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Skunks are indeed a bigger nuisance than coons are (IMO) even though we lost several chickens to coons when we first started raising chickens. Couldn't figure out how they were getting them, since they weren't getting into the fenced in area any way, but there were definate coon tracks all around the outside and asside from a few feathers, we never found a trace of the poor chickens.

Skunks will just tear things up for the heck of it, while the coons are generally just looking for food (although they can get mighty curious about stuff that's not at all food related).

As for the skunks; there are traps that will let you catch them live but don't allow them to lift their tails high enough to spray (they have to lift it to expose the openings to the scent glands and work the muscles that cause it to shoot out). Once you catch them, you could do away with them in a number of ways that would keep them from spraying, or if you wanted a less "drastic" measure, you could drive them way out into the boonies and turn them loose (I put that in for the bunny huggers who might read this).

Coons dining on chickens is a pretty complete meal. The only left-overs I have found was chicken feet. Lot's of chicken feet. We had a coon actually living in the attic to our chicken barn. To live up there that darn thing had to squeeze thru a 3" crack. He was able to do it. I cut a hole in the ceiling with a chainsaw after stapling wire mesh over the crack. I shot him with a 20 guage. I pulled up a drop cord light and there were hundreds of chicken feet strewn about. The previous owners of our farm must have been feeding him well too.

I'll try modifying our have a heart traps so that there is a lower wire top for the skunks. Thanks for the tip. Another poster mentioned moth balls. I tried that but I watched our chickens gobble them up. It didn't kill them but I am sure it's not a good thing. I also tried lime(it's supposed to burn their feet) and it didn't seem to do much good and I had to re-apply it every time it rained.