Raccoon attacks - Should I consider using poison?

[terry]

I had to give my last 4 hens away because raccoons were killing hens in our area.  My neighbors lost all their hens to raccoons too.  I started out with 15 hens and one day they were out and raccoons killed 6 terribly.  Attacks continued, nothing seemed to work, I could not protect them here.

So i found a safe home for them.  Our area was remote but when subdivisions moved in oddly all the predators moved into our area too.  We could never let the hens out for bugs and greens, they were miserable.  

My daughter lives in town and has 4 hens and i thought they would be safe but raccoons are everywhere and one of their hens was injured recently.  My daughter drove off the raccoon which stood it's ground, she finally drove him off with a large stick and the sprinklers came on.

I am thinking of suggesting that she put out poison, she lives in town and shooting is out of the question.  

Trapping a raccoon is very risky too, they are quite vicious and this male raccoon is large.  Raccoons are persistent, intelligent and strong.  

I am thinking of suggesting she put out food with rat poison at night and then remove it quickly in the morning.  Is rat poison a good choice for an animal as big as a raccoon?

I hate to harm any other animals, and don't even like the idea of poisoning raccoons either, what do you suggest?  Her landlord will not allow dogs or cats but luckily chickens are ok.  Terry in Northern California

[Dennis]

You should avoid the use of poison.  Too easy for friendly critters to eat and the coons are smart enough to avoid it.  Probably wonder where all the dead kitty cats are coming from.

Traps are the best bet, but you need a very sturdy trap to catch a coon, especially a male.  I suggest investing in a high powered pellet gun if using a real gun is a problem. A high powered pellet gun to the coon's head after trapping should do the job nicely and not wake up the neighbors.

Dennis.

--
--
This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Naola Vaughn]

I would not use poison or recommend it.  I would either do as Dennis suggested or get myself a good farm dog.

[nick malek]

i had a problem also between fox raccoons and others
i made a cage with a top 25x 25 ft to keep them out and away from my chickens
before sundown every chick has to be in the cage or i loose it even
thought i have dogs
thats all i can suggest

[Cock-A-Doodle-Do]

You could find a reliable trapper and have him or her help you out.  I had to do it when the fox population got out of control.  Out here, the trappers charge about $50 per animal caught.  They do not charge if they don't trap anything.  It is well worth the money.  

You might want to check your town ordinances.  You may be able to use a shotgun to protect your farm animals.  I can't imagine that you wouldn't be allowed to protect them.  If not, I'd think about moving to a State where you are free to defend your home and property.  

Heritage Hens
herita...@aol.com

[Margo]

 

Hi Dennis,

           I'm impressed. How on earth are you able to get a clean head shot with a trapped raccoon?? I can't imagine the ones I've trapped staying still long enough for that.

           Luckily (knock on wood), the raccoons around here don't seem inclined to bother the chickens during the day.

            I do have one egg eating 'possum.

Margo

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis
Sent: Aug 26, 2014 4:50 PM
To: dom_...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [DOM_BIRD] Raccoon attacks - Should I consider using poison?

You should avoid the use of poison.  Too easy for friendly critters to eat and the coons are smart enough to avoid it.  Probably wonder where all the dead kitty cats are coming from.

Traps are the best bet, but you need a very sturdy trap to catch a coon, especially a male.  I suggest investing in a high powered pellet gun if using a real gun is a problem. A high powered pellet gun to the coon's head after trapping should do the job nicely and not wake up the neighbors.

Dennis.


On 8/26/2014 4:19 PM, terry wrote:

[HOUSEOFCAKES]

I agree on not using poison. I was told mixing it with cola or something sweet would help, but I didn't want to deal with it, disposing a dead poisoned raccoon  (we are in the city) that other animals might get to and get poisoned,or having poison in the house (kid). We had our young cat die from what we think was a poisoned bird he ate or something.

I had a raccoon get one of our birds that was in a secure cage, through the wire. It was not afraid of me when I ran out and was determined to get this bird. (He) was huge. Trapped him in 5 minutes. He/It nearly filled the trap (Raccoon hav-a-hart so it's 48"x18" or so) and he was not afraid of being in it and would kind of look at me like "can you give me something to eat." Then I drove him 15 miles away and let him go and he just waddled out, looked at me and slowly wandered off. It seemed the most humane of the non-humane options (guns (illegal), poison, drowning, etc.). Then I learned that it's totally illegal to transport wild animals. If you trap it, cover it with a heavy blanket and wear gloves when transporting.

