Got Raccoons?

[CrealCritter]

I discovered I have a momma and 5 babies living in my chimney clean out, in my basement. I would move them but the babies eyes aren't even open yet. So I just closed and latched the door.

They are so cute and can't get into the basement, so I think I'll just leave them alone. They will leave on their own sooner or later.

 

[Beekissed]

...and go right out there and eat your chickens.

 

[CrealCritter]

Wait till the stink of them invades your living space. As Bee says, those babies will grow up to be predators. If I were you, I'd live trap the Mama, and then take her and babies to a game preserve. Beware, coons can carry some nasty disease.

Live trapping and relocating was my first intent, until I seen the new born babies. So new that their eyes were not open.

Perhaps I'm to much of a softy... But I could not serve them an eviction notice, knowing they would probably die if I did. My plan is now to leave them alone and let them leave on their own accord. Otherwords.. live and let live. Once they are gone, I'll patch the hole in the chimney cap and life will be good. Once they leave, my outside dog will run them off the property, this I am sure of. Sorry but I just couldn't be that cruel.

Maybe I should be more selective about what I post here. That way I wouldn't have to be put in a position to defend my beliefs. This thread has turned way to personal for me. Sorry if you don't agree with my approach, but I'm the one who has to live with himself and sleep at night with a clean conscience.

 

[CrealCritter]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being kind to animals and having a heart, or being a "softy" sometimes

Keeping one as a pet is still a bad idea though!!

Thanks and yeah... I told my wife and daughter NO we are not keeping one as a pet. Sometimes you just have to say no to the people you love the most and this is one of those times. Although they both were sad, they both knew it was the right decision.

 

[CrealCritter]

I've found (for myself) that I try and not kill anything I won't eat and when I do take an animals life, I am very thankful for the food.

The only real exception to the rule is if its a nuisance, like a garden munching rabbit or egg stealing opossum, a sick wild animal... Some nuisance animals are protected by law such as birds of prey, then I do whatever I can to make it more difficult for them to do harm. Like installing bird netting over my chicken and turkey yards, putting chicken wire around the garden and or turning on the electric fence. My guns only come out as a last resort. My outside dog does a lot of this work for me by keeping the property pretty clear of nuisance animals though. That's his job, which he gladly performs diligently.

Heck I'm such a softy, that several years ago I had a baby coyote eating out of the cat food dish. I caught it, put it in a cage and took it to the Friends of the Shawnee National Forest for them to raise and turn loose. It was a cute lil playful pup. What happened to its momma is only a guess, but it was definitely orphaned.

 

[wyoDreamer]

A couple of years ago we had a coon nest in the ceiling of the calf shed (30'x80' building). We don't have cattle, so we just use it for storage. We really didn't want it there since that building is right next to the garage and just across the driveway from the barn where the chickens are.
We knew she was there because we heard the kits moving around, so they were not newborns and we felt they were probably big enough to move on. We left them alone for a week before we started the eviction, just to give them a little more grow time. We wanted to make sure they were old enough to move to a new den.
Eviction protocol - I would get home from work and walk through the building making noise. When I was sure that she was not "on the ground" I would bring the 2 dogs in to sniff around. I would go in there in the morning and make noise also. After a week of that, I threw a bag of mothballs up into the area where she had been nesting, since we didn't hear any more noises up there any more. There is a huge swamp and wooded area just across the street from our place, so they had a safe place to move to.
Haven't seen a coon since. But, I am setting up a game cam this week to see if the deer are really coming into the guinea coop to eat the oats that the guineas bill out onto the floor. I see deer tracks but just can't quite convince myself that they are going into the building. I wouldn't doubt that I have coons going in there also, just never see any sign of that happening.

 

[baymule]

I had a pet raccoon when I was a kid. I finally had to turn him loose, he didn't get mean, just acted like a raccoon.

 

[baymule]

keep to your convictions, live and let live. People have different opinions, that doesn't mean that you are wrong. And just because people voice their opinions doesn't mean that you shouldn't post things that you believe in. Nothing wrong with being a softie and letting them grow up and move away. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with making sure that they don't grow up and move away-only to come back, break into the chicken coop and murder all the poultry. It's all in one's outlook on things.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ahhhh - so cute! And really good of you to give them a chance to grow up!

 

[CrealCritter]

...and go right out there and eat your chickens.

I thought about that also... I'm going to take my chances. My outside hunting dog takes pretty good care of my chickens. Beside I'm thinking hard about raising up one of the male babies as a pet. My wife and daughter are trying their best to talk me into it, they keep say "their so cute".