***On the farm I had a coon find a way into the coop, killed about 7, ate one right down to the skeleton.***
Several years ago I noticed a large amount of feathers and blood in my hen yard when I went out to open the pen up.
I could find no way anything could have gotten in the house to kill a chicken, and the hens were not spooked at all.
Next morning I noticed fresh guts in the yard and a close inspection found no way a coon could get into the hut, and the hens were still not spooked.
Then I looked closely inside the house and saw lots of blood in one area.
There was a 1 1/2 inch gap between the roof and the wall for air circulation. A close inspection of the outside of the hen hut in that area showed lots of scratches in the wood. I then figured it out.
The coon had learned to jump up the side of the hut, reach through the 1 1/2 space, grab what he could and pull the chicken through the opening. The other hens inside did not even notice one of their own was gone.
I have since closed up those air openings.
They’re really smart. We used to have one that would get on our roof, get in the attic, open the slats of the ceiling fan, hang there till his fingers got tired, plop on carpet, hit kitchen...eggs...peanut butter...milk...total destruction. My Dad shot him in the garage with a 12 gauge. I was only a kid at the time I kinda felt bad for the little guy. He was just so smart and bold.
They sure are smart.....Another time when I went out to the garden, some creature had pulled down the ear of corn without breaking it off the corn stalk....It ate only 1/2 of each ear..had pulled back the corn covering only about 1/2 way....When I talked to my neighbor about it he said thats an old coon trick...with the type of paws coons have they can pull back only that far, not strong enough to totally shuck the ear and cannot pull it off the stalk...it had its full tummy after about 7 stalks of corn. Glad that nasty critter left us some corn......:O)