While we’re no strangers to raccoon attacks, our past year of raising chickens clocked in at over 40 chicks and chickens lost to raccoons, with 9 raccoons and 1 opossum to blame over the course of the year. It was a record! Needless to say, we can say with confidence that raccoons certainly DO eat chickens! You live and you learn, and we learned how to protect our flock in the midst of a year of an abundance of (what seemed to be) extra smart raccoons!
Fortunately, we ended the year with plenty of chicken in the freezer and better ideas for keeping our birds safe from raccoons in future years.
But keeping your chickens safe from potential predators takes some knowledge and forethought. Chicken predators attack differently, and some are more sly than others. We’ll share with you what we’ve learned about raccoons in hopes that it helps you to lose less chickens than we did this particular year!
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Do Raccoons Eat Chickens?
Yes! Raccoons are one of the top predators of chickens and baby chicks. Raccoons are agile and very intelligent animals that are native to North America and are found in nearly every part of the United States. You’ll find raccoons in both rural and urban areas. So whether you live in the country or the city, you can expect raccoons to have an eye on your chickens!
Raccoons are nocturnal mammals, so they mostly venture out at night or at dawn or dusk. However, that doesn’t mean that your chickens are safe just because it’s daytime. While many of our raccoon attacks have been in the middle of the night, we’ve also had raccoons attack in broad daylight once or twice.
And while raccoons tend to eat the most in the late summer, they’re active all throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
Fortunately, there are a lot of steps that you can take in order to keep your backyard chickens from being attacked by raccoons.
How Can You Tell if a Raccoon’s Gotten Into Your Chicken Coop?
If you’ve noticed a that some kind of predator has been in your chicken coop, but aren’t sure whether it was a raccoon or not, there are a few clues that can help you figure it out.
Some of the most common signs include:
- A mess
- Raccoon scat
- Raccoon tracks
- Raccoon sounds
- Signs of raccoons around your property
- Attacks at night
What other predators attack chickens?
Raccoons definitely aren’t the only offender when it comes to finding injured or dead chickens. Other carnivorous predators that love to feast on chickens include foxes, hawks, opossums, coyotes, weasels, skunks, and even dogs and cats. Many of these animals go after not only chickens, but also chicken eggs (and not surprisingly, they’re easy targets!).
(And this is by no means an exclusive list of chicken predators looking for a tasty meal. However, the predators you’ll need to look out for will depend on the area you live in.)
Our worst raccoon attack experience
The beginning of our summer of so many raccoon attacks started out with a lot of confusion about what could be getting to our chickens. We had used the same portable chicken tractor the past year without one single raccoon problem. However, this year, we started off with 25 day-old chicks, and in the morning, they were gone. The tarp over the top of the coop had been ripped open, showing that something had climbed in the top.
We replaced the tarp, added chicken wire tightly over the top, and were nearly sure we had a tight, safe coop, so we tried again. And again, the chicks were gone their first night! This time, the tarp showed no signs of ripping, the wire seemed intact, and all the rest of the coop looked unaltered. After examining the coop again, we could not figure out how the raccoons were getting in.
So, we set up a trail cam, bought 5 more “sacrificial chickens” (poor things), and waited. We were starting to wonder if they were smart enough creatures to use their nimble fingers to open our complex latch, even though we knew this was probably impossible.
The next morning, the chickens were gone and we were amazed at what we saw on the video. A team of two raccoons were able to climb up the coop and flatten themselves enough to squeeze between the tarp and the chicken wire that ran over the top of the coop. There was about a 1″ gap in the roofline of the coop where the chicken wire met – mind you, this is UNDER a tight tarp. The used their own hands to pry open the very small openings in the chicken wire and shimmy in.
Raccoons are smart creatures!
These guys are seriously amazing creatures!
Needless to say, we grabbed a whole bunch of zip ties and tightened up the chicken wire. Our coop was much more secure, but we still had a couple of attacks later from raccoons who were able to reach under the bottom of the coop when it wasn’t on a totally flat piece of ground.
Signs of a Raccoon Attack in Your Chicken Coop
So what are the signs of a raccoon attack? Here are some of the main signs of raccoons to look for if you’re trying to figure out what’s getting into your coop.
1. Raccoons are messy
Unlike larger animals, such as hawks, owls, and coyotes, who can take a whole adult chicken without leaving a trace, raccoons often leave a mess behind. If you find a chicken still in or near your coop but missing a head or another body part, there’s a good chance that a raccoon was to blame.
