Carnage in the coop
bpost
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Got up and saw a white object near the coop fence. Grabbed my trusty 10-22 and went to investigate. The white spot ws the only white hen I had, dead. The big raccoon that did it was in the live trap which is bent all to hell and back from him trying to escape. I shot him.
Inside the coop is carnage, five more dead hens and the remainder freaked out. I had the coop door closed with a step on fence post. The raccoon bent it over and got in. He was very efficient in killing most of my flock.
I am declaring war TODAY! I am going to buy 10 live traps, 20 arm traps and will ring the entire coop with them baited for Raccoons. I will kill every single Raccoon I can get and if they have babies I will kill them too. The buzzards will be well fed. I am beyond pissed off right now.
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This is the reason we stopped having chickens. They would kill every flock we ever had. I had one chicken, named Henrietta, that would come into my shop and sit on the bench, to watch me work every day. I had her for five years. Damn racoon killed her one night. I shot that * into oblivion, with my 12 gauge. I cried for days over that chicken. No matter how much we secured the pen, the damn racoons and skunks, would find a way in. I really hope you put a dent into their community Bruce. Those damn things are worthless in my opinion.
Sorry to hear that, Bruce. I'm amazed at how attached we get to those silly birds. We haven't seen a single raccoon here, yet, but we've only been here a couple years. I'm sure there's some around. Good luck!
Same problem here with racoons. The only way we found to stop them is to close the coop fence, and then after the chickens go in for the night, is to close up the hen house door also. Nothing gets in or out, after a certain time.
Also, we had to fence in the coop fence on top to stop the aerial attacks from hawks.
Whatever you do, don't shoot a hawk! It's a crime and punishable by 99 years in the Federal pen.
I've been lucky, I reckon. I had one chicken killed, head torn off, by raccoon or possum. Stupid chicken would not be put up for the night and suffered the consequences. I did capture one possum and relocated it several miles away.
Like Oakie, I also had a favorite chicken, Doris. She was quite friendly. Doris came to us as an adult, and we had no idea of her age. She must have been getting on though, since she had stopped laying in her later months. She got sick and nothing we did helped. She had a lot of foul-smelling fluid in her crop and would vomit it out with just a little hand pressure. No vets around here work on chickens. Fortunately, whatever this illness was killed her quickly. Doris was a good one.
I can sympathize. After last night I have sent 11 now this week on ahead.
Terminate with extreme prejudice!!!
I put out 3 baited traps last evening. I enjoy making buzzard dinners.
Joe
Raccoon is perfectly edible meat, btw. There are musk glands that have to be carefully removed, just like with groundhog.
Think of it as "the biter bit."
Best raccoon trap is the dog proof pipe type baited with a marshmellow.
I feel the same way about foxes and feral cats. We start out with a 14 member family of quail and within two weeks they are gone. Song birds also. Studies show that feral cats and yes, even family house cats let loose to roam are the worst predators on birds and small mammals. Surprisingly bears and bobcats are the worst predators on fawns. BTW, bear meat is tasty and Bobcat tastes like bacon if fried in bacon grease. Just sayin'.
I have an acquaintance who keeps a few chickens. He had a couple beagles who did a pretty good job of protecting the birds until a wild turkey moved in. Apparently the turkey liked that easy life and stayed a while. Put the beagles out of work for a while. The turkey left after a couple years as mysteriously as it appeared.
I reminded my wife about the racoons nomatter how cute they got to go
And my plans of thinning them to zero
I think as long as they are getting fee food as in the cat food we keep out side for all our outside cats they have always left the chickens alone for many years and content with the easy meals
same with the skunks the skunks steal a few eggs but the wife likes having them around watching them play they dont bother no one the cats are all pals with them over the years a few eggs but never bothered the chickens
About ten years ago I caught a racoon with his last meal in his mouth and i added a 22lr for desert
Since then none have bothered with the chickens but I make sure their locked up at night
I set two of them last night, I call the arm traps, along with the live trap. At 1:30AM I got up to pee and decided to check the traps. In my underwear and slippers I went to the coop area. I found a huge female trapped by the arm trap. She was very upset so I fed her 22 caliber pills to calm her down. The Marshmallows really do the trick. The key is to get some of the small marshmallows under the trigger so they trip it when reaching for them.
My quest for eradication is not over, the traps will be used until no raccoons are caught for at least ten days.
Sounds like your revenge is off to a good start
My dad told me stories of eating baked racoon and groundhogs as a kid
i never tried it but since you have the prime ingreadent
Green font. not sure about being caught in a chicken coop in my underware something about that just sounds a bit weird bit I am not here to judge lol
If you have no pets, a mixture of Coke and fly bait is very effective.
It is deadly raccoon never made it off the deck. Didnt mention it because it is not selectiive on what it kills.
I am concerned about my barn cats tasting some of it. I do not know if they would partake in it but I hesitate to try it and kill my barn cats.
If you have pets I would never recommend trying the fly bait. It is deadly to anything that drinks the stuff.
We have tons of raccoon around our place but the only damage they do is occasionally digging in one of the wife's flower pots.
Good luck in your endeavors to get rid of them!
growing up, we had a mass killing in a hen house. about 7 hens killed by a bite to the head/neck. none were fed upon.
come to find out it was a mink the culprit. perhaps you have some of them, or weasels in your vicinity.
About 30 yrs ago when had just moved here and was loosing chickens some had heads missing I thought maybe a weasel or racoon but just guessing
I Could not figure it out all were inside a old chicken coop shead
then one day in the old chicken coop it had a layer of tin roofing inside as a ceiling I heard something between the roof and ceiling
So I shot thru the metal it was a old building and no way to do any more damage to it with a shotgun #7 or #8 shot
it only went thru the bottom layer of metal the roof did not even have a single hole the mink was not so lucky
I had never even seen one or knew they were in the area the river is about a mile away So suprized me but no more dead chickens
It was first and only mink I have ever seen around here
Got up at 0200 to pee, checked the traps, all was quiet. Came out at 0600 and there was a big boar raccoon with both arms trapped. Marshmallows was his last meal. Lady friend 20 miles away is having horrid issues with Raccoons digging up her flower and veggie garden, she got one last night too.
She kept coming around in the daytime to get a chicken. She'd already got two. She won't get any more.
.22 magnum at 45 yards, running.
We've been using cat food made from fish. The marshmallows sound good, and cheaper too. I'll have the wife get some when she goes to the grocery next time.
Joe
I can remember when I was selling Racoon hides for good money. Then the animal lovers started protesting about furs are not good, the animals have rights, we need to protect them.
Game Wardens, (possum cops) would check me quite often to make sure that all my hides were tagged and I was not over the limit of 20 racoons/season. Their is no limit on them in this neck of the woods now days and no one hunts them because it's a waste of time, hides not worth anything.
Really a shame when people think they are protecting the wild animals when they are actually doing them harm.
Have not seen a wild quail in several years mainly due to overpopulation of Hawks and Owls.
I suspect the animals lovers will want to start protecting the feral hogs before long.
The animals lovers want to protect the animals. I'm now seeing mother nature trying to take over, sick animals due to overpopulation, Racoons, skunks, foxes, with mange, distemper, rabies and overpopulated to the point they have nothing to eat in the woods. I see more animals that should be in the wild deep woods but are hanging out around neighbor hoods so they can try to steal a free meal.
I'm amazed that a wild turkey can get from the egg to live along enough to live the first year. From the egg that Racoons has missed, then to the tree and dodge the Owls and Hawks.
A chicken can be costly and time consuming to try to keep safe now days.
AND
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/1911719/very-bad-year-for-racoons#latest