A ferret killed our chickens!!

[frankntine]

I can't believe it but we caught a ferret in our trap. Over the past few weeks our chickens have been getting killed and we just couldn't understand what could have been killing them. Our coop is what we thought to be quite predator proof with double wire all along the run outside etc. and the coop itself to be tight but when we FINALLY caught the culprit it made sense. Someone must have let the ferret loose and it obliterated our flock. It must have been able to sneak in through the extremely small openings and into the coop.

Never would we have thought that was the predator with all the fox, racoons, opossums, and even bear that I know are around.

Unbelievable

Christine

 

[Harley's girl]

Gosh I am so sorry. Sure glad you caught it.

 

[Mahonri]

Well, I'm sure sorry about your chickens. Hopefully the feret has ceased to exist and you can start over.

 

[frankntine]

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes the ferret is no longer living and I can't say I am at all upset about that!!!

 

[silentrunning]

This is what happens when idiots own pets. They get tired of them and release them into the wild. Here in Florida we have lizards eating all the native Chameleons so now they are almost extinct. We have giant frogs that eat all the other native frogs and Boa snakes that eat everything. If someone doesn't want a pet anymore they should take it to a vet and have it put down not release it into the wild. Oh yeah - I forgot to mention what the Oscar fish from aquariums are doing to our lakes.

Doug

 

[Yoshii]

Wow, that's crazy for a number of reasons! First, are you positive it was a ferret, and not some other of the mustelid family? In America at least, the only indigenous species of ferret is the VERY endangered black-footed ferret, which I severely doubt it was. Domestic ferrets kept as pets simply cannot survive in the wild. They have no fear response and a very low prey drive, leading to them being easy pickings for other animals. Escaped pet ferrets rarely last more than three days in the wild.

Are you sure it wasn't a weasel , mink, fisher, marten, or a stoat (aka ermine) ? I only ask because it's really rare for a ferret to survive outdoors, much less for most American ferrets to have ANYTHING resembling a prey drive (also I love mustelids, as I'm sure it evident, eheh).

Also, if you happen to still have the critter's body around, can you see if it has one or two small dots on the base of one of its earlobes?

So sorry to hear about the terror on your flock, though, whatever sort of weasel it was! *hug*.

 

[frankntine]

You are right...upon further research we think it was a mink or maybe a weasel. I didn't even realize minks and weasels were indeginous to this area. It just looked like a ferret at first but then we realized it didn't really have the markings for a ferret. It was chocolate brown with just a little white under its chin.

Whatever it was we are glad its gone. Hopefully they won't be anymore.

Thanks for the info

Christine

 

[FaereChicken]

What area are you in?

 

[frankntine]

We live in Orange County New York. I never heard of weasels or minks etc. in the area but after looking them up on the computer they do live in this area. Crazy.

 

[Chirpy]

We'd lived here for six years and I would have said that we didn't have weasels here but my great hunter barn cat brought us a baby weasel one day. So, I made sure our chicken coop is weasel proof now as well as larger predator proof.

Glad you got the culprit... if there's one there's likely more than one.