Will a coorn feeder keeps coons away from coop ?

[kyron4]

I have a corn feeder, for deer, at the back of the property about 150' from where my coop is going to sit. Coons hit it a few times a week. Will they go for the easy meal of corn or try to break into to my "fortress" coop ? Is having the corn out a bad idea, as it's likely drawing them in ? -Thanks

 

[Willowspirit]

I think you will get different opinions about this but i personally think it's a mistake to feed wildlife. Once your bait station is empty (for example when you clean it up for hunting season) the critters relying on it will look elsewhere. Maybe even your chicken coop. Also, the more food available the more offspring wild animals have which crowds your bait station more. This forces the less dominant to explore for other food.

You can get Bambi's Daddy without luring him to your blind with food that isn't even good for him, can't you?

 

[kyron4]

Not for deer hunting , just like watching deer from my porch and kitchen.

 

[MNchickaroo]

I agree that a feeder will attract wildlife, and coons are really smart and really good at following food sources. (You probably know this!)
They are also doing research on chronic wasting disease, which is on the rise, and not sure how it transfers, and are not exactly 100% sure if humans can get sick or not. Having a place where deer gather may not be a great idea for them (or you). Watching and feeding your chickens will be far more entertaining...plus side, the chickens will give you eggs! (Not that we don't have slabs of venison in the freezer...but eggs are nice too!)

 

[DellaMyDarling]

In my area, wildlife feeding,other than bird feeders, is highly discouraged and in some places illegal all together.

With our orchard, we have enough of a natural attractant for all walks of wildlife. Crossing fingers, my garden has never been disturbed. I definitely don't mind deer eating fruit on the ground because that actually helps us out in a number of ways (health of the orchard for one.) However, we've lost about four new trees to deer. Young deer eat the leaves right off, killing trees that are still rooting out. We have to let the dog chase deer off now.
Last year a squirrel and a possum moved in. They stopped foraging all together. We had a dozen mature trees and every single tree was stripped of every piece of fruit long before maturity. We did attempt to eliminate the enemies but weren't successful. Better believe we'll get them this year. My orchard is a major labor of love and provides big income from fruit and canned goods, helps fill our own pantry. To decimate our crop was a major hit.

Last week I started noticing the ground clean beneath my PVC outdoor chicken feeder so I naturally blamed the dog (eating her food's food, the nerve!) Chickens were hungry. Then eggs started "disappearing", thought I was going crazy until several egg yolk stains were discovered in the coop. One afternoon, sitting beneath an apple tree, spotted a fat chipmunk coming from beneath my Animal Shed. Ahh, all makes sense now. Better believe I eliminated that bas****.

I keep a big plastic penguin on a stump in my garden, because it scares the poop out of the nasty Ravens.

I loved watching the native fox, until they took my duck. Now I let the dog run them out of the yard with the deer.

I'm not anti nature. I felt sick to my stomach removing the big rhododendron bush that the bees loved so much (chickens were getting sick eating it, toxic to them.) I made sure to replace the bush with another native variety of early blooming nectar flower, which also provides bird safe berries (a Saskatoon berry bush, Uber excited that garden center had one!)
I always research native cultivars before selecting plants. There's a mason bee house on my garden fence and a bird waterer on a pole. I can't wait to transplant my butterfly bush (milkweed.)
But, the bottom line, is wildlife brings disease and corruption to a property of domesticated animals and crops. Some species can coexist better than others. Deer wasting disease is a valid concern, we haven't had it local yet but it is established next state over. Raccoon carry distemper, fatal to dogs. Wild birds have lice and mites although this is usually not so preventable. Beaver carry giardiasis. Tick diseases are bad enough here without the help of deer dropping more in the yard. Leptospirosis can be carried by several species and it can be worse than contracting Lyme. I don't know precisely what small things like squirrel and chipmunk could have, but they are rodents, rodents carry diseases and go right for chicken feed. Hantavirus? We don't have that here, but you might, that does come from rodents.

