Raccoons and possums love my (small, backyard, 4-stall) barn.
However, I don’t love having them there because of the dirt, disease, and threat to my horses’ health and chickens’ lives.
I keep all feeds in containers.
I’ve tried a live trap.
Nothing works.
HALP!!!
Use everything has been my ticket. Bait, traps, poison, barn cats and my JRT 
I have had luck with these around my barn http://www.jefferspet.com/products/nite-guard-solar
My small backyard barn is (for New England) in some pretty deep woods 800’ from my house. We have a ton of wildlife, and roaming dogs, and one of my horses is a mini. Basically, I’ve lined everything with 2x4 welded wire fence that is either 4’ or 5’ high.
The horses have 24/7 turnout into a 60’ round pen made of 5’ x 12’ pipe panels – I lined that with the wire, including the gate, right down to the ground. I put a pipe gate across the sliding door entry to my barn, and lined that with wire, too, and that is shut whenever I’m not at the barn. Airflow is unimpeded, but critters can’t get in without climbing 5’, and so far, no one has bothered. My feed is in metal trash cans with tight lids, and all the supplements are in their packaging inside plastic tubs. My Shelter Logic shed that holds hay has rubber mats on the bottom and yep, it’s lined with wire. If critters get in, I’m going to redo it all with smaller mesh!!
Chickens are pest magnets – not sure what to tell you there. Critters like to eat them, their eggs, and their food supply . . . I’m sure someone will have better advice about that. Good luck.
OP you have a PM
If you can’t catch them…a small light and an all night radio "repel’!!
Nothing works better than a good dog. Our aged Golden was a opossum catching marvel. It was the only thing that moved slow enough. Don’t feed cats or dogs outside or in the barn .
Sometime the worst offenders in this department are the horses themselves. They are messy eaters, getting distracted and dropping grain on the ground. Chicken could help with this but then create another set of problems.
Have you tried canned cat food in your trap? We have a horrible raccoon problem…or rather we HAD a bad problem. We use canned and dry cat food in the trap and it works well. The raccoons we catch are adults, big and mean.
Im not into killing animals. So my husband loads the trap with the raccoon in it, into the back of the truck and drives out into the mountains where no one lives. And then he releases them. None have come back! We hvae caught six raccoons this week. Must be the time of yr. They ARE nasty!
I’ve always had the best luck with cats for the mice/rats and one or two good dogs for the larger pests. Live traps, etc., haven’t worked very well for me. I suspect a lot of the critters aren’t easily fooled. Terriers of all types are aggressive and territorial and will usually keep opossums, raccoons, etc. run off. I doubt my dogs ever killed a lot of animals but they were good at keeping them away.
that stupid animal ate the rest of my pullets today – I went out around 10:00 PM to put them away (safe in a dog cage) and he had already gotten to them. 8 birds gone in 24 hours. I’m so upset 
[QUOTE=crosscreeksh;8187681]
If you can’t catch them…a small light and an all night radio "repel’!![/QUOTE]
:no:
Not at my place.
I have a nightlight in the barn & have tried the radio, but still walked in on coons, possums & skunks.
My feed is in galvanized cans with tight-fitting lids & no cat food left out after dark.
OP:
Sorry about your chickens.
Is there anywhere you can relocate them that is more pestproof than a cage?
Coons will reach right through the bars & rip off any part they can get hold of.
If you have a spare stall you could reinforce any openings with hardware cloth.
You have to roof it too - more hardware cloth - or a determined predator will just scale the walls.
Sorry you lost your chickens.
10 pm is sorta late to be putting them to bed.
Sounds like you need better housing for them.
Chickens are tasty for every animal.
Who’s at fault that your chickens got eaten? Most wildlife problems are caused by poor human management.
I know because I’ve committed almost every sin regarding my chickens.
You live, you learn. But don’t be blaming the wildlife who finds your chickens to be sitting ducks.
I don’t know about outside, but I got rid of my racoons who lived in the upper hay loft by spreading a lot of moth balls in the loft. Haven’t had a racoon up there for several years now.
I had great luck with marshmallows as bait in the live trap. Cats didn’t go in to eat the food and get caught. Our live trap is covered on the outside with hardcloth wire wired on, so coons can’t reach out and do other damage. Before that hardcloth wire addition, one we caught just tore the feed room apart grabbing things and throwing them around. Even metal grain cans!!
We kill whatever gets caught in the traps, otherwise you are just moving problems to someone else’s place! Could also be spreading disease if animal is a carrier. I do NOT appreciate someone dumping their problem animals around here, so I don’t do that to others. There are PLENTY of animals living around here in their own territories, don’t need new ones. And the ones who don’t come in the barn do fine, not a problem to me. Luckily there is usually only 1-2 animals in a year to deal with. Some years there are none, even better!
My friend dumped what she caught in her live trap, and they were back in short order. I couldn’t believe how MANY she was catching and asked her if they were returnees. She was sure they were not, but then put some paint on the tails before release. Sure enough, even going 10 miles to dump them, they ALL came back. So no more Mrs. Nice Person, she killed them and still does when she catches one causing problems. Her birds are a terrible attraction to varmints of all sorts. Even worse since she lost her big dog and hasn’t gotten another one.
I will do what it takes to get varmints removed on the first try. They learn and are usually harder to catch a second time. I don’t do poison, but catching and permanent removal has done the job for us.
I close up the barn at night, horses are outside in summer, too cold to leave doors open in winter, which seems to help some. Cat food out is only enough for them to clean it up while I do chores. Not a temptation coming inside. Varmints are not tolerated in the barns. They have caused damage, carry diseases, killed my cats, so they are not welcome at all. Plenty of nice outside habitat for them to manage and find food in.
I don’t have domestic birds, so no temptation there for them.
Yikes
Yes I get it that they are varmints. However we are fortunate to live in a rural area and about five miles from us, us is open mountainous land. My husband is a hiker and a runner in the mountains. So he drives the raccoons in their traps up to the top of the mountains where nobody lives and its all open land for miles and miles. He does his training runs up there so is familiar with the area. . We caught six raccoons in the past couple of months and have not had any return nor have any . more visited our barn since then. We arent sending an issue to someone else as literally no one lives up there
[QUOTE=leaf;8189162]
Sorry you lost your chickens.
10 pm is sorta late to be putting them to bed.
Sounds like you need better housing for them.
Chickens are tasty for every animal.
Who’s at fault that your chickens got eaten? Most wildlife problems are caused by poor human management.
I know because I’ve committed almost every sin regarding my chickens.
You live, you learn. But don’t be blaming the wildlife who finds your chickens to be sitting ducks.[/QUOTE]
I did the same thing. I had never had a pest issue and one night it was so hot I left a small door open for ventilation. Next morning 6 chickens dead. Never again. I lock them up well before sunset, no matter what the temp.
I’ve caught 2 raccoons and zero barn cats by using a jelly sandwich as bait!
I use Twinkies for bait and catch raccoons, possums, woodchucks and skunks. They love the sweets!
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