How to get rid of raccoons that are causing you problems in your chicken coop and how to keep them out.
How to Get Rid of Raccoons from your Chicken Coop
A person recently posed the following question: I have a raccoon problem and live in the city. Any recommendations on how to catch/exterminate to prevent it from eating any more of my chickens?
Yes, we certainly have some suggestions on how to get rid of raccoons. There are several tactics that range from hunting, trapping, reinforcing a coop, and a wide variety of deterrents that range from essential oils to pee. Seriously. Unfortunately there’s not a one size fits all solution. Raccoons are smart, and every raccoon is different, so your tactics may need to vary for how you get rid of your raccoon problem. This article is focused on getting rid of raccoons from chicken coops. If you’re looking for information on How to Get Rid of Raccoons generally, we have an article on that as well.
About Raccoons
Raccoons can be from sixteen to twenty eight inches long, and adults can weigh from 10 to 60 lbs. Raccoons are extremely adaptable. They’re originally a forest creature, but have been able to thrie in mountains, marshes, cities, farms, and most other places as well. They’re omnivores, so they’ll eat plants, animals, and bugs. Because of this, people have issues with raccoons getting in their trash, in their gardens, and getting into their animals. Yes, they also eat chickens, and eggs. Knowing more about raccoons will help you know more about how to keep them out of your chicken coop.
Study the Problem Raccoon
Raccoons are smart and are known to trick and out think people having problems with them. How does it get in your coop? You may need to set up some trail cameras to watch what’s going on. We believe all farmers, homesteaders, and preppers should have some trail cameras. They’re extremely versatile. A trail camera set up by your coop can show you the weak points in your coop. You can also start to get an idea of how this specific raccoon thinks. Raccoons are wily and smart. Seeing how they move and problem solve will help you learn how to out smart and get rid of the raccoons. Trail cameras have also become less expensive in recent years with technology advances.
Another thing to check are the raccoon’s tracks. If you can follow its tracks, you can see where it comes from, where it goes, how it approaches the chicken coop, and how it gets inside, and you can plan accordingly. This can help you decide where to set up a trail camera, where to reinforce, where to watch, or where to set a trap. Once you figure out where its coming in, you can figure out how to outsmart the raccoon, and get rid of the problem.
Reinforce Your Chicken Coop to keep Raccoons Out
One person tried using hardware cloth, which is similar to chicken wire and is pretty tough, but it was able to squeeze through tiny openings and gaps left in the coop. It also ripped down the hardware cloth in some areas. This person was dealing with a really smart raccoon. This person was securing with zip ties and staples. We recommend using larger screws and washers to hold down hardware cloth or chicken wire.
Most people don’t realize that an adult raccoon can fit through a hole as small as 3″. When choosing your chicken coop material, remember that ability. The holes in chicken wire are small enough to keep them out. Because of that, we recommend that you surround the coop in chicken wire. You may need to add another layer of protection. Surround the coop in chicken wire. Make sure your seams do not align seems between the layers. Overlapping multiple layers can ensure that there is no hole even close to 3″, keeping your chickens protected from raccoons.
Don’t forget to go underground
Raccoons can dig. So can Coyotes and other predators. If you don’t account for that, you can continue to have problems. If you have a smaller premade hutch, these often have solid or mesh bottoms which provide protection. Another way to protect them from subterranean attack is to bury fencing down at least a foot. Some people also will bury chicken wire or other wire mesh 6″ or more under ground.
One person extremely tired of raccoons actually ended up renting a ditch witch trencher and did a 6 inch wide and 24 inch deep trench around their coop, and then filled it all in with cement. This did effectively get rid of the raccoon problem and their digging into the coop, and their chickens effectively got their own bomb shelter.
Trapping Raccoons
Live catch traps
Live catch box traps are the most common choice for catching raccoons. You stick bait inside, a raccoon goes in and triggers the trap. The most common baits people have success with are cat food or tuna. You need to bait it with something real stinky. Other common choices are hard boiled eggs, stinky cheese, or spam. The more it smells like garbage the more it attracts them.
Raccoon Foot Trap
If you’ve read Where the Red Fern Grows, the grandpa tells the boy to bore a hole and put a thing inside to catch a raccoon. It’ll stick it’s paw in and won’t be able to pull it out once it’s grabbed on to what’s inside, but it won’t let go. And just like that, you’ve caught him. It seems silly, but it worked in the book, and it works in real life.
Conibear Traps
Conibear traps are kill traps. They snap shut on the body of the animal with incredible force, breaking the neck or spine of the animal, killing it very quickly. These are commonly used to catch beavers or muskrats. If you live in a city, or have pets of your own, you don’t want to explain why Fido or Garfield is dead, all because you were trying to get rid of your problem raccoons. If you live out in the country and are able to specifically target the raccoons with little to no risk of any other animals being caught, you can try a conibear trap. It’s not what we recommend, but if you’ve got one lying around, go for it.
