Something attacked our ducks and geese

[aart]

All traps empty again this morning and food gone, even my guilotine trap. It also went after my turkeys last night, my 5 year old tom's leg was hurt this morning. Can't be anything big because my turkeys are in a closed in closure with 2x4" wire from side-wall to ceiling. Will set up a dozen more traps tonight, this is crazy.

Geese and ducks are okay, but my goose lost her eye for sure.

What kind of traps are you using?
I'd suggest a rat snap trap, set with bait end against a wall.

 

[Iziayia]

I have two live traps, one raccoon sized trap and a smaller one, but apparently our dog destroyed our original traps (which we were able to catch squirles with) and the ones I'm using now are my neighbours but I guess he's never caught anything with them either my father just told me. We will mess around with the release and make it really sensitive. The other trap I have is a guilotine trap that clamps the animal in jaws after pulling on the bait. We have a dozen more traps we had set up for chipmunks at the grain elevator so I'll set those up in the barn also.

At least whatever it is might get too trusting of these malfunctioning traps and get less cautious and we may get it this time.

 

[neetabeamie]

did you ever catch the predator?

 

[Iziayia]

No it's still out there. We set up big rat snap traps a few days ago and one went off and after that it was missing in action for a while so we hoped it had a big injury and died. But of course this morning it was back and the traps failed. Most of the traps were all frozen with condensed water (was humid a bit) and so they were unfunctional and didn't work. This has to be be luckiest little weasel ever (I found prints of a weasel around the barn). So we will reset again tonight and hopefully nothing will malfunction and it will be caught.

 

[Howard E]

If this continues, two possible options. I notice Hav-a-hart has a much smaller live trap for smaller animals like rats and weasels. Our farm store sells them as a set, with the smaller trap inside the larger standard sized one.

Or, now that you know it is a weasel, and you have weasels in your neighborhood (if you have one, you will have more), then build yourself a weasel box trap, and place the rat trap in it. Google "weasel box trap" for plans and ideas. Tons of stuff on youtube as well.

My understanding is the weasel box trap is more effective than the rat trap alone.

 

[Iziayia]

Our local stores do have traps but their are all bull-crap quality and like 2" gaps where the door is any criter you catch could easily escape. We retro-fitted the larger live trap with a super sensitive trigger and it should work.

The rat traps we set were actually box traps, but he probably only got a foot on or idk what this Houdini managed to escape twice. I set it up my way now, so we'll see how it goes over night. Supposed to be warm so should be active.

I think my dad accidentally brought the weasel to the farm. Apparently before he moved the excavator home from a field pretty far away he saw something white come out and look, then turned around and went to hide under the boom. My guess is it aborted the thing after we unloaded it in the field few hundred feet from our barn and set up camp here.

 

[ChickenKABOOM]

Ferret, foxes usually small animals that can sneak through small spaces in wire. If you live in North America, unlike myself, you could be getting plagued my raccoons.
Seal up the top and bottom of your coop! Depending on your sera puts, the predators could be burrowing in from underneath.

 

[Iziayia]

The bugger didn't show up last night. Frustrating.

This is the set up we have. Nothing can dig-in because they are on concrete. It couldn't be a raccoon because, well, if it got in definitely wouldn't have been able to get out. Certainly not a fox. The chickens are currently elsewhere and the ducks are right now in where the chickens are in the pics.

When they were attacked first they had a screen door like shown but we moved them to a box with a normal stable door.

 

[Howard E]

What are you using as bait in the weasel traps?

Ideally they like something alive and still quivering. That isn't easy to bait a trap with. What I can recall some using was fresh chicken liver.

 

[Iziayia]

We were using raw hamburger meat and eggs. Worked fairly well. We caught it this morning!