but, but...if coons can pull doors off hinges, are locks failsafe?

[haTHOR]

i keep haranguing my husband to get our new coop completely coon proof (we trapped and relocated about 10 last summer, and lost two inexpensive chickens when we didn't get them put up at dusk like we should have). now we have pricey javas and other stuff and i'm PARANOID. so you guys have convinced me that a coon MIGHT be able to unscrew a carabiner, and i'm going to insist that we put locks on. i've been telling dh horror stories about the coon's superhuman strength and curiousity and intelligence. so now he's thinking the coons are going to pull the doors off their hinges and no locks are going to help. i thinki i may have put a little too much persuasion into my anti-coon diatribe....


seriously, can a coon pry a door off hinges? if so...how does one prevent that? (pics would be great).

 

[RockyPhoenix]

put the door so that the hinges are on the inside of the coop....yes the door will open inwards but it works! never had anything break into my coop! well one night i left the door open thts inside the run and a barn owl got in there and killed one of my silkies but now the door is shut and latched EVERY night! HOPE THIS HELPS!

 

[Rooster#3]

i dont know about the door thing but i know a guy that caught a coon in a havahart trop and the coon ripped it apart and escaped

 

[panner123]

Yos stated you relocated about 10 coons last year. I say, if you had sent the 10 to meet their maker , that would be 10 less you have to worry about this year. Any door a coon can get it's claws in, it can open.

 

[danielbrown]

Quote:
They get trap smart too.

 

[deerman]

Yes they can even pull wire off the boards.


Don't relocate, here in Ohio you can do one of two thing , release them on ur place or kill them.... Illegal big time to relocate....

 

[deerman]

People who relocate, just send their trouble to someone else..........

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=310564

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

year before last I trapped several raccoons in my hav a heart trap and not one of them got out of it...I have never heard of one ripping a door off it's hinges, unless the coop is falling apart anyways. If this is the case, I don't know what would keep them out of anywhere they wanted to go.

 

[mdbokc]

Electric fence...lots of juice.

 

[Olive Hill]

Last year the coons were especially bad here -- probably will be this year too

-- and we got to the point that we were bolting the door shut every night. Literally we'd go out with a cordless drill and bolt the door shut just before dusk. That worked. For a couple weeks. And then they ripped the bolts right out of the side of the coop (that was in no way "falling apart") and had a dinner of my turkey poults and guinea keets that were inside. They are a lot stronger than you'd think. Best you can do is make sure they can't get a claw or two behind the door to pull on it. Either make it inset or so that it opens inward... or both.

Locks should be high enough that they can't easily fidget with them or should require higher thinking capabilities (e.g. paddlock)

Even then, there are no guarantees. How determined they are to get at your poultry is largely a function of how big their population is and how convenient the chickens are in comparison with other food sources.

Whatever you decide, this year when you trap them shoot them. There's no reason for relocation. Raccoons are not anywhere near being endangered and .22 shells are cheap.