Leg Traps
If you don’t have pets in your backyard and it’s fenced in set a few leg traps. The next time it kills one set a trap put the dead bird by it along with any other bait.
Dispatching Trapped Raccoons
In my area it’s a stiff fine if caught relocating a raccoon. It is actually the law that you must kill any raccoon that you catch. Because of this, you may need to poison it or drown it if you can’t shoot it or have animal control take it away.
Hunting Nuisance Raccoons
Our first weapon choice would either be a 22 or a 17 HMR for taking out raccoons. Both of these are clean and simple and can get the job done. If you needed to though, you could really use a shotgun, or even your deer hunting rifle. A lot of that depends on where you live. You don’t want to blow away your chickens in the process though, so bear that in mind. You don’t want to save the chickens by killing the chickens. That won’t get you many eggs.
If you have neighbors close to you, I think it’d be between either an air rifle or a 22 loaded with subsonic rounds, or suppressed. Both of these options are sufficiently quiet to not upset the neighbors, especially because you’re most likely to have your hunting encounter in the middle of the night.
Because you’ll be hunting in the middle of the night, we recommend using motion detector lights. If you’re watching, they’ll trigger the light, and it’ll be pretty obvious where they’re at.
If you’ve tracked it or patterned it with your trail camera, you’ll know right where to set up. You will want to check with any state laws before you go to get rid of your problem raccoon.
How to Get rid of Raccoons if you Live in the City
Call animal control to get rid of raccoons
Some animal control agencies will come and help you remove problem raccoons. If they won’t come take care of it for you, they will often be able to give you advice both on recommendations for how to get rid of the raccoons, and they can advise you on local laws you’ll need to be aware of for trying to trap or exterminate the raccoon.
There are a few different things to consider when it comes to getting rid of raccoons within city limits. There are city and state laws that relate to raccoons specifically, traps and trapping, and using weapons. We advocate for doing things within the bounds of the law wherever possible, and animal control can help you do that.
Check your city ordinances on having chickens before you call for animal control though. You don’t want to get yourself in trouble for having chickens against some city code, and then call the enforcers. They’ll stop the raccoons from getting into your chicken coop, but you might not like how they do it.
Shooting Raccoons in City Limits
Using a crossbow is a good option. If you are able to get even a little elevation, which isn’t hard , by pointing down the crossbow bolt will not go anywhere other than a few inch in the ground. If you want to be even more quiet shooting a raccoon in town, I’d recommend a pistol crossbow instead of a full crossbow. It can shoot much quieter, and still has 50-80 lbs of power. It’ll get the job done, and it’s one of my favorite alternative weapons to guns.
Another good option is an air rifle. Gamo makes a slick 22 caliber air rifle that shoots subsonic, and is accurate, but still packs enough of a punch to take out a racoon. It also has the Whisper Fusion technology, which is how Gamo makes it even quieter, which makes it a good option for dispatching nuisance raccoons.
Scare Raccoons Away
Some people have used coyote urine as a deterrent and have had good results. Trappers use this stuff to lure coyotes in to traps. This will be effective if coyotes in the area prey regularly on raccoons, though not as effective as blocking their access or eliminating them. It seems most raccoons have a natural Where the Red Fern Grows instinct that makes them just dislike canines. Other rodents are also repelled by coyote urine. You can buy predator pee, like coyote or fox urine, and spread it around the area you want to protect. Trappers use this stuff all the time. Just note that it may initially upset your chickens as well.
A less stinky alternative is a peppermint oil solution. There’s a product called Rodent Sheriff Pest Control which is a fancy Peppermint Spray for all the essential oil lovers out there. They claim that rodents just don’t like the peppermint smell, and that its 100% safe. It actually has over 11,000 reviews, though there is some speculation as to how well it will keep raccoons out of your chicken coop.
Get a motion water sprinkler to scare raccoons
A motion sensing sprinkler can really deter animals. They work on racoons, deer, and a variety of other nuisance critters, and they don’t hurt them. Our go to sprinkler for this is the Yard Enforcer. It’s popular and proven to get the job done.
The Yard Enforcer Sprinkler
Get a dog to get rid of raccoons
One person commented that they hadn’t had any problems with raccoons until their german shepherd passed away. Some people will actually put a dog run around the chicken coop, which is a really big deterrent. It works like a moat around a castle full of alligators for raccoons. It’s intimidating and dangerous for them to try to pass. Furthermore, dogs tend to bark when things aren’t right.
Hiring Professionals
If all else fails, you may need to hire a professional to help get rid of your raccoons. I’ve mentioned it already, but raccoons are really smart. Sometimes you need a professional to help counter that. You can find exterminators or professional trappers who can both help you get rid of nuisance raccoons.
Conclusion
Raccoons can look cute, but they can make a mess and do a lot of damage. I personally think they’re kind of cool, but I don’t want them near where me or my animals live, and you just need to get rid of them. Whether you choose to hunt them, trap them, reinforce against them, or attempt to scare them away, we hope you win your fight, and this helps you know how to keep raccoons out of your chicken coop.
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