What to do about the raccoons?

[yoopersjd]

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.

Chicken Fried racoon is pretty damn good when ya add some spicy hot peppers to them...

 

[StaceyM]

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.

We live by a Marsh and have lost several hens to raccoons. Over the years we have modified our coop by laying wire underneath all fences and the coop itself. We also double wired the sides with 1/2 inch grid wire after a raccoon reached in an dismembered a hen through the fencing. We saw a chicken thigh dangling in the fence and that image is seared in my brain. We then built a long chicken run connected to the coop. We still let them out during the day, but put them in at 5:00 pm everyday. On days we are not home and don’t want to chance it, they have the run. We have a chicken cam and the raccoons come EVERY night, crawling around and over the coop looking for a way in. They are relentless, but by re-enforcing the coop and laying wire underneath so they could not dig their way in we stopped the carnage. We never considered killing them. They play a role in the ecosystem. We just decided they were not going to get another one of our hens! Good luck!

 

[Phoenixxx]

Have you considered a guard dog? It does take time to raise a puppy, but getting dogs was the best thing I ever did for my birds! Raccoons and neighbourhood dogs rarely come by anymore, foxes only dare when they're starving, and so far the new mink (dogs got the last one) is staying down by the shore.

Here is one of our ladies guarding our meat birds in the chicken tractor. She stays with them overnight, and while this tractor used to get a lot of losses from critters digging under, you can bet they won't dare with her in there!

 

[ijon]

Good dog.

 

[jspeese]

Definitely fix your coop (and run) issues. The only sure fire defense against predators is a solidly built coop and solidly built run (i.e., do not use chicken wire) with a top and secured at the bottom (just burying the bottom edge deeply will usually suffice; for extra security I sometimes line the bottom edge with treated 4 x 4 s as well...I know some folks don't like salt treated but anything else rots). I use large bolt latches on my coop door and on my run door and they are deliberately a little stiff so that it takes a little strength to open them. And be prepared for the possibility that you may have to keep your birds confined, definitely at night anyway, possibly during the day if hawks show up. Don't let "chicken math" get ahead of you. You may be forced to have fewer birds, but I'd rather have fewer, healthier, safer birds than lose a lot. Even guineas can't always get away from predators. Buff Orpingtons are beautiful birds and it's a shame to raise them up, only to have predators kill them. I have ZERO tolerance for predators of ANY species around my birds. To me, they are vermin.

 

[Sarvepalli]

Relocation doesn't work. I had a friend who used a Have-a-Heart trap to capture raccoons and relocate them many miles away in another wooded area. He bragged that he had relocated 10 coons so far. I told him that he had probably relocated the same coon 10 times. He laughed thinking I was joking. So I told him that while the next captured coon was in the trap to spray a small dot of white paint on its back before relocating. He sprayed it then took the coon across the Ohio River where it's a mile wide and relocated it in another state. Within 2 weeks he caught the same coon again.

After having lost many of our chickens to coons I renamed my Have-a-Heart trap to Kill-a-Coon trap. I hate having to do it but it's either that or suffer finding our chickens dead with heads missing, bodies torn etc.

BTW I've built our coop and small attached run to be impregnable to even snakes. Hardware cloth covers every available opening and extends underground 2 feet away from the coop in all directions. No coon has ever found a way in even though we find coon tracks on the outside of our nesting boxes that extend from the back of the coop.

However, one eventually has to allow the chickens to roam outside of the integrated run and when dusk comes around just before the chickens head to their roost is usually the prime time for raccoons to do their deed.

Because humans have killed off most of the predators that kept the raccoon population under control, the raccoon population has exploded. They don't just hunt and eat chickens. They've been disastrous for migratory songbirds and other wildlife. They carry rabies, destroy orchards and gardens and more. A shot to the head is as humane as I get these days.

Allowing a family of raccoons to live around your chickens might be helpful for your raccoons but is little more than offering up your chickens for the raccoons' next meal. You're going to eventually have to decide in favor of your raccoons or your chickens. You can't have both.

 

[Karenelizabeth]

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.

Urinate around their den and ur property. Also hang tin cans around perimeter of ranging around with ammonia soaked rags. Varmint hate the smell. Good invisible fence. I also use supersoaker squirt gun to humanely irritate the feral cats and coons. Garlic powder is a good deterent around property line. Best wishes. K

 

[trek]

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 recently lost 9 batams to a raccoon invasion. One little hen survived some how. She is so lonely and skittish

I want to get a young silkie rooster to put with her. Does anyone have advice about that? My big hens want nothing to do with her in fact the aren’t nice to her at all

 

[sonoraman]

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.

Please note: you can catch them, and if killing bothers you, take them for a LONG ride and release.

 

[Folly's place]

Just don't trap them if you plan to release them 'far away'!
Mary