What to do about the raccoons?

[puttytattz]

I have no trouble catching raccoons in a have a heart trap. In fact, I have a number seven trapped tonight to release tomorrow. Of course, I don’t live in your area but I do have a way of getting them far enough away from my girls.
When I borrowed the trap the first time I was told to bait it with a peanut butter sandwich. It has worked perfectly every time.

good, i am glad not everyone is blowing them away! they are not being bad, they are trying to live. people that just kill them are lazy and selfish, cuz there are other ways.i do the trap and release too. no big deal, doesnt take a lot of time, and i do not want to kill anything unless i have to. i had a BIG issue with wild pigs about 2 months ago. they can kill people. i think they were coming to my 20 acres cuz i dont shoot off guns and all of my neighbors kill animals. well they got dangerous, and too brave and plentiful. i would kill if i had to of course. but first i tried traps, nope they were too smart, then i shot guns off way above them just to scare them. i also put up a scarecrow, pushed back my woods from the house little by little, added a few more solar lights. it worked i havent seen or heard one, or even seen tracks in at least ? 3-4 weeks. i also wear bear bells on my shoes, and carry a gun and an air horn when i take my dogs to my pond. just in case i blow the air horn (crazy loud) before we get there a few times. so far so good. i had seen a nest and tiny tracks there a month ago, and of course it would be a great place for a young family. ...am also putting up a perimeter fence to keep the woods more closed off from the house. i know they could dig under or push it down if they really wanted to but i think we will be fine with the other things i have done....kill as a last resort i always say. keeps my Karma good! glad you are doing this also. PEACE!

 

[Iheartbirds]

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 have a small wooden tractor coop for my 2 girls. I bought a 10' x 20' canopy carport kit ($125 on ebay 2 years ago) and put the coop under it. Using t-posts, we surrounded it with hardware cloth around the bottom and chicken wire above the hardware cloth. I stuffed strips of chicken wire under the bottom edges of the hardware cloth to prevent digging under it. I was even confident enough to leave their coop door open at night so they always had in and out access. Anytime I let them out of the enclosure to forage, I had to stay right with them because our predator problem was hawks. I moved a few months ago so I've set things up a bit differently now, but that worked so well against ground predators when I needed it. For a big flock, more than one carport could be joined together. They're also not difficult to take apart and move.

 

[Folly's place]

In Michigan, and many states in the USA, relocating raccoons, skunks, and foxes, except withing your own land, or to private land within the same county, with landowner permission, is illegal. It's because of their ability to spread rabies, mostly, which was the cause of the huge rabies outbreak on the east coast not so many years ago, which spread up into Ohio.
From a poultry owner's perspective, it releases critters who want to eat chickens, and who won't be trapped again. As a person who hates to see animal suffering, diseased lost critters aren't better either.
Mary

 

[countryladyNH]

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

The only thing that immediately jumps out to us is that your coop windows have just the normal screens. We made interior, removable screens for the windows of our coop with 1/2 inch hardware cloth in them. Leave regular screens on. Make frame of wood with the hardware cloth and attach them inside to the windows using wooden turnbuckles---We made ours easily. (This isn't the best photo, but to the left you can see the 'predator screen' we built on the inside, held on with the turnbuckles.

 

[Folly's place]

The best way to deal with raccoons is to keep them out of the coop and run, and have no food for them outside. And don't trap any, ever, so you don't relocate them to be a problem elsewhere.
Mary

 

[Barbara l sandoval]

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.

Instead of killing them the right thing to do (because every living thing has the right to live) set u a live trap and once you have the family load them up drive them to a new spot to live and turn them loose.remember we are the ones who invaded all living creatures habitat so be thankful for them ....

 

[TJ]

Hello, you have to be smarter than what you’re dealing with. If you don’t pen your chickens up in a coop/run set for warfare then you’re asking for trouble. You cannot kill wildlife because you allow your livestock to run without proper housing/fencing unless you’re willing to guard them or have a guard dog for them. What’s next, shooting owls? Hawks? Where does it end?
I am speaking from experience as I’ve recently lost my chickens to raccoons because our covered chicken run and chicken house windows had given way to age. I routinely would check for weak spots but did not realize how weak the fencing had become. The raccoons realized that I wasn’t a smart cookie and worked their way through weak fencing and got their meal. I can’t get mad at a raccoon, fox, hawk, etc. if I’m not diligent about predator proofing my flock. I’m the problem, not them. They’re just doing what wildlife does, surviving.
Please bomb proof your chicken house & provide a covered, fenced in run. Be diligent about watching your flock, lock them up at night, they count on you.
Please don’t take me the wrong way, I’ve been raising chickens for almost 30 years and I’ve never killed wildlife over them seizing an opportunity to feed themselves or their young. Right now we are redoing our entire chicken run and predator proofing our chicken house.
And please, don't feed the wildlife in hopes that they will leave your livestock alone. All you’re doing is drawing in more wildlife, stray dogs (which are also detrimental to your livestock), etc.
Good luck to you & your flock.
Kind regards,
tj

 

[PhilSanchez]

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

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? Phil

 

[Howard E]

Instead of killing them the right thing to do (because every living thing has the right to live) set u a live trap and once you have the family load them up drive them to a new spot to live and turn them loose.remember we are the ones who invaded all living creatures habitat so be thankful for them ....

This is a common sentiment, but in truth, is dead wrong. Key word being "dead".

This from none other than the humane society.....and the same theme is echoed by nearly every state fish and game in the nation. Some feel so strongly about it, they have gone past "we don't recommend you do it" to having made it illegal to do it. The idea being that bad.

https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/scrap-trap-when-evicting-wildlife

The solution always......always....comes back to safe housing for birds where predators can't get to them. Regrettably, far to many folks inadvertently put their birds in housing that isn't. Lack of experience as to what constitutes safe housing is the primary reason. That and economy.......they can't afford to do it right. But offer bomb proof "safe housing" and the threat from predators goes away. They can be stacked up wall to wall and treetop tall and it won't matter.

Long term, the best use for traps is as a temporary stop gap to stop the carnage being conducted by a predator until you can shore up the defenses. And if you do decide to trap it, you kill it. If you can't accept that, leave the traps alone. That is the true humane response.

 

[yoopersjd]

only good racoon is one way in the wild, or dead! I keep a live trap by my coops and enclosed runs (got 3 of them). Also have a high powered .22 cal air rifle. Dispatches racoons very efficiently when in the trap or out of the trap out too 75 yds. Few yrs back had an elderly couple with a racoon problem in their attack. I trapped and dispatched 32 racoons from that one house. And the county I reside in here in Texas is known to high in rabies. Skunks, Racoons, and Feral cats get dispatched on my property when I see them. Neighbors dog cornered a damned bobcat in their garage just last yr. Yes a full grown bobcat!