3 banditos showed up outside the run last night

[Killerbunny]

http://www.poultrytalkontario.net/forum ... oon#p23038
http://www.poultrytalkontario.net/forum ... oon#p21672

[thegawd]

coons are darn strong and smart critters. I raised 3 as a teen... illegal I know but didnt know that then. keeping them inside a run is just as hard as keeping them out. they meticulously work on weak spots until it gave way. unless its a solid welded box I dont think there really is such a thing as raccoon proof, just some options are better than others. I know my run and main coop are not coon proof, coyote proof hopefully but not coon proof. thats why Im always set up to take them out. iv only had 3 up near the house in almost a year which is 3 less coons around here. I dont shoot them in the bush though and as long as they stay there they dont bother me, well except for there crap dont touch that nasty stuff!

[Maximus]

Here's the best advice I got when I was in that situation: Do what you have to do to protect your flock.

Been there, done that. Pitchforked a few. Deep rooted another with a shovel and crossbow another. They had distemper and one had rabies (tested).

I'm not sure about a sling shot, did that too, but anything just bounced off their heavy thick coats. Good luck!

[Doug The Chickenman]

Under Ontario law you can only relocate a mas of 1 KM so the will be home before you.

[baronrenfrew]

Robbie; what you are reffering to is "the balance of nature" when it comes to predator/prey populations.

Raccoon populations are 5-10 times higher where there are people compared to true wild populations because 1. People=food; be it corn, garbage; apples; grapes; and chickens and because 2. No top predators close to people: timberwolf, cougar, bears all of whom keep raccoon pops in check.

For me raccoon is shoot on sight. I was a teen with 25 bantam Rosecombs when a coon pulled a few boards from the shed and killed them all; heads bitten off with one bird eaten (that mass murder scene still haunts me).
I lost a hen to a mink two years ago, a couple guineas this spring (too dumb to go inside) one pullet to a fox (again roosted outside) and last year a couple young birds to a falcon/hawk.
Minor losses for free ranging birds. Otherwise the coyotes keep their distance (my dobermans faced off with them last spring and I chased them off with a shot in the air.)

Human activity has changed the landscape and prey species used to be numerous. I hear stories from older folk about grouse (called partridge) and rabbits and bobwhite quail and Hungarian Partridge and ringneck pheasants. Kids would get off the bus and go get a bird for dinner and they could! Now grouse and rabbits are few and far between and the field birds are long gone. Turkeys are the only exception as they eat/live where deer do and roost in safety (and too big for a coon/fox.).
Predators in the wild would increase in pop with their prey. Then the prey populations crash, then the predator pops crash. Now the predators don't have that cycle as we feed the predators keeping their populations stable and artificially high. Not to mention that trappers gave up when the prices crashed in the 80's with the "anti fur" movement. (Anyone know where I can get a Coyote fur coat?)
Ottawa is known for for folks trapping animals (especially squirrels) and dumping them across the river. Quebecers don't like this? Merde!
I say bring on the trappers and get the predator numbers down.

[Killerbunny]

Robbie, I respect your opinion but we all deal with predators in our own way. I truly hope you never have to deal with the aftermath of an attack, not just the dead birds but having to go round killing survivors who are ripped up. Tending birds hoping they'll make it and still having to put it down. The horrible feeling that you've failed them somehow.

[WLLady]

i do appreciate robbies post, because it actually made me think last night about why i think the way i do about coons. i think it all stems back to a mass murder scene that i had as well....scarred for life. i only lost about 10. but that was followed closely by another mass winter murder by a coyote-dog cross, where i lost a good 30 birds. i think those two episodes made me territorial. not to mention the screams my mare can make when she's being chased by coyote-dog crosses....and the sound when my gelding launched the one over the fence. i found it dead 2 days later in the ravine.
mother nature is harsh, and unforgiving. last year as i was forced to take a break on my walk back from the bush because of my back pain i was stalked by 3 coyote-dog crosses....they followed me, just out of range across the field until i was at the fence and the horses came over to say hi. I respect wild animals, but they will not give me the benefit of the doubt, and neither do i give them the benefit of the doubt.

I peacefully co-exist with a pure coyote mom and her den....but she NEVER crosses the horse fence. She was trainable...and learned. and stays up in the field and woods. i see her when i'm turkey hunting sometimes. but she knows if she comes inside that fence she'll have trouble.
95% (or more, i think there's only been 2 healthy coons i took out of the barn) of the coons are mangy, or have distemper. we've had one rabid one a few years back. And one that was really bad, almost bald from mange AND distemper...they're in it for the easy meal to come to the barn, and most of them wouldn't survive a winter without it, which i feel circumvents natural selection and survival of the fittest. any animal that willingly walks at least a half km across perfectly edible crop (corn, bean, wheat) to on purposefully get into my barn, climb 15 stairs to the second story, past noisy fans, and rip open screens and pry open feed bins has pre-meditated what it is doing, and will not quit....my dogs can get mange, my horses can die from the coon urine on the hay, the birds could get dead....and i don't have the energy to restart my breeding programs, not after this much time invested. so i choose to protect my animals.

but thank you robbie....you have forced me to examine that i am okay with my choice, and that there's a reason behind the choice, (as opposed to killing them just because).

[Maximus]

I'm dealing with coyotes this morning and a pair of Hawks. I can tell you with unwavering certainty, I will not let my flock fend for themselves. If a coyote comes into my yard where my birds are it's fair game for me and the coyote(s). It's not fair game for my domesticated chickens and ducks. It's an easy meal and I will not support it or allow it.

I also have Josh & Drake who were stalked and challenged territory behind the shed in the spring by yotes. I also have a puppy to protect. My chickens are just as valuable as my kid, dogs, cats etc. There isn't a lesser domesticated 'life' on my property.

Coyotes: govern yourself accordingly.

Funny how I haven't been target practising with my crossbow, between being under the weather and the frigging deer flies it's been quiet around here. Time to get back at it.

[thegawd]

19 out of 26 RSLs in one night, culprit unidentified, probably a weasel but it never came back. lots of heartbreak, I hope no one ever has to experience that.

[Ontario Chick]

QR_BBPOST Thanks so much for all the advice! I will be removing the waterers overnight from now on. I know they need to be dispatched, but first I think we need to catch them.
I do know someone who has a farm not far away who mentioned that her partner has been depopulating raccoons on their property recently.

You may be getting the Juvenile Delinquents because the mother has been "depopulated"
Trapper services are fairly costly it's a problem I don't envy you, they are cute killers and keeping them away from anything they want to get at is pretty impossible.