Raccoons are well known for reaching into any opportunistic openings toward the edge of a chicken coop. If a chicken is on the other side, they’ll often grab at or bite pieces of chickens without being able to pull the whole bird through the opening. This is why if you see parts of the chickens missing or even a half-eaten chicken, there’s a good chance it was a raccoon attack. Raccoons will often bite at the head or the upper neck area if they have the chance, but we’ve also seen them grab legs and other body parts.
Because we move our portable chicken tractor around, we’ve had a couple of instances where the raccoons have been able to reach into a small hole under the base 2x4s and snatch a piece of a chicken where the ground wasn’t completely level.
Since raccoons can easily reach through wide enough openings, it’s a good idea to use strong hardware cloth on your coop that they can’t easily reach or tear through (but we’ll get to more tips on keeping raccoons out in a minute!).
Although raccoons usually won’t be able to take a whole adult chicken, they CAN take whole chicks or young chickens with no problem. Hence our story of losing 25 chicks at one (twice!)!
2. Check for raccoon scat
Raccoon droppings look similar to dog feces. They’re tubular in shape and usually around 3 inches long. While raccoon scat is usually a dark color, it can vary depending on the raccoons diet, and often includes pieces of undigested food.
(By the way, raccoon scat is usually full of bacteria and parasites, so if you find it in your yard, it’s best to shovel it up and get rid of it.)
3. Raccoon tracks
If you have impressionable soil or soft surfaces in or near your coop, you might be able to make out some raccoon tracks. Raccoons have 5 “fingers” with small, sharp claws on each hand and foot. Their tracks almost look like small human handprints. Each hand and foot is approximately 2-3 inches.
4. Raccoon sounds
If you’re nearby, you’ll likely be able to hear a hungry raccoon getting into your chicken coop for an easy meal. While raccoons are intelligent predators in some ways (they’re smart, nimble, and excellent climbers!), they’re not necessarily sneaky in terms of noises. If you hear snarling, hissing, growling, high-pitched screeching, or similar loud noises, there’s a good chance it’s a raccoon.
When we’ve suspected raccoon attacks, we’ve often put our portable chicken tractor near our bedroom window and have been able to hear them trying to get in on multiple occasions. There have been multiple nights where we’ve jumped out of bed due to raccoon sounds and thrown on our boots to catch them outside.
5. Signs of raccoons around your property
If you’ve been noticing signs of raccoons around your property, there’s a good chance that these omnivorous animals are to blame for your chicken attack. Raccoons will eat almost anything – from fruits and vegetables to eggs, frogs, insects, rodents, fish, dead animals, and of course, chickens. They’re notorious for getting into trash cans, pet food dishes, and any accessible areas that have scraps of food.
If you’ve been noticing your garbage cans looking jumbled or trash bags broken into or your compost disappearing from the pile, you likely have raccoons around your property.
The compost pile is a telltale sign for us. Most of the time, any scraps of watermelon or other pieces of food get quickly chewed down – unless there are no raccoons around! Raccoons are opportunistic animals that have a great sense of smell and will quickly be able to find new any food sources.
6. Attacks at night
Raccoons are nocturnal animals, so they usually attack chickens at night. But, this isn’t always the case. Most of our raccoon attacks have occurred between 11pm and 4am, but we’ve also had raccoons attack during the day when we weren’t outside.
Roosting, sleeping chickens make very easy prey for the common raccoon. If your chicken attack happened overnight, there’s a good chance it was a raccoon, but you’ll probably need to check on some of the other factors to know for sure.
7. Use a trail cam
If you still can’t figure out what type of predator has been attacking your chickens, a trail cam is perhaps the best way to find out for sure. Set up a trail cam near your chicken coop to see for yourself!
How to Keep Chickens Safe from Raccoons
So, if you’ve determined that a raccoon (or a group of raccoons) are getting to your chickens, what can you do? There are a number of ways to keep your chickens safe from raccoons.
1. Lock your coop at dusk (or use an automatic coop door)
Raccoons usually attack at night, so make sure that your coop is securely locked at dusk.
Chickens usually find their way into the coop on their own around this time each night. Because chickens are generally roosting at night and are quieter than they are during the day, they’re also more vulnerable to raccoon attacks.
If you’re not home or have trouble remembering to lock your coop at night, you can consider installing an automatic coop door that runs on a timer and shuts on its own.
