Chicken Coop/Racoon

[A.J.]

Here's a photo of me sitting on the porch of my chicken coop holding a chicken last Fall. Completely normal behavior, I assure you!

I don't completely understand the problem you're presenting, but here's what I did: I built the biggest, strongest and most comfortable coop I could imagine (within my county's building codes). It's basically a 8' x 12' building with a 5' x 12' porch on the South side. It's a pole structure, about 18" off the ground with multiple windows that can be removed and replaced with screens in warmer weather. The interior portion is divided in half. One 6' x 8' section is for the hens and the other 6' x 8' section is a work area for people, storage and monitoring the flock. There's a fenced outdoor run. Everything is secure. I went overboard on the construction.

My solution might now work for you, but it's perfect for me. When the chickens are inside the coop or the outdoor run, not even a bear can get in.

 

[coach]

I have my lawn treated for grubs and it doesn’t seem to hurt the earthworm population. The grubs on the other hand will wreck the grass. My soil is generally hard and clayey so no problem with moles. I remember a house as a kid where the soil was sandy and the moles were all over.

 

[Jeepnik]

My solution might now work for you, but it's perfect for me. When the chickens are inside the coop or the outdoor run, not even a bear can get in.

You do know that now a bear will tear it apart just to prove you wrong. Never temp fate, you will loose.

 

[contender]

"Aaakk! Worms are tireless soil makers that eat dead tree rubbish and enhance soil to the benefit of veg / fruit AND unlike moles make great bait!"

Sorta true.
As posted above,, the worms don't suffer as much as the grubs do. BUT,,,,,, if you treat your lawn & mulch beds,, starting at the edges of your house, working outwards,, away from the house,, to an area that isn't used as a garden area,, you will still have great soil, and prevent your lawn from looking like a war zone or have a spongy walking surface.
I usually tell people to only treat the areas they want to look good & not disturbed. NOT every inch of property etc.
Besides,, it's more of a grub problem than it is worms. And you can study the various treatments to see which type will work the best for your applications.

 

[Star43]

The raccoons just Love grubs.

 

[Mike J]

It is interesting the number of people here that have problems with moles. I very seldom see them or evidence of them here. Maybe the environmental conditions are not as good for them. I did see one recently but the feral cat that has taken up residence here had killed it. The cat seems to be doing a pretty good job of keeping things away from the house.

 

[BSA1]

We live in the country and have horses. We feed the horses grain and it is impossible to avoid spilling a little. Even one grain is a big meal for a mouse. Then we have moles and large field mice.

Our solution is a Jack Russel Terrier and a Miniature Schnauzer. Two winters ago we had a large influx of mice apparently from a drought. I had a contest with the JRT on who was catching the most mice. I quit counting when the score was tied with six each. I used mouse traps and he used his nose.

This winter the problem has been large field mice and a mole. One of my Miniature Schnauzers has been the expert at catching them. He impressed
me with catching a mole. My JRT and another Miniature Schnauzer where digging around the hole caused by a mole. This Miniature Schnauzer tracked the moles tunnel with his hearing for about 15’ and then dug it up. Smart problem solving.

My Mother-in~Law lived in the country in Oklahoma. She was a sweet lady who fed the cars in the area. When we visited we might see one cat. The area was wooded. She kept two large pans on the front porch. She would fill the pans with dry cat food and suddenly cats appeared from everywhere. One time I counted 13. Some were feral, semi-feral, and tame. One had recently had a liter of kittens and was nursing them. She had them all named. My Father-in-Law hated cats but tolerated them for her. I tryed unsuccessfully to convince her to quit feeding the cats.

One day I was talking to Dad on the telephone and asked about the cats. He said they were all gone. I asked how that happened and Mother Nature in the form of a fox took care of it. He said one day he looked outside and saw a fox carrying a dead cat. The fox must of been crafty as the cats disappeared.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

We live in the country and have horses. We feed the horses grain and it is impossible to avoid spilling a little. Even one grain is a big meal for a mouse. Then we have moles and large field mice.

Our solution is a Jack Russel Terrier and a Miniature Schnauzer. Two winters ago we had a large influx of mice apparently from a drought. I had a contest with the JRT on who was catching the most mice. I quit counting when the score was tied with six each. I used mouse traps and he used his nose.

This winter the problem has been large field mice and a mole. One of my Miniature Schnauzers has been the expert at catching them. He impressed
me with catching a mole. My JRT and another Miniature Schnauzer where digging around the hole caused by a mole. This Miniature Schnauzer tracked the moles tunnel with his hearing for about 15’ and then dug it up. Smart problem solving.

My Mother-in~Law lived in the country in Oklahoma. She was a sweet lady who fed the cars in the area. When we visited we might see one cat. The area was wooded. She kept two large pans on the front porch. She would fill the pans with dry cat food and suddenly cats appeared from everywhere. One time I counted 13. Some were feral, semi-feral, and tame. One had recently had a liter of kittens and was nursing them. She had them all named. My Father-in-Law hated cats but tolerated them for her. I tryed unsuccessfully to convince her to quit feeding the cats.

One day I was talking to Dad on the telephone and asked about the cats. He said they were all gone. I asked how that happened and Mother Nature in the form of a fox took care of it. He said one day he looked outside and saw a fox carrying a dead cat. The fox must of been crafty as the cats disappeared.

You went from dealing with moles to dealing with holes....I'll stick with the trap. Although as a bird hunter who trained dogs I love to watch dogs work.

As for the cats...folks around my neck of the woods who feed them like that are the reason why there are so many cats....we have a ton of fox and yotes but they don't mess with the cats. I don't blame them...they look like zombie cats from the walking dead.

 

[Jeepnik]

Growing up we lived just east of a large "field" owned by a dairy. When it would burn, not uncommon in SoCal, the little critters would move down into the houses. My Poodle, all 125#'s of him was an expert at catching everything from little mice to kangaroo rats (though he did learn pretty fast not to bother the skunks). But he was a bit of a sadist. Once he got done playing with them he would either drop them in his water bucket or the pool. Then he'd just watch them swim around until they drowned. There were times we'd find two or three in his water bucket.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

When it would burn, not uncommon in SoCal, the little critters would move down into the houses

When I was stationed in Southern Cal the fires were an incredible thing to witness. I shared a small house in Poway when I first got there. Across the street was a field and hills that went on forever it seemed. One day the hills looked liked they were moving....and the sky was getting dark. All the animals big and small were coming over the hills. There were what looked like leaves or pieces of paper blowing across the road.....we found out pretty quick those were tarantulas darting across. There were lizards, horned toads, tarantulas, and other stuff all over the place for awhile. Another time I was driving up 15 nearing Lake Hodges. The traffic slowed to a crawl. Ash was falling like gigantic snowflakes. It eventually became dark as night. My truck was covered in soot. Those Southern Cal fires are crazy.