Ermine Troubles

[ChickenTenderKesha]

I had thought everything was good and dandy lately with the weasel but on my first day off everything is, in fact, not good and dandy. Seems it’s been getting hungry and the wild rabbit it had the other day wasn’t enough (I found patches of fur in the tractor shelter beside the skids of shavings).

This is what I stumbled upon this morning when going to check the chicken coops. Fresh snow fell last night and tracks are all over our property. I know for a fact these ones aren’t our two resident black squirrels.

The HC you see is 1/2” I believe. It was put on the coop by the previous owners, I’ve been meaning to replace it with 1/4” HC.. I’ll be putting 1/4” HC on the inside of the dog house where my odd ball cockerel is residing after his car accident. It’s been trying to get at Artie as well it seems. The wood is freshly chewed the inside.

I think it’s living in my basement now as there’s holes in the one patch of dirt down there where an old foundation wall is broken. There are tracks leading out from and back to this one external section of the house adjacent to where the holes in the basement are. So I need to keep an extra eye on my cat (she’s only so much bigger than a rabbit) and my two pigeons in the front porch now as well (it killed one pigeon I had caught trying to get them out of the horse shelter).

I thought we had been coexisting together well enough since it hasn’t gone into the weasel boxes. But I just checked them, as my father hasn’t been, and both of them have been set off with all the food in them gone. I’m going to make some adjustments as he made the boxes pretty large and the rat traps have space on either side to shift around (a total of 2-3” I want to say).

Any suggestions on where to place the weasel boxes? I had thought one in the basement? ... If I keep my chicken pair from the little coop inside and leave the HC the way it is tonight, I could set a box in there for the night as my chickens had an attempted attacked last night/early this morning? Only the cockerel had a bloody comb besides that they are thankfully okay.

It is illegal to relocate Ermines in my area that is why I wish to remove it in this manner. Thank you for reading and a thank you in advance to anyone for your help!

 

[hayley3]

I would do as you said and keep your birds inside and set the trap inside the coop.
Glad he was not hurt too badly.

 

[Howard E]

To the OP, your photos and description may be clear to you, but are hard for me to follow......but will have a go at it anyway.

First.......it could be you have a weasel.....or rats......or both. A lot of the issues you describe.....chewing woods, setting off traps, damage to birds comb.......could be rats. If a weasel got close enough to a bird to damage a comb........probably would have killed it. A weasel could kill a pigeon......but so could a rat. A weasel would probably have killed them all.......bites to the back of the neck to sever the spine.

If whatever it is is living in your basement, placement of your weasel box is directly in front of the hole it is using to come and go. Has to go through the box that way. For box of this type......use two traps.....one on each end......bait, if used at all....is bloody and goes in the middle. If using the wooden rat traps, they have to be the type with wide pans.....not the small metal bait holders. Weasel box has a 2" (5 cm?) hole in each end.....pan for the trap is directly beneath the hole so he can't enter the trap without stepping on the pan. That should work for a rat or weasel.

1/2" hardware cloth is good enough for either.........but not if it has a big round hole in it. Same with that chain link fence.......a rat or weasel would go through that an not even slow down. I'm hoping that is not the only thing being used for whatever that is.

After that......more photos would help.....taken from some distance back to show relative distances..........

Also, when trying to puzzle these things out, a cheap game camera goes a long way towards helping ID the culprit. You set it up and aim it at the entry point........won't be long to find out who is up to no good.

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

Replied inside the quote, it’s easier on mobile when trying to reply to your individual paragraphs! Thank you for the reply and feedback.

To the OP, your photos and description may be clear to you, but are hard for me to follow......but will have a go at it anyway.