I then rebuilt our run this summer and I have also made it all fenced in (as mentioned by Nick), and buried the fencing into the ground. I also used 1"x1" hardcloth wire all around the lower 2' b/c raccoons can grab stuff through the wire. Sure enough, within 2 weeks, a new coon showed up, but the 1x1 gives the birds time to get away from the side walls and he couldn't get in. I tried to trap it but haven't seen it since (it seemed to be smaller/younger and it hasn't come back).

I think if it's one raccoon that is the problem, a trap (or hiring a trapper) is a good way to go IMO.

Good luck!

Karen

--

--

::

HOUSEOFCAKES
Graphic Design
Print :: Web :: Branding :: Strategy
270 Sterling Street
Brooklyn NY 11225
tel 646 244 8223
fax 347 435 2504
www.houseofcakes.com

___________________________________________________________________


Lefferts Community Food Co-op
A project to open a food co-op for Flatbush, PLG, and Crown Heights

www.leffertsfoodcoop.org
Follow Us on Twitter: @leffertsfood
Like Us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/leffertsfoodcoop

[Dennis]

Not too hard.  All the coons that I catch visiting my property get shot.  Survivors get shot twice.  If they are too rambunctious on the first shot, they are usually pretty still for the second.

Here is a video I made of my coon trap that I built.  I have built others that resemble Hav-A-Heart  traps, but the coon would just rip those to shreds and get out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0EK3vWEm8s

The key point not mentioned in the video is that if the coon CAN destroy your trap, then he will.  The control rods need to be on the outside of the trap and hardware cloth needs to be positioned between the rods and the main fence wire.   Otherwise, the coon will grab the rods and bend them all up.  Its not obvious in the video, but the treadle is reinforced with steel.  That's another favorite thing for them to mess up.  As with all traps, it needs to be staked so the coon can't roll it.

Dennis.

[Terry Auch]

That is a very nice trap, Nice for trapping a number of critters!  Terry Northern California Foothills

--
--
This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com

---

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/dom_bird/MP0VQhsCdXw/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.

[lighthousemo at Wildwood]

Very nice trap..........

Coons totally ripped the chicken wire off our coop ,

 tore it where the wire could not be ripped off the staples , just seemingly 

tried to show how much damage they could do. Eight hens totally gone

and the rest so traumatized they quit laying. 

With all the damage we thought it was a bear...but somebody said it was a family of coons.

Shirley

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.

[Terry Auch]

Yes, i had a very similar experience with raccoons.  They go on rampages, and killing sprees.  I had 6 hens with holes in them, not eaten - just left to die.  

We had a cat we fed behind our house, i took in the food after our cat ate, but there were times my husband left it out.  Anyway when our cat passed on, the raccoons came looking for food got angry and ripped up everything behind our house they could get their hands on.  The Message was clear- They were Angry.

I can only be glad they are not the size of bears with their tempers!    

One male stood up when my husband went out one evening to get some firewood we stack outside our back door, the big male coon raised up and challenged my husband. Really they can be nasty animals.  

Our raccoon finally moved on once all our outdoor animals were gone.  Our area has some mountain lions and a bear in it.  So for us it is better to not replace our hens because it only attracts the larger predators. 

My daughter lives in town and i thought hens would be safe there but raccoons love the city life too.  

[Barry Koffler]

Then I drove him 15 miles away and let him go and he just waddled out, looked at me and slowly wandered off.

Note that coons will home 80 or more miles. So if you do move one, take it across a major river and release it where no one else has chickens.

--
--
This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 

-Barry

*******************************************************************************************
bar...@feathersite.com Barry Koffler   mid-Hudson Valley, New York
                     the FeatherSite at
                         http://www.feathersite.com
           Lead me not into temptation . . . I can find it myself

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!

"It's called the American Dream 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it." -- George Carlin

I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.

*******************************************************************************************

[Barry Koffler]

>Very nice trap..........
>
>Coons totally ripped the chicken wire off our coop ,
> tore it where the wire could not be ripped off the staples , just seemingly
>tried to show how much damage they could do. Eight hens totally gone
>and the rest so traumatized they quit laying.

Chicken wire - named cause it confines chickens. Any predator can go
thru it. Use welded wire.

[Terry Auch]

Good advice, really just exporting your problem not really resolving it.  PS like your quotes LoL "It's called the American Dream "because you have to be asleep to believe it."   And because we are chicken fans: we really like I have a Dream, I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questions- Awesome.

On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 1:17 PM, Barry Koffler <bar...@feathersite.com> wrote:

Then I drove him 15 miles away and let him go and he just waddled out, looked at me and slowly wandered off.

Note that coons will home 80 or more miles. So if you do move one, take it across a major river and release it where no one else has chickens.

--
--
This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 

-Barry

*******************************************************************************************
bar...@feathersite.com Barry Koffler   mid-Hudson Valley, New York
                     the FeatherSite at
                         http://www.feathersite.com
           Lead me not into temptation . . . I can find it myself

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!

