DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!1

[lurky]

My DH did not feel you were going to have much luck with that gun. He said the trap is going to be your best bet. Maybe you should get a second live trap. I dont know what you should use in the trap, but i would open a can of tuna. Very strong smell for mr fisher.
Good Luck aran and sorry for your loss.

 

[aran]

thanks guys...peepkeeper, thanks but I have too many noisy roos now LOL. Also I dont want to expose any more birds to this degree of risk until this animal is dealt with. I have ordered some chicks and will be getting some hatching eggs. We are buying more traps today as well as putting several "hot" wires around both coops ( electric fence). That and im sitting up until i get this thing tonight.

 

[thndrdancr]

I am not sure, but I was looking at pictures of a weasel, they are smaller than fishers and they look like they could squeeze thru ANYTHING!
Wikipedia says they used to be known as varmints becuz they always got after poultry and killed them.

They only looked to be about squirrel size, so I was thinking if I had caught one in MY trap, I bet it coulda squeezed out.

Have no idea how to deal with one, they are my nightmare.
Jill

 

[aran]

Hey, Audra here again.

We were totally baffled that the trap had been sprung, but nothing in it?! Maybe the bugger did squeeze out of it...

William is ok, cried a bit, but mad too, and wants to stay up with aran and i tonight.

We figure shooting it at night given its black is probably not going to work very well, so i am buying more traps today, for inside and outside, tuna, and using the going-off lunchmeat in the fridge...putting up an electric fence. Hopefully, it will come inside the coop and then we'll turn the fence on to keep it in, and trap it...then, well, i heard about what started here so lets just say we'll dispose of it.

At any rate, our precious birds will be locked inside every night for the rest of their lives. I feel sooooooo bad, cause i thought the duck coop was safe, but it wasn't.

The girl duck (her name is Daisy) was so cute today tho, she let me wash her in her cold pond outside, even rubbing and pulling the blood clots out of her feathers, and then we brought her inside and gave her a warm bath, and let her just rest in there for ~20 mins, then i wrapped her in a towel and put her inside the coop with the wood shavings....it was weird, she kept looking at me while i was trying to clean her, you know, how injured scared animals look at you, still scared, but knowing that you are helping them so they are calm and grateful. Her and i are best buddies now.

Sorry, i know this is a chicken forum, but our ducks are just as precious.

Wish us luck tonight. Enough is enough.

 

[peepkeeper]

Do you have a radio in the coop? I've heard that the noise of human voices keeps the critters away.

 

[SpottedCrow]

You could try covering the trap with a tarp. That way it would look like it's more solid to the animal.
Sorry about your duck.
I'm fervently hoping you take out whatever it is.

 

[aran]

the darn electric fence is impossible to get working! I have wrapped the wires around the coop on the insulators, I have attached the wires up as it shows on the back of the unit, but nothing. I get shocked when im messing around joining up wires but the fence is just not hot at all...any ideas?

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If you don't get fence help here, try a new thread in coops. I know you want to get this up and running as soon as possible.

Good luck with everything.

 

[nccatnip]

Oh, electrical fencing can be so frustrating. It is a simple theory, just trace back and see if you have anything not connected. Nothing should be touching the wire- it kind of "floats". Check your grounds also, they tell me that is main reason for failure to work.
Listen carefully, if you have an arc, you should hear it "crack", it will lead you to the problem.

 

[aran]

cheers guys...i can hear the click click click at 1 second intervals...i have sunk a 6 foot green steel t post 3 feet into the ground and twisted the ground wire around it and connected the other end to the "ground" terminal on the fence power pack, I have attached an insulated (plastic covered) wire from the power pack " fence" terminal to the aluminium electric fence wire which is suspended in a circle around the coop on the proper plastic insulator thingees. The only time it gives a shock is when im messing around changing the wires at the power pack before i remember to turn it off...at no point has the fence been " hot". Jesus the thing generates some power though...the 5-6times the power pack has shocked me my hands have been tingling for a good 10mins afterwards!