Chicken update – cute predator alert

This was going to be an update about my chickens.

I was going to tell you all about the Chicken Palace.

I was going to point out how the coop itself has two levels. The girls stay in the upper level (it comes complete with nesting boxes and roosts) at night because it is the most protected part of the compound. And how there is a trap door and gangplank that leads from the upper level to the fenced-in terrace level underneath it.

How the terrace leads to the courtyard, where the girls like to sun themselves.

And how the courtyard opens into the roofed playpen, complete with old dog kennel filled with shavings for dust baths, roost made from an old pipe, and feeding stations where we drop off beetles, grubs, worms, and greens in addition to their regular food.

I was going to tell you about all of these things, but then we found these paw prints in the Forest.


So BH baited a Havaheart trap. Lo and behold…

We found a critter, a young raccoon who had hoped to put chicken on the menu.

Want to see what happens next? Let’s go to the video….

22 Replies to “Chicken update – cute predator alert”

  1. Wow, that raccoon was surprisingly chill in he cage. He seemed tranquil and generally not fazed by the dude who was peering at him.

    My cat turns into a balverine when I put her in her carrier.

    Where are you going to put the raccoon? Do you have a local animal control that will pick him up and relocate him or are you going to do it yourself?

  2. Awww, I could hear him purring when you zoomed in! If he is someone’s pet, I hope you find the owner (and tell that owner to keep him away from the chickens in the future!)

  3. They said they were taking the little guy to Happy Valley to live, and that it was definitely someones pet because he was so chill and purring.

  4. The chickens are all grown up now! Wow!!

    And that was the cutest raccoon I’ve ever seen.

    Your place looks so peaceful. I just want to lie in the grass and take a nap.

  5. Ever ‘coon I have ever caught has pooed him/herself in the cage and slammed themselves around the entire thing in an attempt to get the heck out. Srsly. Tame Racoon is tame yo.

  6. I loved the “explain to him that’s not a euphemism” part. XD Raccoons are adorable, especially the younger ones like that.

  7. We transported him ourselves to a very large game preserve where once out of the cage the little guy took his time into the woods. Very cool experience. BH

  8. What a cute little hamburglar! I wish people could domesticate raccoons and foxes without the inherent risk of them going nutso on their owners eventually…

  9. Awwwww! Scott and the raccoon are so cute together! As is your “explain to him that’s not a eupemism” comment – since, obviously, the raccoon is fluent in English. 😉

  10. Happy Valley

    Okay, now PROMISE there really is a Happy Valley (Not one way up in the sky please!)

  11. a raccoon-themed day

    My friends both had raccoon stories to tell me–and one had pictures of a mama coon with three babies in her yard! So cute!

  12. I like how the raccoon looks back toward the chickens as if to say, “Could I just snack on one of those chickens before we go to Happy Valley?”

    And I love how you commanded your husband to explain to the raccoon. Could he only understand Scot and not you?

  13. There REALLY is a Happy Valley; it’s a state park not far from our house. That’s where Scot took the little guy. I asked Scot to explain this to the critter because the two of them formed an immediate, special bond.

  14. This…was wonderful. The chickens are quite beautiful, their chicken palace seems totally cool, and then BOOM! Cute raccoon. TOO MUCH CUTE. I’m glad he’s going to an *actual* happy valley.

  15. Happy Valley-a real place!

    I taught in the school district where Happy Valley is located. It’s quite an area…………..

  16. FYI for future havaheart experiences, at least in Massachusetts it’s illegal to transport wild animals in your car. My family found this out one summer when we caught a woodchuck, possum, raccoon and then skunk in sequence (my mother grows a tasty garden, it seems). The first three were transported to the back of a nearby middle school, but with the skunk, we figured it was above our pay-grade (although he was very, very cute), and called Animal Control. They told us if we caught it, it was our problem, and, by the way, if we were thinking about moving him to someone else’s property, it was a $500 fine. Yikes! So my dad geared up in a raincoat and old pants, and jimmied the trap open with a ski pole from as far away as he could manage.

    Dunno what New York’s laws are like, but in summary: Don’t let the fuzz catch you on your way to Happy Valley! 🙂

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