I now declare war

[cowgirl8]

Whomever thought crossing a fox with a monkey to make a raccoon was a good idea, well, it wasn't.
Lost another chicken last night. Has become a nightly occurrence now. #4 partially pulled through the bars. We've made a fortress for these hens, but a few insist sleep on the ground in the one spot I cant fortify from something reaching in. I even added a new lower roost pole.. Not sure if the few that huddle on the ground learned this from the place they came from. They are escapees from the egg factory via the sh#t fertilizer trucks...... Bought traps yesterday, one was tripped, but no raccoon in it. I have one more idea to get this sob. Yesterday I was planning on taking him miles away and releasing him. But now, that 'live' trap should have been called, 'I wished I were dead' trap.
When its light enough to see who got killed, i'm hoping its Wheezy who has something wrong with her...i'm sure it wont be though.

 

[jkwilson]

I've caught 5 in a live trap in the last week. I have really good luck baiting them with Doritos. Cats don't bother with them but coons, possums and skunks love them.

 

[cowgirl8]

I've caught 5 in a live trap in the last week. I have really good luck baiting them with Doritos. Cats don't bother with them but coons, possums and skunks love them.

What do you do with them.....this is what I struggle with....lol... Husband says if we shoot it in the trap, eventually the trap will be ruined. He said that 'I' can gas them with my 4wheeler...I suppose I can do this, just set it up and walk off for a while. Even for a evil bastart of a raccoon, I struggle...
I was trying to figure out what to bait with since I do have cats right there...I don't have doritos, but in a moment of weakness I did buy some pringles yesterday, and they are nacho cheese flavored....i'll try those..Thanks!

 

[cowgirl8]

I'm planning on mounting the trap inside the pen. I have to devise a way to keep the hens off of it and it has to be off the ground a bit so that my tractor moves easily when its pulled, but I think I can figure a way to do that...

 

[True Grit Farms]

We always put the trap under water for a couple of minutes, problem solved.

 

[cowgirl8]

We always put the trap under water for a couple of minutes, problem solved.

:cry2: :clap: I struggle...

 

[greatgerts]

I've caught 5 in a live trap in the last week. I have really good luck baiting them with Doritos. Cats don't bother with them but coons, possums and skunks love them.

What do you do with them.....this is what I struggle with....lol... Husband says if we shoot it in the trap, eventually the trap will be ruined. He said that 'I' can gas them with my 4wheeler...I suppose I can do this, just set it up and walk off for a while. Even for a evil bastart of a raccoon, I struggle...
I was trying to figure out what to bait with since I do have cats right there...I don't have doritos, but in a moment of weakness I did buy some pringles yesterday, and they are nacho cheese flavored....i'll try those..Thanks!

I'd shoot them in the trap. They'll probably try to grab the gun, PERFECT. It is like them committing suicide!

 

[Jogeephus]

Try sticking some marshmallows in the trap. Coons love them.

 

[callmefence]

:shock: Been fighting em here as well. Ate most of my wife's sweet corn. All the peaches. Got in the shed turned over a barrel of fish food. No less than 40 pounds ,I think a lot more. Not one nugget of fish food could be found in that shed. How many coons does it take to eat forty pounds in one night.?

In the live traps I generally crack em between the eye's with a short. Bullet stays in the coon.

 

[M-5]

why cant we just all get along

 

[callmefence]

why cant we just all get along

We tried that. That's how it got outta hand.
Don't form alliances with varmints..they'll always be varmints.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Hot wire around the chicken pen is effective

 

[M-5]

a garbage bag and a vehicle tail pipe makes a good euthanasia chamber

 

[cowgirl8]

a garbage bag and a vehicle tail pipe makes a good euthanasia chamber

That's the way i'd have to do it.. Right now if I had a pen of dogs, I might would be tempted to throw it in...But gassing it is probably how i'll do it.
Just went out and fortified it. Since I move it around 4 times a day, everything has to move along the ground. He's really going to be pissed when he finds out he cant just reach in now. I have some snap traps I might put on top, just in case he decides to investigate other ways in. I don't think my cats would even attempt to jump up there, don't think they could. But a raccoon can climb up there easily, well, that was the first way he got in. We went without a top for months, knew eventually we'd need one....There's a top now, great place to just cover with traps... We started out with a dog kennel, put angle iron skids on it. I have a nest box attached to the side so I don't have to go in to get eggs. Its a great setup..I made problems for myself when I added some baby chicks, so everything is altered for them until I they get big enough to put with the grown chickens.

 

[cowgirl8]

I'll post pictures of I later, if anyone is interested in ideas on a chicken tractor... Hopefully I've worked out all the bugs..

 

[jkwilson]

I've caught 5 in a live trap in the last week. I have really good luck baiting them with Doritos. Cats don't bother with them but coons, possums and skunks love them.

What do you do with them.....this is what I struggle with....lol... Husband says if we shoot it in the trap, eventually the trap will be ruined. He said that 'I' can gas them with my 4wheeler...I suppose I can do this, just set it up and walk off for a while. Even for a evil bastart of a raccoon, I struggle...
I was trying to figure out what to bait with since I do have cats right there...I don't have doritos, but in a moment of weakness I did buy some pringles yesterday, and they are nacho cheese flavored....i'll try those..Thanks!

22 short in the top of the head. The barrel of my old Savage fits between some of the bars and the coons will usually try to bite it. I've killed dozens that way and never had a bullet pass through.

You want the trap away from the chickens. You'd be amazed how far a coon can get an arm outside the trap, and they'll grab anything they can. I wear a welding glove when I have to move the trap with a coon in it.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

We have lost several chickens also. We go out and find a headless body laying next to the chicken wire, no blood. I solved that problem by locking the hens up in the hen house at night now. Nothing gets in, and they can not come out until we open it in the morning. Kind of a pain in the rear, but beats finding a dead one every morning.

 

[cowgirl8]

We have lost several chickens also. We go out and find a headless body laying next to the chicken wire, no blood. I solved that problem by locking the hens up in the hen house at night now. Nothing gets in, and they can not come out until we open it in the morning. Kind of a pain in the rear, but beats finding a dead one every morning.

As soon as I merge the youngers ones with the older i'll redo the pen to have a place I can lock them up. That will be before winter so they'll have a good shelter then....
Everything is set up, no way a raccoon can get them now. I have the trap set with chips and a leftover piece of chicken he didn't eat last night.. FIngers crossed....

 

[dun]

We have lost several chickens also. We go out and find a headless body laying next to the chicken wire, no blood. I solved that problem by locking the hens up in the hen house at night now. Nothing gets in, and they can not come out until we open it in the morning. Kind of a pain in the rear, but beats finding a dead one every morning.

Headless chickens sounds like something in the weasel family

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

We have lost several chickens also. We go out and find a headless body laying next to the chicken wire, no blood. I solved that problem by locking the hens up in the hen house at night now. Nothing gets in, and they can not come out until we open it in the morning. Kind of a pain in the rear, but beats finding a dead one every morning.

Headless chickens sounds like something in the weasel family

That is what Bright Raven said.... weasel.... go figure