➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[PirateGirl]

What parts are not weasel proof. Can you get hardware cloth to cover any holes or gaps?

Oh my goodness yes please.

Thoroughly clean out all bedding and spray coop and birds with permethrin spray. Kiki has a good picture, she could tell you exactly what to get.
Weasel.. not sure. In what way is it not weasel proof?

I will buy this tomorrow for the mites. Any ranch store? Just follow directions on the bottle? How often should I spray things down? What about the run?

@PirateGirl - Do you have pics of your coop? Not sure how big this weasel is that you saw, but they can squeeze through itty bitty spaces.
The ones in our neck of the woods are pretty small but killed one of my drakes a few years back. Squeezed through about a two inch hole that had torn under the buried wire in our temp pen while we built the main run/hoop coop. Dirty bugger only ate his neck.

The one I saw was really small, maybe 6 inches long. Can even the tiny ones kill full grown chickens and ducks?

I'm sure it could get in the run without a problem, all kinds of birds and rodents find their way in. The chicken coop and duck house I think I may just have to cover a few vents better.

On hand my options are plastic hex garden netting/fencing and an old window screen and I can lock everyone up for the night.

When I left to walk the wild dog I left husband in the yard with the pellet gun, the other dog, and the outside cat.

 

[Kiki]

I will buy this tomorrow for the mites. Any ranch store? Just follow directions on the bottle? How often should I spray things down? What about the run?



The one I saw was really small, maybe 6 inches long. Can even the tiny ones kill full grown chickens and ducks?

I'm sure it could get in the run without a problem, all kinds of birds and rodents find their way in. The chicken coop and duck house I think I may just have to cover a few vents better.

On hand my options are plastic hex garden netting/fencing and an old window screen and I can lock everyone up for the night.

When I left to walk the wild dog I left husband in the yard with the pellet gun, the other dog, and the outside cat.

Let me know the exact one you buy and I will help you with the dose.
If you can fine the Martin's ready to use one there is not mixing involved.
This one:

Martin's PERMETHRIN spray

• Kiki
• Mar 22, 2018
• 6
• flies lice mites permethrin

 

[Tesumph]

I’m going to cry.
There was a snake IN the brooder.

 

[Kiki]

I’m going to cry.
There was a snake IN the brooder.

WJATBFN:AOIW!
WHAT!

 

[Kiki]

I’m going to cry.
There was a snake IN the brooder.

GET BACK HERE!


DID you kill the bastard?
Are the babies ok?

 

[Tesumph]

GET BACK HERE!


DID you kill the bastard?
Are the babies ok?

I had to collect myself. I’m shaking. They are all fine.

 

[Kiki]

I had to collect myself. I’m shaking. They are all fine.

How the heck did it get in the hardware cloth?

 

[PirateGirl]

Your snake and my weasel should fight to the death! I hope they both lose!

Ok, I feel I can safely lock the birds in their houses for the night, but scared about daytime. I'm not copping them 24/7. Do weasels hunt in daytime? I really didn't think they lived here! What do they normally eat beside pet chickens?

 

[Tesumph]

Mom and little brother started pounding on our door. The Ginger jumped up and I heard “SNAKE IN THE COOP” and he was gone. I’m not supposed to get up but momma bear adrenaline hit.
Mom was showing brother the babies since I’ve been too sick to go outside. She didn’t even see the snake curled around their feeder, my brother was like “um.. is that snake meant to be in there?”

The Ginger lobbed it’s head off while I frantically counted and recounted and kissed them all and tried not to cry like an idiot. Wrong time of the month for this s**t.
They were all screaming and unsettled so I tucked them under their bear after kisses (I was freaking out, okay) and they relaxed.

There was two SMALL gaps in the hardware cloth on either side of the longest back vent where the roll wasn’t long enough. One was 1x2 inches, the other was about 0.5x4 inches. I was going to stuff a shirt in them next time I went out but I thought NO WAY would a snake find that tiny gap that far off the ground. I feel so damn stupid.
If it didn’t get in there then it would have squeezed through a cloth part much lower down that wasn’t a gap, but wasn’t totally flush against the wall. It would have had to push the wire quite a bit.
We screwed patches over the gaps and tightened the loose bit. I do not see any way a snake could get in now, period. I’m terrified that I’m wrong.

 

[Tesumph]

Your snake and my weasel should fight to the death! I hope they both lose!

Ok, I feel I can safely lock the birds in their houses for the night, but scared about daytime. I'm not copping them 24/7. Do weasels hunt in daytime? I really didn't think they lived here! What do they normally eat beside pet chickens?

I thought they were safe at night too.

Is it weird that my heart is still racing? I was fully prepared to tear a snake in half if it had eaten my babies.
Seriously.