I'm not in favor of feeding wildlife. Keep wildlife wild, and keep domesticated animals away from the wild animals. Especially keep those wild creatures out of my domestic food sources!

 

[Willowspirit]

Not for deer hunting , just like watching deer from my porch and kitchen.

Sorry. I don't object to hunting but i do object to chumming.

 

[Willowspirit]

In my area, wildlife feeding,other than bird feeders, is highly discouraged and in some places illegal all together.

With our orchard, we have enough of a natural attractant for all walks of wildlife. Crossing fingers, my garden has never been disturbed. I definitely don't mind deer eating fruit on the ground because that actually helps us out in a number of ways (health of the orchard for one.) However, we've lost about four new trees to deer. Young deer eat the leaves right off, killing trees that are still rooting out. We have to let the dog chase deer off now.
Last year a squirrel and a possum moved in. They stopped foraging all together. We had a dozen mature trees and every single tree was stripped of every piece of fruit long before maturity. We did attempt to eliminate the enemies but weren't successful. Better believe we'll get them this year. My orchard is a major labor of love and provides big income from fruit and canned goods, helps fill our own pantry. To decimate our crop was a major hit.

Last week I started noticing the ground clean beneath my PVC outdoor chicken feeder so I naturally blamed the dog (eating her food's food, the nerve!) Chickens were hungry. Then eggs started "disappearing", thought I was going crazy until several egg yolk stains were discovered in the coop. One afternoon, sitting beneath an apple tree, spotted a fat chipmunk coming from beneath my Animal Shed. Ahh, all makes sense now. Better believe I eliminated that bas****.

I keep a big plastic penguin on a stump in my garden, because it scares the poop out of the nasty Ravens.

I loved watching the native fox, until they took my duck. Now I let the dog run them out of the yard with the deer.

I'm not anti nature. I felt sick to my stomach removing the big rhododendron bush that the bees loved so much (chickens were getting sick eating it, toxic to them.) I made sure to replace the bush with another native variety of early blooming nectar flower, which also provides bird safe berries (a Saskatoon berry bush, Uber excited that garden center had one!)
I always research native cultivars before selecting plants. There's a mason bee house on my garden fence and a bird waterer on a pole. I can't wait to transplant my butterfly bush (milkweed.)
But, the bottom line, is wildlife brings disease and corruption to a property of domesticated animals and crops. Some species can coexist better than others. Deer wasting disease is a valid concern, we haven't had it local yet but it is established next state over. Raccoon carry distemper, fatal to dogs. Wild birds have lice and mites although this is usually not so preventable. Beaver carry giardiasis. Tick diseases are bad enough here without the help of deer dropping more in the yard. Leptospirosis can be carried by several species and it can be worse than contracting Lyme. I don't know precisely what small things like squirrel and chipmunk could have, but they are rodents, rodents carry diseases and go right for chicken feed. Hantavirus? We don't have that here, but you might, that does come from rodents.

I'm not in favor of feeding wildlife. Keep wildlife wild, and keep domesticated animals away from the wild animals. Especially keep those wild creatures out of my domestic food sources!

Do you did take the rhododendron out! Did your hen suffer any ill effects from eating the flowers?

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Do you did take the rhododendron out! Did your hen suffer any ill effects from eating the flowers?

Yeah, we had to :'(
Took allll morning to get it and the flowers that scattered into the woods.
It did indeed give several hens diarrhea. I did a molasses water treatment on the flock, as they were all trying to eat flowers as we were hauling it away.
This bush was HUGE. Lovely specimen

 

[aart]

Yeah, feeding any wildlife, even birds, is not really a good idea.

 

[Chickassan]

My neighbor feeds everything and i'm on the edge of pretty dense woods and even with all that food the raccoons still come right to the house because one guy feeds them.
I don't like stepping out the door to raccoons, you probably won't either double if you have kids or outside pets.