"It's called the American Dream 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it." -- George Carlin

I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.

*******************************************************************************************

--

--
This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com

---

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/dom_bird/MP0VQhsCdXw/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.

[Barry Koffler]

Nice trap Dennis!

[Barry Koffler]

>Good advice, really just exporting your problem not really resolving
>it. PS like your quotes LoL "It's called the American Dream
>"because you have to be asleep to believe it." And because we are
>chicken fans: we really like I have a Dream, I dream of a world
>where chickens can cross the road without having their motives
>questions- Awesome.

Thanks Terry

[Dennis]

Thanks!

On 8/27/2014 5:20 PM, Barry Koffler wrote:
> Nice trap Dennis!

[Dennis]

Thanks!

Chicken wire is a joke. Back when I first started raising chickens, I
covered the coop with it. Then one day, I went out to open up the coop
for the day and found my cat inside one of the nest boxes with a bunch
of kittens. I know she wasn't in there when I locked them up. Turns
out, just a swipe from a cat's claw is enough to slice through the
stuff. I found where she did it. Fortunately, none of the birds was
injured and I changed to welded wire the same day.

Dennis.

[Richard Pozar]

We learned early on to use small  gauge welded wire and not chicken wire!  I use smaller than 1x1 and bury it a foot down slanted toward the inside of the pen.  Then I lock the hens inside the house itself at night.  NO poison.  It gets into the food chain and is terrible stuff.  Here in Butte Co., Ca., we can set a Have A Heart trap and the county trapper will come by and collect the animal the next day.  Last year we had a bear take a very large door off our henhouse, so now I have two bolts across the new door and also use cattle-sized hot wire tape all around the house (which is maybe 20 feet by 8 feet and 2x6 construction.  Seems to be working.  Glee

--
--
This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group.  To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

--- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dom_bird+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Margo]

 

In my experience, the only thing chicken wire impedes is chickens. Anything else gets thru it no problem.  1/2" Hardware cloth or 1/2x1 welded wire has worked for me, but I haven't had anything really determined (knocking on wood again) yet...

Margo

-----Original Message-----
From: lighthousemo at Wildwood
Sent: Aug 27, 2014 3:32 PM
To: dom_...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [DOM_BIRD] Raccoon attacks - Should I consider using poison?

Very nice trap..........

Coons totally ripped the chicken wire off our coop ,
tore it where the wire could not be ripped off the staples , just
seemingly
tried to show how much damage they could do. Eight hens totally gone
and the rest so traumatized they quit laying.

With all the damage we thought it was a bear...but somebody said it was a
family of coons.

Shirley

>> --
>> --
>> This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe

>> from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com
>>
>> ---
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the
>> Google Groups "dom_bird" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit

>> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/dom_bird/MP0VQhsCdXw/unsubscribe.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to
>> dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.

>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>>
>

> --
> --
> This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe

> from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com

>
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "dom_bird" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an

> email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.

> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>

--
--
This message came from the "dom_bird" discussion group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: Dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "dom_bird" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dom_bird+u...@googlegroups.com.

[Michele Bee]

Chicken wire is keeping the rabbits out of my corn.  :-)

[Barry Koffler]

>Chicken wire is keeping the rabbits out of my corn. :-)

Rabbits don't generally count as predators (unless, I suppose, you're
a conscious kernel of corn).

[terry]

I am really enjoying the discussion and personal stories of raccoon encounters. 

When i had my first small flock of chickens i had a roll of 4ft chicken wire and wrapped it around some posts in one pass the top was open and the hens roosted in the eaves of the barn my husband threw up.  And those chickens came and went as they pleased without any problems with predators for years.  But these last 10 years trying to protect chickens is a major focus and you would think we were protecting Fort Knox.  

I think our raccoon and predator problems are also increased because we live in a heavily wooded area which provides cover and habitat for these predators. They just slink back and wait for their opportunities. Clearing out your area of trees and brush is probably helpful too.  

One morning while reading the local newspaper, we saw a picture of a bear attacking a pen full of chickens - the address shocked us- it was on our lane which only has 3 homes.  Big as life this bear ripped chicken wire and destroyed most of their birds.  The animals here used to avoid our area and stay in their own wild ranges.  

Like Noah we seem to be collecting the animals, they have no where else to live.  Maybe we should feed the wild turkeys and livestock the deer instead -lol  Go back to the buffalo?  I just wish chickens were the best item on the menu, i can live with the wildlife if they would just leave the chickens alone.

[terry]

Ooops I mean i just wish chickens were NOT the Best Item on the Menu!