Years ago when I lived on the coast I had a few hens. The raccoon population in the small coastal towns is likely larger than in the surrounding forest due to folks leaving pet food and unsecured trash outside. Bears are a issue as well ..but anyways, I had constructed a fairly coon proof coop and hen area for the night hours and for years I didn't have any issues.
Untill I had what was likely some storm damage and wear in two areas that wasn't obvious unless something manually fiddled around with the material.
You can bet it didn't take long for the local raccoons that were already in the hood to hone in on the containment breach. At first I didn't notice that there were two bad spots. I lost a hen one night, found one problem area, fixed it and the next night I lost another hen.
Dang!
The second bad area wasn't clear to me, I couldn't figure out where they had entered until luckily the next night, I just happened to catch them about to take out my last hens ..I call the dog, run out with my bat, and watch how they escaped. one went for the area I already fixed and got stuck inside the coop , the other two escaped through the hole that opened up just big enough for them and over the fence they flew with my dog in chase. The one in the coop I batted a few times, the dog finally noticed we still had a live one. As I was chasing it around inside the coop area, the door to the outside banged open and out runs the coon.
My dog is just about 10 feet outside the gate by now, coon runs out the gate door, dog stops because I'm running outside the gate behind coonie swingin Wilson, coon stops about 3 feet from dog and I stop to secure gate door thinking my large rat killing pitty will take care of business...but instead I turn around and all 3 of us have this standoff..coon looks at crazy haired jammie clad woman with yellow bat in hand, dog looks at me like..Am I in trouble?? get the coonie?? The days of his early beatings by the dirtbags who used to own him perhaps gave him doggie flashbacks and he stalls, coonie is alternating his glances between me and the dog like..dang..crazy woman..big pit bull, crazy woman..big pitt bull..
Who will move first..I hear the tune in the western show with clint eastwood chewing on his cigar, black dirty cowboy hat, brim barely keeping the sun outta his eyes and his opponents fingers start getting twitchy around the holstered gun, whah whah whahhh...
Finally, coonie makes a run for the fence, I tell Hooch, "Get Him Hooch!", and Hooch lunges at the coon. Then Coonie turns on the crazy and jumps on my dogs back and they both roll and and are sputtering about. I thinking ..Oh _hit! Now I'm witnessing my 85 pound beast get clobbered by a 30 pound raccoon..lol dang...He isn't much of a fighter as I recall my 8 pound cat kicking his _SS. So as soon as I start in for another round with my trusty yellow Wilson, Coonie jumps off my dog, and in a few leaps is up and over the fence in a matter of seconds. I glace at the dog as he gets up, legs splayed out a bit for balance as he is looking around dramatically left and right like WT_ just happened??
I think of those dumb boxer dog videos you see on youtube, dogs all muffled up with cute confused looks on their funny faces..Gotta add a dumb pitt bull vid to those..I love my boy regardless..
luckily, I never had any more issues with the coastal coons on my hens. And so far, no issues out here with them.
