What to do about the raccoons?

[maryellenks]

And once you kill the raccoons you have, what about the ones that come next? and the ones after that? Killing predators never works because there are always more. As long as you are laying out the chicken dinner buffet, they will keep coming. Secure your flock. It's the only reasonable way to protect them. I have not just raccoons, but also coyote, bobcat, mountain lion, bears ... and I've never lost a bird to predators because I have a secure coop and run.

 

[sciencegrrrrl]

The raccoons here are huge and very very tough. After finding what was left of a hen one morning I lost my live and let live attitude toward them. Yes, they will look pitiful when you've shot them repeatedly and they still won't move on...but what I found that remained of my ISA hen Iris was far far worse for me. Mother raccoons show their kiddos where food is, and those kids show their own kids, and so on. Generational thievery, I guess you could say

Our local wildlife officer advised us to reduce the population if we wanted to keep chickens, grow crops, and harvest anything at all from our fruit trees. Despite all of our coon-proofing efforts, it's still a battle most of the time.

I wish all the best for you and your flock! I hope to add some guineas to mine soon

 

[Comochickens]

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 a little north of columbia MO in tje country. I have raccoon problems too, so I can relate. I cant bring myself to kill the raccoons so I just made my coop secure. I put a thing i have to unscrew on the latch. And barb wire anywhere they might think of entering.

 

[Jajika]

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.

Racoons kill chickens. It's their nature. You should not be making your chickens bait. That is not being responsible. I created a very large run for my girls, hardware cloth on all three sides with a locking door. The "run"is 75 x 25 x 15. Basically they free range in the run with a coop inside. The hardware cloth is dug down a foot and around out to keep raccoons from digging underneath. Seriously, you need to take control of this situation. It's the responsible thing to do.

 

[Jajika]

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.

The best thing to do, and I'm from Los Angeles as well, is to create a situation where your chickens are protected from racoons. Do some research online about building a run made out of hardware cloth (small gage but very strong wire). It will keep the racoons out. Not chicken wire. Racoons will chew right through it.

 

[MOLOKAI MAMA]

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 raised chickens for years with no raccoon problems, but have moved to an area with many raccoons. I lost 7 hens to them. I saw two raccoons sitting high in a fir tree across the street in broad daylight. Tried trapping them with no luck.

So I have just bought a 10' x 10' fully covered chain link dog kennel. I will put my coop inside the kennel and put wire fencing under the kennel edges so raccoons cant dig in. If this doesn't work, I give up!

Good luck. It's so heartbreaking to lose our hens in such a violent way.

 

[MOLOKAI MAMA]

The best thing to do, and I'm from Los Angeles as well, is to create a situation where your chickens are protected from racoons. Do some research online about building a run made out of hardware cloth (small gage but very strong wire). It will keep the racoons out. Not chicken wire. Racoons will chew right through it.

I didn't know raccoons would chew through chicken wire, but it makes sense.
I am putting up chain link fence dig kennel with coop safely locked inside.

 

[Chickie pants]

Coons have tried to take over my yard! I bought a wild bird feeder and her comes the Coons. I had been shooting every coon I see in the yard. My wife started giving me crap over shooting them ,so I stopped. I do feel bad shooting them, but they are a giant pain in the butt. So far they haven't killed any of my hens, but its a matter of time before they do. If you have chickens and Coons you won't have chickens for long.

 

[Chickie pants]

Cci makes a 710 feet per second 22 round that works great on Coons. Just a fyi

 

[dirkandlorie]

I didn't know that! Apparently I'm not then. The poison ivy is horrible, and this year those disposable hazmat suits aren't available like they were last year. I hate to use Roundup, and it doesn't work well on it anyway. And a flamethrower might be satisfying, but then again, no.
Mary

Look around your property, usually where poison ivy grows, jewelweed grows. Jewelweed is a natural remedy for poison ivy reactions. Just grab a few leaves and rub it on. No chemicals, no flames, no having to wear long pants and sleeves in hot weather to deal with it!