deterring raccoons with coyote urine

[pdxchucks]

I am now completely paranoid about shutting my back yard chickens down at night after a terrible massacre where I lost one to a raccoon. I now find that I have a raccoon visitor to my free range chicken yard during the day!!! Thankfully my husband was on hand to hear the stress clucks of my girls before the raccoon got to them but now what to do!! The girls love to scratch peacefully around the fenced yard all day and for 5 years we have not had an issue. I did some research and found coyote urine repels raccoons. The Predator Pee store sells liquid coyote urine and I bought some to try. My yard where the chickens have access is only about 300 sq ft in area so not a huge area to protect. Has anyone had success using coyote urine to repel raccoons in an urban area?
Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[IamRainey]

Nothing short of mechanical barriers is going to stop a raccoon for very long. Coyote urine might stop them for a night or two but I doubt it would take them much longer to catch on. They're very intelligent, very agile, very relentless. And if they've had success once, they'll be back looking for more!

Dig your hardware cloth in 18". Put a load of stone -- not gravel, heavy softball-sized stones -- or heavy concrete pavers in a 12" apron 360˚ around your enclosure. Put carabiner clips on all your latches -- doors to the run, coop & nesting boxes and also to your feed storage. Check for any holes or rips or voids in your construction and barriers and make sure they're securely repaired.

You might also make sure there's no other food source to draw them: veggie patch, fruit trees, pet food stored outside, trash cans they can open.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

Coyote urine will attract coyotes into urban areas as well. I use it to trap males out here in the country and I get about 1-2 coyotes trapped a week.