Raccoon Drama

You know what a homesteader’s number one enemy is?

Predators.

If you have livestock and haven’t dealt with them yet, you will. And when you do, you will hate them.

My depiction of the raccoon in our chicken run

We have been dealing with raccoons bothering our chickens a lot this fall. The chickens’ coop/run is right outside of our bedroom window and we have a motion light very near to it. The first time we scared the rascal off from the window and after that the light coming on seemed to be doing the trick.

About a month ago the light came on as we were getting ready to go to bed. We just assumed the girls had set it off as they flew up to roost on their coop roof for the night. Then there was a squawk.

I ran to the window, but I didn’t see a raccoon. I saw two! And they were INSIDE the chicken run fence! We knew we needed to act fast and didn’t have a lot of time to contemplate how they actually got in there. I told Matt to get the .22.

Like a hillbilly, Matt shot one of the coons from our bedroom window but it flew up the side of the run and out through the chicken wire over the top. Now we know how they got in there…

But wait. Coon A ran off. What happened to Coon B? He disappeared! Or…

No, that couldn’t be. He can’t be in the COOP. No.

Oh yes.

He’s definitely in the coop.

So out we went. The end of that story is that there was one less coon in town.* We hoped the other one learned his lesson.

Well, last night the light came on. I didn’t hear anything but it woke me up so on a whim I checked to be sure.

“Matt.”

(Still half asleep) “What.”

“Coon. Shoot it.”*

And so we now have saved the chickens twice. We have been so lucky that we’ve been fast enough to see them before they start ripping and tearing. This is also very good motivation to finish our new, much more raccoon-proof coop.

Those of you who don’t know about raccoons and chickens, let me fill you in:

Raccoons eat chickens. They rip and tear into them and often kill them all at once and eat only part of each. They won’t just grab one and take it home for Mrs. Coon to put in the stew pot. They are vicious and ruthless and if you don’t get rid of them, they will keep coming back until you do. They are incredibly smart and strong. They can rip through chicken wire and know how to open doors. Are they cute? Absolutely. Do I want one poking around my chicken coop? No. And we are not about to start moving them all over the state. It’s not worth it.*

I’m hoping this will be the last we see of the raccoons for a while. We shall see.

* In the state of Maine, under Title 12 Section 12401 it is stated that

“a person may lawfully kill, or cause to be killed, any wild animal or wild turkey, night or day, found in the act of attacking, worrying or wounding that person's domestic animals or domestic birds or destroying that person's property. A person who kills a wild animal or wild turkey by authority of this section shall report the incident to the Maine Warden Service as provided in section 12402, subsections 3 and 4.”