

 

[Ruthster55]

Relocation for me is an act of futility where I live. I have a forrest full of them. All I can do is stand my ground.

I feel bad when I have to kill something. Where I live is farm and livestock country. The local farmers around here were born and raised to hunt for food and protect their livestock. Some of my local friends were raised on hunting racoon to put meet on the table. I moved here from L.A. and while I am a carnivour, I don't have that bread into me. But, I will do what I have to do.

In most localities, relocating raccoons is prohibited. It’s not a good idea when they are preying on your chickens.

Rarely, a local animal rescue might take raccoon(s), but you would have to check your local situation first.

 

[Sarkchick]

I just got my new flock of Buff Orpingtons moved into their coop that I built. (not quite finished yet) I live 20 minutes west of Lebanon, Missouri in the wooded area with all sorts of predators out here and I can't find it in me to cage up my birds.

I have a family of 6 raccoons living on my property, underneath an old out building. I have 4 guineas left and they have been around for quite a while. The raccoons seem not to be interested in them and the guineas don't seem to pay any attention to the raccoons. When the evening comes, and lately in the daytime also, they have been raiding the guineas crumble. I figure the raccoons are smart enough to know that as long as they don't eat the birds, the supply of crumble will continue. It's something I believe they learned 3 seasons ago when the killed my last chicken and then there was no food.

Last night at about 1AM, I had an incident of a squawking commotion coming from the chicken coop. When I got out there, 2 hens were wandering in a daze outside of the coop and the door was unlatched. This morning when I went out to open the coop for them, I found that I had lost 2 birds, one of my bird's skin is missing from behind the left eye to the top of her head, and another hen seems to have her tail feathers missing. The bolt latch I have on the coop was unlatched. I really don't think that I forgot to latch the door last night but I am now 74 and am prone to do stupid things like that. From previous experiences with raising foul, I am aware of how smart and dexterous raccoons are. I had one unlatch a cage to reach inside and take my prize pheasant. I don't know what type of critter it was that caused the mayhem last night, but I looked all around on the ground for any paw prints and for any indication that a raccoon might have scaled the coop wall to reach the latch but found nothing. I still can't say for certain that it was a racoon but they are the obvious suspect. (There are possums too.) I know raccoons are not the cute cuddly things that they pretend to be but still, to eradicate their threat, it would mean killing a whole family of them. I was thinking about perhaps I could appease them by filling their bellies with cheap cat food every day so that they wouldn't think about my chickens. But then, they are omnivores just like us and like variety, but then why are they leaving my last 4 guineas alone?

I have guns and can do what has to be done but shooting them would be my very last resort. I am hoping to get feedback from others that also respect the God given fundamental right to life, no mater what creature it is. Is there a more practicle solution then killing them? If killing them is the bottom line is ther a more humane way of doing it then shooting them. I killed one 3 years ago with my 9mm. and they do not dye easily. I had to put 4 rounds in him. Before I fired the last round, he turned his head to look straight up at me in pain, anger, anxiety, and fear, That vision will stick with me forever.

I live on the edge of woods. Have raccoon and possum problems every spring when they have young to feed. I live trap and haul them 10 miles into the woods and release them.

 

[Sarkchick]

To the OP Thomas....and others like him......doing battle with coons, the solution is a whole lot simpler than it might seem. Put your birds in safe housing at night and 99.99% of your coon problems will be solved. Coons can be stacked up 3 deep and it if they can't get to the birds, it won't matter.

I have built two such safe houses......a Woods house and the little 6' x 8' Victory house.......and in both cases, when the doors close at night, birds are safe. Nothing gets in.....so varmints give up and move on.

Had a discussion with a hay customer a week or so back, and he too had suffered losses from coons.....and had embarked on an aggressive trapping program. I think he might have snuffed 8 to 10 in one week. Pretty good success, but it won't help. As soon as he quits trapping, new replacements will move in and the carnage will start anew.

So trapping and killing is mostly a short term, stop gap measure to stop the carnage until you can do better with the housing. Unless you enjoy trapping and killing coons and have use for a dead one(s), in which case have at it. Will keep you busy and out of the bars at night.

BTW, feeding coons is an effective strategy if you want to assemble a mass of coons for some other purpose. Recall the account of one guy who did that and on the first night of coon trapping season, nabbed 15 from his bait site. Got about 30 before the crowd bgan to thin out. Not sure if baiting like that is legal, but sure sounded effective.

That is a great idea, the safe housing. But there are people like me who have older coops which were built before learning all the rules. And are older and on social security with very little money. Need constructive ideas not what should have been done.

 

[Ruthster55]

You might just be giving your problem to your fellow poultry enthusiast 10 miles down the road.

There is an overpopulation of raccoons in the US with related rabies epizootics.

If raccoons invade your property and attack your chickens, it’s better to dispatch them yourself rather than passing the problem onto the neighbors.

And, no, I don’t like guns. An old .22 rifle is more than enough to do the job.

 

[Ruthster55]

That is a great idea, the safe housing. But there are people like me who have older coops which were built before learning all the rules. And are older and on social security with very little money. Need constructive ideas not what should have been done.

See if you can bury the fencing around your run in a manner that the predators can’t get in.

 

[Sams Backyard Flock]

May I ask, if you can tell me if my Coup and Run is safe enough? It’s 16’x24’ completely covered with 16 gage galvanized 1”x1” Welded wire and a predator skirt 18” of 1/2 hardware cloth? It’s buried so you can’t see it. We use a kind of a slip lock? We have raccoons, opossum, and occasional coyote. No dogs or bobcats. Should I do more? We’re in a county where we can’t shoot critters My neighbor lost 5 chickens a few months ago. 1 to a coyote and 3 to Racoons