Back to back hen deaths in 24 hours

[RenegadeJane]

I appreciate the help so i'll do my best to explain our set up. It's hard to get a good contextual photo of the whole thing, so I'm including some old photos from the construction along with a diagram.

We built the coop into the back of one of our barn's lean-tos. It's about 10x12 ft. We really just added the one wall with the door and nesting boxes. We tried to line the perimeter with stone when we filled it back in, (there is also a bunch of loose stone around the barn foundation) but this appears to have not quite done the job with the weasels. Up top there is an opening into the barn loft, and another opening between the rafters for ventilation. We put poultry netting over these openings from the beginning.

Since it's a pole barn construction. On the outer wall, there are some gaps where our framed wall meets the cross braces that support the siding. We've never had a racoon or anything get through there, but its definitely an area we'd now have to hardware cloth over.

we built the run last year after a bobcat got to half our flock and free ranging became less of an option. It's covered in 2x3" welded wire. It continues about 2 feet out along the ground where we buried it. We knew weasels were the only thing that could get through there, but we have such a healthy mouse population I didn't think it'd ever be an issue for us. Making the run weasel proof is probably out of the question since it's so huge. The coop might be more manageable, but it's also quite big and I shudder to think how much hardware cloth it'll take to make it bullet proof. . . .

In the meantime, I set up a temporary spot in the basement and have moved our remaining flock in while we set the live traps tonight.

I guess my question is, do we need to worry as much about the high spots being covered? I assume a weasel can climb as well as the best of them, but I guess I just don't know how tenacious they are in doing so.

Appreciate any feedback!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I appreciate the help so i'll do my best to explain our set up....

It looks like a nice setup, and it's similar to my own. I don't have weasels around my coop (occasionally the tax man comes around but he doesn't bother the chickens)... but if one shows up I'll have to ask you to move over and make room for me, because I'll be in the same boat as you.

With that in mind, I'm a bit hesitant to offer too much in the way of suggestions, as this site has far too much "feigned knowledge" based on something folks have read about but not done, being passed along on a number of topics, and I'm very reluctant to contribute to that....

...but I'll give you my thoughts on what I think I'd do if and when a weasel moves in around here, and maybe those with more actual experience can advise us both.

Firstly, I'd set whatever traps I had ready... I have several traps of many kinds, including some small cage style traps which you might have also... so maybe just a couple of those set with some bloody meat...

And then I'd set up a trail camera to confirm with a picture what was actually doing the killing.... sometimes it's not what we guess, other times there are multiple critters coming around, other times it's multiple types of critters, etc. Often when we set out bait it can draw in a possum or a raccoon, etc... but we don't want to get confused to think that is the only thing around just because it showed up first....

If you don't have a camera you might be able to clear the area around the baited trap and sweep out the dust to create a track bed... in order to study the tracks to see what is coming in.... sometimes this is useful... my shed/barn has a nice dry floor, so I do this from time to time... here most recently to confirm that a pack rat had moved in....

So those would be the first, most immediate steps... but then assuming a weasel was confirmed on camera, etc. Then maybe I'd build several (6 or so) weasel boxes and arm them with with snap type rat traps and set them out and keep them freshly baited with a bit of bloody meat until the culprit was caught...

Then I'd keep them all baited for another week or so just in case another was around or moved in.... and then I'd likely be a bit paranoid and keep a couple traps set for several more weeks using a purchased "weasel lure" in the traps... you can google that and find some options on trapping supply sites....

Here, I have quite the population of chipmunks, that I like having around, so I'd likely have to come up with a way to cover the traps to prevent catching them... although I would think if a weasel moved in the chipmunk population would take a hit first... so maybe that's a moot point... but thinking about incidental catches is prudent when using snap type kill traps.

Once the problem was taken care of, I'd do a roll call and see how many chickens and chipmunks I had left... make a little memorial next to the compost pile to remember those that didn't make it... and know I was ready for another weasel war, should they invade again....

It might be selfish of me, but I kinda hope you folks with weasels just keep them to yourself! .. in any case, I'm not likely to take out a loan to buy the amount of hardware cloth needed to keep weasels out, so I'd just deal with them as they come... part of keeping chickens for me is taking out some chicken eaters... others see it differently though.

 

[WindingRoad]

We've just been through a thaw. So not much at this point. More of a patchwork. I'll try and get a pic this morning of the recent hen death.

I wondered because I still have about 3 feet on the ground as still very well banked up against my hen house. And that snow is hard because it's rained and snowed here most of the winter. Everything that comes around my hen house is walking on top of the snow. I've been lucky and don't want to change that. Hope you can stop this issue soon.

 

[Trux]

agree with OZB! By the look of those dead birds it is either a weasel or a mink, or you being in NH maybe even a marten. My bet is on weasel or mink though

 

[50-45-1]

A mink is conciderably larger than a weasel. We are talking about a much bigger hole on entry.
Mink is housecat size, weasel is red squirel size.
I have had 2 weasels in my 40 years of having chickens. I caught both of them the next night after the carnage using a small have a heart trap and a bloody piece of one of the birds they had killed the night before.
This is the one i caught last fall.
Do not try to relocate him.
He will just become a heartache for some other

chicken owner or work his way back to your place.

 

[roosterhavoc]

A mink is conciderably larger than a weasel. We are talking about a much bigger hole on entry.
Mink is housecat size, weasel is red squirel size.
I have had 2 weasels in my 40 years of having chickens. I caught both of them the next night after the carnage using a small have a heart trap and a bloody piece of one of the birds they had killed the night before.
This is the one i caught last fall.
Do not try to relocate him.
He will just become a heartache for some otherView attachment 1707358 chicken owner or work his way back to your place.

Do you still have that cage? That looks like 1x2 in wire? That’s another perfect example of what a weasel can and can’t fit through.

 

[aart]

Mink is housecat size, weasel is red squirel size.

Aren't the largest of the 3 weasels almost mink sized?

 

[50-45-1]

Do you still have that cage? That looks like 1x2 in wire? That’s another perfect example of what a weasel can and can’t fit through

This is the smallest have a heart we have. The wire measurements are one inch by about 1/4 inch.
This is the same trap shown above that we caught the weasel in.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Aren't the largest of the 3 weasels almost mink sized?

I’ve posted these before but it’s good for a size comparison and for what it’s worth they were both caught on the same night 10 yds apart. So someone could easily have both.

 

[HennyPenny2019]

Ok, so I think it's safe to say it's a weasel now. Found another hen this morning, and she was actually nibbled on in the chest area. So I'm about to rush out the door for traps. Our run is 10 ft x 30 ft and our coop is basically a sequestered part of our barn so I have no idea what our long term solution will be considering it'll cost a fortune to hardware cloth every gap or hole....
View attachment 1706823 View attachment 1706824 View attachment 1706825

Awww ... that hurts my heart