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egglicious

lets talk about raccoons

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There was a feature recently - people are importing raccoons and other non-native species as 'exotic' pets - and there is some concern that raccoons will become another 'mink' situation, where they escape into the wild, breed, and then prey on small animals that our natural species would normally prey on :(

 

 

All I could think was 'I want a baby raccoon!' :anxious:

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We left the back off of the !gogreen! to help break Zoe of her broodiness last Sunday. I got so busy with housework that I totally forgot about it and closed up the run that evening, but forgot about the back door! I didn't realize it until the next evening when I got home from work and went to check on them! Funny thing was they were both standing at the run door acting like they wanted to be let out, silly hens! Fortunately, there still seem to be no raccoons in our neighborhood and Zoe definitely isn't broody anymore! :lol:

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Raccoons are nothing to sneeze at. We lost 2 of our girls 2 weeks ago, so we penned everyone else up. Then last week, another coon got in and killed all 5 of the remaining girls. It was a complete blood-bath :( We are completely devistated and are now going to cull the raccoon population around our house and build an over-engineered walk-in run to place our Cube (hardward cloth, burried sides, tile shards buried around perimeter, heavy-duty roof, etc). Learn by my loss; secure your precious girls if you are in raccoon prone areas! I've had a number of friends in my city that have also lost chooks this past month :evil:

 

Yikes - I spoke too soon - I think the raccoons are trying to get into my WIR - can you take a look at this thread and tell me if you think a raccoon is the perpetrator?

 

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=83794

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Hi, just ordered my eglu cube last week and have some questions about racoons. We have a large racoon population and I am wondering if the cube closed for the evening will keep the girls safe? Racoons are nocturnal so daytime when the girls are out are not a p oblem (at least for racoons, but we do have a hawk that targets hens in the area). My concern is do I need to place added security keep the critters from getting in?

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I've had my !gored! for 18months now and it's kept the girls safe from all the critters (raccoons, possums, foxes, coyotes, squirrels, fisher cats) - you should be good as long as you remember to lock them in. Most attacks have been related to catches not being fully latched or the port door not being fully closed.

 

enjoy your new chickens - they're soooooo much fun!

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Thanks so much for the reply! This is my first time raising chickens, something I've wanted to do for years now....I guess I'm just a little nervous about screwing up. I have a barn where we used to have horses that is not in use anymore, thought about putting the eglu in one of the stalls for added warmth...although I have to say it's been the mildest winter here in years...but it's not over yet.

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