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

[ozark hen]

Only chicken I have lost so far was to a possum! I was late locking up the coop and when I went into the coop before lockup ...there was a possum in there and it had already killed one chick and looking for more! ANYTHING that is killing your chickens is FAIR GAME..well, maybe not humans

go for it!! This has gone on long enough don't you think?

 

[aran]

i totally agree...i may not get the weasel tonight but im pretty darn sure the possum is going to be toast this evening. Im hoping it is a creature of habit. Perhaps a little chicken meat ( from the store) may persuade him to come into a good area for me to shoot it.

 

[ozark hen]

you have lost a lot of sleep over this critter, perhaps they all will show up tonight?

Good luck!

 

[BirdBrain]

Do you have academy there? I have seen these calls there.

 

[chixrme]

Aran: Have had good luck with hav-a-heart traps which don't hurt our cats. Possums LOVE dry cat food, and we've caught quite a few that way. Disposal is your choice, but at least your own critters are safe.

 

[GoodEgg]

Hey Aran,

Just wanted to say I am so sorry to hear about your troubles. I've not been online much at all, but I saw this thread and just read it all.

I hope you get the possum AND the weasel/mink/fisher/whatever-it-is.

I'm sorry especially that your son has had to have this disappointment. I know how my dd is about her pets (a snake got in the cage and ate Frisky, her gerbil, some months ago) and I know she would be devastated. I hope your son is cheered by his new chicks.

I hope you get it, and you and your wife can get some sleep. Hope your ducks are going in well now too, since I hadn't seen anything else on that. Mine just got good at going in a week or two ago when I renovated their coop ... seems they like it a lot better now.

And you shouldn't have any legal problem at all disposing of those kinds of animals. The only issue MIGHT be firing a gun, if you are within city limits or something like that, but killing the varmints of those sorts should be ok legally.

Did you ever hear anything from your local wildlife officer if they will do anything for you?

Well, again, good luck getting them!!!

trish

 

[aran]

thanks all...I did not get the possum with my sit outside and shoot idea...go figure...i bet you all can tell im not a farmer! I own a small 5.5acre block on the outskirts of suburbia in upstate NY so firing a gun would be ok. The problem is that because Im not an american but a legal alien ( nice way of saying permanent resident/green card holder) I have to go through all kind of red tape to get a gun license. So all I have is the air gun from Walmart.

I have a havahart trap and have not caught anything in it yet although something is enjoying darn near nightly meals from it. I will give it another go with tying the food inside this weekend. As far as losing sleep..now that this thing is not getting the birds because of the locking them away at night and the new fencing mesh inside the chainlink on the run its not so stressful. Actually its just another facet of this awesome hobby that is keeping me busy. I am looking forward to getting the beast dont get me wrong but the thrill of the hunt aint bad either! Randy sent me some cool call sound MP3s yesterday so I will hook up a small speaker inside the dentrap this weekend and sprinkle plenty of blood around and we will see what we get. The only problem is last night when i took the dog out to the bathroom at about 3am the coyote packs were HOWLING UP A STORM! Im not equipped from a weaponry point of view for those things to respond to the calls and come around the house.

 

[TxChiknRanchers]

aran you're right, the calls could cause you some big problems if you do not have the firepower to deal with what shows up when you use them. Do be careful with that.

Padna you need a shootin iron!

keep us posted

Randy

 

[patandchickens]

Just a thought - are you CERTAIN that the havahart trap bait isn't being stolen by mice, rather than by whatever's getting your chickens? Have you tried surrounding the trap with some smoothed sand (etc) to see tracks?

Pat

 

[rooster-red]

Its very frustrating when a preditor you're trying to catch continues to steal the bait, but look at it this way.

If its eating the bait, Its filling its stomach witout eating your chickens, and evetualy it will trigger the trap.

Don't give up on it.

You can buy an air rifle that is .22 caliber and has 685 fps muzzle velocity for around $140 since you can't buy a firearm.