What to do about the raccoons?

[Howard E]

You can get these inexpensive doors from the box stores, or reclaimed....salvaged....habitat for humanity type places. It's a chicken house......it need not be fancy. At least not when you buy it. What you do to it once its hung is up to you.

 

[Sydney65]

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.

Shoot them. That has been determined to be the humane thing to do-seriously. The logic is if you live trap them, you have to relocate them, atleast 5,preferably 10 miles away. You can't by law, release them on public property, nor private property w/o permission. So we take them out of their environment, drop them in a different environment 10 miles away where nothing is familiar & is someone else's territory. They say that doesn't bode well for them, and they're going to try to come back, probably get hit in the process, slow death. So the Humane thing is to aim true. Poisoning them is also illegal. If I sound like a smarty pants, it's bc we've had 12 in the past 2 wks and I've looked all of this up trying to fig out what to do . Good luck.

 

[Folly's place]

The south door to my coop/ run is from a Habitat Restore, and cost $8.00! A real deal, love it!

Both doors have exterior door knobs, with keys, which are not left in the doors. The coop is level, but the picture isn't.
Mary

 

[thomasj]

Ummmm.......actually I did define what a safe coop is.......The Woods house and the little Victory house......no birds housed in either have ever been lost to a predator....

Okay, very good. I just took the mention of "The Woods House" as a mention of some small prebuilt coop available for purchase. There was no mention of all the extra things that you had to come up with in order to make it safe and secure.

I can see that your land is good and flat pasture land. The skids you have your coop built on is a wonderful idea for portability. I wish I could use skids to move things but I live on a rise at the top of a holler and everything around here is hilly, rocky, and not flat ground. My tractor would never pull my build on skids.

It looks like you don't have a floor in your coop. If so, I thought I'd mention a really good trick that a neighbor used with his coop. He had his roosts located over a deep hole in the ground covered by screen, kinda like an outhouse. When the birds pooped at night it went into the hole and every so often he would cover the built up poop with dirt. I can't do this because I put a floor in mine using 2 sheets of 5/8" OSB on a 2x6 frame.

I also see that you just layed your anti-dig wire on the surface of the ground. For the sake of a chicken run, I was wondering if that would really stop any predator other than a digging dog or should it really be buried? Also I am wondering if placing heavy 4"x8"x2" concrete pavers around the outside of a chicken run would keep the diggers out like buried wire.

...And that is backed up by yarding birds inside a large area surrounded by a hot wire electric fence that protects them during daylight hours. So no birds lost to predators during daylight hours either.

I have been wondering if a hot wire would be successful for deterring raccoons on a perimeter fence and also around a chicken run. Also, how high would a perimeter fence have to be to keep a fox, coyote, or cougar from jumping a fence surrounded by a hot wire.

...I'm now curious to see what it is the OP Thomas built. Can you share some photos?

I built my coop with the idea of making it so that it can be disassembled and moved by hand. I built the floor frame and the 4 walls in my shop with 2x4s, 2x6s, and plywood repurposed from my woodworking shop that is still not built because I had to work on getting the birds out of the house. Then we moved each assembled piece to it's final resting spot, one at a time. If you want to build something portable, use 2x3s. It took my whole family to move the walls and floor because of their individual weight. I wanted to build a roof that could be lifted off for a tear down but because of time constraints and the fact that it would require a lot more engineering and construction, I just nailed a roof together and then down to the coop walls which also leaves open about a 2" opening around the eves for better ventilation. So, my build is not portable and it is where it is.

Like yours, I am not finishes with it yet. I still need to add the trim and will be roofing it with asphalt shingles. I just finished the chicken's door and put it in place last night. It still needs painting. Right now, I am dealing with moving the roost perches around to figure the optimum placement for the birds and best to accommodate adding the nesting boxes that will protrude through the sides. The window trim is just temporary wood to keep them in place. I crafted better looking window trim but it needs painting.

My coop has an 8x8 foot floor space and is built as a walk-in out building so there would be enough room to add a brooding box on the back wall for new-hatch. When they are big enough, a floor brooding area to introduce them to the flock.

I will add pictures of my build to this post as soon as I go out and take them.

 

[thomasj]

The mental pic in my mind is hilarious. <snicker> we all do things that we regret....guessing neighbor regretted this!

When young and cuddly, you attach yourself to it as if it were your pet. That is why it's so hard to get rid of the animal when it grows into the vicious creature that is a raccoon no matter how much destruction it causes because of it's natural instinct to be free and wild.

 

[Acre4Me]

I just took the mention of "The Woods House"

The Wood's House is in reference to the Book: Fresh Air Poultry Houses by Prince T. Woods. Originally printed in 1924. It was a novel idea to have the coop open to the air year round in cold weather environments, yet, be draft free at the roost area due to the air cushion created by the design. Not sure where you live - a Wood's design isn't as great for really hot areas.

 

[Acre4Me]

That is why it's so hard to get rid of the animal when it grows into the vicious creature that is a raccoon no matter how much destruction it causes because of it's natural instinct to be free and wild.

It would not be hard for me. Cute and cuddly raccoon kit is not the same as an adult raccoon in my eyes.

 

[Sydney65]

Relocating in my county is only giving my problem to my neighbor. Why would anyone want to rescue a racoon? They look cute and cuddly but they are a viscous animal that can't be domesticated. What's worse, they know they look cute and cuddly.

In the city, I had a neighbor who's daughter bought an supposedly domesticated raccoon for a pet that had been defanged and declawed. That raccoon. when it became an adult, completely stripped the walls bare of any drywall and was not safe for anyone to be around, even without claws and fangs. So, rescuing them means collecting raccoons until you have so many, you can't afford to feed them. I would not expect to find any domesticated animal shelter that would take a raccoon.

My neighbor had similar experience w/ an adorable baby squirrel he raised. Wasn't so adorable when he had to have stitches after the squirrel basically shredded his hand. I used to enjoy watching from the window, but now my guineas take precedence.

 

[thomasj]

The Wood's House is in reference to the Book: Fresh Air Poultry Houses by Prince T. Woods. Originally printed in 1924. It was a novel idea to have the coop open to the air year round in cold weather environments, yet, be draft free at the roost area due to the air cushion created by the design. Not sure where you live - a Wood's design isn't as great for really hot areas.

I live outside of Lebanon, Missouri. It goes from subfreezing winter to steamroom hot summer without very much notice of spring or fall weather and a lot of rain.

 

[Ruthster55]

Well a 9mm round is plenty to kill a racoon but shot placement is key. I'd suggest you get a .410 bore shotgun or a 20gauge and dispatch the coons.
Killing another animal is not always easy but instinct will take over and they will kill your chickens even if they "appear" uninterested.

Way too much firepower and way too much noise. I'd rather the neighbors on the next 5 acres not hear the shot. You never know if one of the neighbors is the type that feeds the raccoons. The people who feed them don't understand how destructive raccoons can be.

An old .22 long rifle is all you need, especially if the raccoon is already in a trap.