All of my ducks were killed last night!

[maralynn28]

So sorry to hear about your ducks....

but glad to see you are going after the varmint! Good luck, I hope you are able to get this thing taken care of quickly and as easily as possible.

 

[dumb_cluck]

Well, it's been a good 3 weeks and I "thought" that I would starve him out. BUT, just found a hole in the ceiling (yes, the ceiling) where the little bugger has eaten a hole in the insulation by climbing up some wooden pieces I had stored up against the wall!

Damn!

Good thing I am holding back on relocating the chickens!

I calle the local trapper people and so far none have "volunteered" (without pay) to come and get him. If he keeps up this kind of damage........darn!

 

[Wokawidget]

Hi,

Sorry about your ducks

I understand people wanting to humanely trap, relocate and release predators back into the wild...I would, in the past, do the same.
However...if something had just taken out my little critters that I hand reared, whether it be rats, mink, dog or human I would be sat up all night with a loaded air rifle, while muttering obsenities under my breath.
You can get cheap air rifles than can be used for vermin control and hunting, they can seriously pack a punch while being 100% legal.

Where I grew up, not to far from here...farmers used to shoot mink, weasels, stoat etc and then string them up on fences around the property to try and ward off other predators.
Not sure how effective it was, but they still do it now.
Although if you live in suburbia then this proabbly isn't the best thing to do if you want to get on with the people living around you

I read somewhere that a trick to catch foxes here in the Uk is to do the following:

1) Buy a cheap clock that uses a battery and has hands, not digital
2) remove the battery cover and tie/glue some string to the battery
3) Tie the other end of the string to some lovely meat
4) Secure clock to a tree

Foxes usually strike the same areas at the same time each night...they almost of a routine patrol route set out.
When the fox find the meat it tugs on it and the battery pulls out of the clock.
The clock has now stopped. You can check the time of the clock as this now shows when Mr Fox ate the meat.

Do this for a few nights running.
On the 4th night mr Fox turns up on the dot of dinner, only to find you waiting in ambush.

I am not sure if this applied to other critters other than foxes.


Woka

 

[duckluck]

Quote:
Or a mink...raccoons would usually eat at least something, but minks like to kill and just leave.

 

[dumb_cluck]

I finally got a trapper to come out and look at the situation. He quickly went around to every spot that I was going to point out. While I was telling him what I saw on the camera, he was telling me of some digging and clawing around the back sliding door.

I asked him what he could do and he replied "just keep plugging any holes you find and I will get back to you". ????

I know the guy knows his stuff because I found out that our next door neighbor lets him trap coyotes on his property. I did tell him he was welcome to trap on our 2 acres that border our "farmette". He said thanks........

So, I am hoping that he will find the run(s) and place traps to get the little B@@$$rd. I know it is open season on mink and weasels now in NY, so he can potentially make some money without me having to pay him.

Cross you fingers!

PS: meanwhile my speckled sussex are still camping out in our basement....

 

[dinahmoe]

so did you catch the killer yet?i sure hope so

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I had a similar situation but over a week I lost 8 chickens in what I thought was a predator proof coop. Come to find out that a raccoon was getting into a 2x2 hole and killing them. Once we got the varmint the attacks stopped but we also plugged every teeny little hole. In 2 years we haven't had anything else get in but then again, we also now have a LGD.

 

[cat1994]

Quote:
Im so sorry!

I don't think it was a rat, they mostly go after lil ones, coons can fit in very small gaps so don't rule out coons yet. Good luck!!

 

[animalpro24]

I am so sorry. Hope the chickens are safe and you can stop the animal who did this.

 

[agregg15]

I would set a have-a-heart trap just to see what the little bugger is and then you can dispose of him and (insert name of predator here) proof your garage. I'm so sorry about what happened.