First.......it could be you have a weasel.....or rats......or both. A lot of the issues you describe.....chewing woods, setting off traps, damage to birds comb.......could be rats. If a weasel got close enough to a bird to damage a comb........probably would have killed it. A weasel could kill a pigeon......but so could a rat. A weasel would probably have killed them all.......bites to the back of the neck to sever the spine.
It is an Ermine. I’ve gotten photos of it when it ate the pigeon in the garage a while back. Also by looking at the tracks those aren’t rat tracks, there would be a tail would there not? I believe it tried to attack during the early morning when the birds were awake and got scared away before it could do any serious damage. I know there’s what looks to be field mice going between the two coops by the many tiny tracks with tails.

If whatever it is is living in your basement, placement of your weasel box is directly in front of the hole it is using to come and go. Has to go through the box that way. For box of this type......use two traps.....one on each end......bait, if used at all....is bloody and goes in the middle. If using the wooden rat traps, they have to be the type with wide pans.....not the small metal bait holders. Weasel box has a 2" (5 cm?) hole in each end.....pan for the trap is directly beneath the hole so he can't enter the trap without stepping on the pan. That should work for a rat or weasel.
We aren’t sure where exactly it’s getting in, if it truly is. We’ve set some traps in the basement where something seems to be poking around down there.
Our weasel box set up is a one way entrance with bait at the back of the box. It can smell the food at the back but the only way in is through the 1 1/2” hole at the front. The wooden rat traps we used have the large plastic square bait holder. The only bait we have currently is wet cat food.. is that only going to attack mice/rats? Or would the weasel be attracted to that as well? We were thinking about buying some liver to bait with.

1/2" hardware cloth is good enough for either.........but not if it has a big round hole in it. Same with that chain link fence.......a rat or weasel would go through that an not even slow down. I'm hoping that is not the only thing being used for whatever that is.
That 2” hole was not in the HC when I bought the coop. Whatever got into the coop made that hole. Unless the field mice made the hole to get any dropped feed inside, the Ermine must have done it. The chain link isn’t set up as a run yet and hasn’t been used for keeping birds in. It’s getting its predator proofing in the spring when I can move and alter the little coop to be able to fit inside. Currently the only way into the little coop is through the hole that’s in the HC. So I guess 1/2” isn’t enough?

After that......more photos would help.....taken from some distance back to show relative distances..........
The photos of the dog house aren’t needed I’ve realized. It’s the field mice getting into there to get the feed. I’m still blocking it off to stop unwanted visitors and to prevent the mice from going back in.

Also, when trying to puzzle these things out, a cheap game camera goes a long way towards helping ID the culprit. You set it up and aim it at the entry point........won't be long to find out who is up to no good.
Also, when trying to puzzle these things out, a cheap game camera goes a long way towards helping ID the culprit. You set it up and aim it at the entry point........won't be long to find out who is up to no good.
I’d love some good game camera recommendations if you’ve got any actually. I’ve been wanting to set one up to see what all passes through our property (besides the resident coyote)!

 

[itsasmallfarm]

what you using for traps? i find old rat traps don't work well on long tail weasels (yet no issue with short tail weasels or least)

i had to buy some new ones and thing kept out smarting me so i set a 120 coni bear caught him. and he sold for 3 dollars at my fur buyer.

 

[50-45-1]

Instead of trying to eradicate every weasel from your location, why not fix your coop?
Just so you realize that IF you have a resident weasel, you will likely not have rats and your weasel will also help keep your mouse population down.
Weasels are nighttime hunters mostly and if your coop is secure and tight , you will have no wories concerning them.
I must say the freshly chewed wood sounds like rat to me.
Hardware cloth will be your best friend.

 

[aart]

That 2” hole was not in the HC when I bought the coop. Whatever got into the coop made that hole. Unless the field mice made the hole to get any dropped feed inside,

Hard to believe that a small rodent could chew thru 19gauge wire that neatly.
Did you find the mesh or wires?

 

[HeatherlovesherBirds]

Definitely fix holes in coop and run... I had two weasels last year and they can fit in holes small as your thumb they have the ability to flatten themselves out.. could be a mink too. Need to put smaller mesh you and make sure there is no holes... I would try to get a small live trap and wire bait to pressure plate and when you have caught it kill it.. they show no mercy on your flock.. good luck!