2. Reinforce your coop
Thoroughly reinforcing your chicken house all the way around is the best way to protect your chickens. Chicken wire alone is not enough! Determined raccoons can easily reach through and even tear chicken wire apart. Use hardware cloth – especially around the base of your coop – as a sturdier option.
If you suspect that chickens are sneaking underneath the coop, you can also run wire mesh into the ground to keep them from digging under.
There are even electric fence kits for keeping crafty raccoons out if you want to get high tech!
2. Use natural repellents
If raccoons are still trying to get into your coop, natural repellents that aren’t harmful to chickens are another option you can try.
Ammonia-soaked rags are one option that many chicken owners use to deter raccoons. Ammonia can be harmful to chickens in large amounts, but placing a few rags around the coop won’t be enough to hurt them.
Cayenne is another natural option that raccoons will avoid, but it won’t hurt your chickens. Try sprinkling cayenne pepper around your coop to keep the raccoons away.
The main problem with these methods is that they’ll need to be re-applied often, especially after a rain.
3. Use an intricate lock
Complex latches and locks may be necessary to make sure that the raccoons can’t easily open your coop door. Raccoons are smart, nimble creatures with opposable thumbs that can open simple locks.
Avoid one-step, simple latches like hook and eye locks.
Instead, use two-step locks like screw link latches, spring locks, or even padlocks or combination locks. Just make sure not to lock yourself in the coop, and have an escape route or plan in place in case you do!
4. Store chicken feed in tight containers
Make sure to keep all chicken food stored tightly so that raccoons can’t get into it. If there’s feed strewn around or outside the coop where raccoons can access it, they’ll be all the more encouraged to hang out near your chickens (and you’ll lose chicken feed, too!). If you have free range chickens, its best to keep their food inside the coop where raccoons won’t be able to enjoy it once the coop is closed.
Make sure spills around the coop are cleaned up, especially at night. Tightly-closed bins work well for storing chicken feed.
5. Add sound and noise
Raccoons are a lot less likely to attack if they think someone’s around. Adding sound and noise near your chicken coop are effective ways to potentially reduce the threat of raccoons.
Installing a motion-activated light is an easy way to scare off raccoons. The flashing lights will scare them away when they approach (although they could get used to them over time).
A guard dog is another way to scare raccoons off from your property. Just make sure your dog is rabies-vaccinated if you know there’s a threat of raccoons around. (Of course, a guard dog is a much bigger commitment than a motion-sensing light!)
During our daytime raccoon attack, I ended up putting a speaker near the coop and playing podcasts with different people’s voices until a few hours later when we had time to figure out how to adjust the coop. It worked!
6. Trap the raccoon
If you’ve reinforced your coop, locked your chickens up at night, tried natural repellants, and still can’t get rid of the raccoons, it may be time for a raccoon trap. Last year, we caught all 9 raccoons in a live trap. They just kept coming! You’ll need to use bait to any live traps to encourage the raccoon to step inside. Cat food or nearly any sort of meat, like tuna, bacon, or leftover pieces of chicken, will work well.
Live traps don’t hurt the raccoon, but you will have to decide what to do with it from there. Make sure that before you set any traps, you know the municipality rules and state laws for catching, moving, and dispatching wildlife that’s attacking your livestock (and whether or not you need a license to do so). If you do decide to dispatch any raccoons, a .22 caliber rifle is the best option to use for small animals and varmints.
Outside of rural areas, you may consider calling animal control if your raccoon problem really gets out of hand.
Raccoons Are Relentless
Once a raccoon gets a taste of your chickens, they’ll keep coming back for more. Don’t count on the first time being the only time! And if you catch one of these formidable predators, don’t count on it being the only one (although it could be!).
Raccoons are somewhat solitary creatures, but they can also live in family groups, with young raccoons staying with their mother for sometimes up to a year. Because of this, if one raccoon is attracted to your property for whatever reason, there will probably be more, too! (And while baby raccoons might be cute, they’re not worth your chicken dinner or your morning eggs!)
Our worst attacks, when we lost 25 young birds at once, were committed by a team of two raccoons.
The easiest way to prevent raccoon predation in your chicken run or coop is to keep your chicken house well secured in the first place. But once one strikes, it’s time to take whatever action necessary to take care of the problem before you lose more chickens.
Fortunately, although we lost nearly 60 chickens over the course of the summer, our raccoons problems finally came to an end, and we ended the year with a freezer full of delicious, healthy meat chickens.
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