So last night quite the event unfolded. But quick background first: about a month ago something got in and killed 2 geese and roughly 10 young chickens. I had thought it was a skunk, because I could always smell it. Every night after that, there were scratch marks and holes dug all over both hen houses. On my older hens house, there is an actual hole where it looks like it lives (under my hen house). Any who, I've had a live trap there with cat food and milk in it every night since and had never caught anything. The scratching all around the coop stopped and I hadn't lost another bird.
Well last night I got home late, (a whole hour later than I normally shut the chickens) and sure enough there's a dead hen in the yard near the hen house. So I ran into the coops to make sure everyone else was alright, didn't see any other signs of struggle or anyone else missing...so I get both coops closed up and go back to the corpse. Which is now "butting" up against the chicken coop, something's trying to pull it under it!
I timidly pull the hen back a way's from the coop and out pops the biggest weasel head I have ever seen, and grabs it back and starts trying to tug it back under. So I fly down to the house to get the .22, no bullets!
So I run back up there and grab the only thing I could see on hand in the dark. A spade. I repeat the process, pull the hen away from the coop and sure enough it immediately popped out to grab it back.
I lunged down with the spade and managed to pin it's head down, but like I said this thing is huge! I kind of lost my balance as it started tugging back and the spade butted up against the coop. I still had him by the head, so I jammed down on the shovel with my foot. I didn't quite get as much force onto it as needed though, with the wall right there, and he slipped out. He kind of arched his neck and twisted a little and before I really could register that I didn't make a fatal blow, he pulled back under the coop.
Assuming that that would have had to kill him, I went inside. It was pitch black, not much else I could do, so I just left the hen there. ( a distance away from the coop )......this morning it was butted back up against the coop in the same spot. Mission: failure.
The hen that he got, was of course, the most tragic one to get....typical. She was my broody hen that has four chicks, she keeps them in a pet carrier that I set outside the coop during the day. At night she puts her babies and herself in there, and I move it into the coop.
I did find all four babies, scattered around the yard. Mortified. I didn't know what else to do with them, so I hastily put them under another brooder that's hatching golf balls. She didn't fuss, and this morning there heads were poking out from under her and she growled at me...so i'm hoping she takes them.
But now for the big problem, what to do with that SOB! It's too much to hope for that I will ever get a chance like that again (not that I honestly want one either). Any other recommendations on traps? Or anything else?
Still just floored on how big that thing was, I had always thought weasels were kind of small but this things head was a big smaller than my fist!
Well last night I got home late, (a whole hour later than I normally shut the chickens) and sure enough there's a dead hen in the yard near the hen house. So I ran into the coops to make sure everyone else was alright, didn't see any other signs of struggle or anyone else missing...so I get both coops closed up and go back to the corpse. Which is now "butting" up against the chicken coop, something's trying to pull it under it!
I timidly pull the hen back a way's from the coop and out pops the biggest weasel head I have ever seen, and grabs it back and starts trying to tug it back under. So I fly down to the house to get the .22, no bullets!
I lunged down with the spade and managed to pin it's head down, but like I said this thing is huge! I kind of lost my balance as it started tugging back and the spade butted up against the coop. I still had him by the head, so I jammed down on the shovel with my foot. I didn't quite get as much force onto it as needed though, with the wall right there, and he slipped out. He kind of arched his neck and twisted a little and before I really could register that I didn't make a fatal blow, he pulled back under the coop.
Assuming that that would have had to kill him, I went inside. It was pitch black, not much else I could do, so I just left the hen there. ( a distance away from the coop )......this morning it was butted back up against the coop in the same spot. Mission: failure.
The hen that he got, was of course, the most tragic one to get....typical. She was my broody hen that has four chicks, she keeps them in a pet carrier that I set outside the coop during the day. At night she puts her babies and herself in there, and I move it into the coop.
But now for the big problem, what to do with that SOB! It's too much to hope for that I will ever get a chance like that again (not that I honestly want one either). Any other recommendations on traps? Or anything else?
Still just floored on how big that thing was, I had always thought weasels were kind of small but this things head was a big smaller than my fist!
) Nasty thing! He also bit at the barrel so the trigger was squeezed. The guy that comes around and picks up hides traded me a pair of gloves for him. apparently they aren't worth much anymore. (mink farms & people not wearing fur have taken the price down) He said it was one of the biggest males he had seen in 50 years of trapping.
