Feeling like a total idiot

[Yep I Talk To Chickens]

Appreciate the tips. I ran to TSC and got there right before closing. They had ZERO traps on the shelf for anything bigger than rat. So I got an xl rat trap and borrowed a raccoon size havahart from a friend(slightly bigger than the one in your photo). I set them both with tuna as bait near the brooder. I also reinforced the floor with tiles and tripled the depth of their wood chips. Hopefully this will work for tonight. I also raked out the under brooder area of all small debris(there wasn't much anyway) and moved the tote I think the culprit climbed up. I also put a motion light over there. I am so scared for tonight. I hope they make it thru alright and the culprit is caught or at least deterred for the night until I can get the two pack of small havaharts tomorrow. SO STRESSFUL.

Thanks again for your support.

Your welcome! Keep us posted.

 

[SheaLoner]

If you suspect a weasel, set the trap up so they need to go through a hole to enter it. Something around a $.50 piece in size. Too large of an entrance and theytend not to go in.

 

[M Brennen]

If you suspect a weasel, set the trap up so they need to go through a hole to enter it. Something around a $.50 piece in size. Too large of an entrance and theytend not to go in.

That’s a good tip. We have set numerous traps and never caught anything.

 

[Tre3hugger]

If this happens again I will have a plan in place other than relocating. Appreciate everyone's input.

 

[Tre3hugger]

I'm so sorry..I hurt for you. I was just looking at hardcloth..to put on top of hardcloth..that's under plywood... I stress..and I don't have weasels. But we know something's been out there bc it knocked over the container I keep zeolite in at the back door.
Are weasels abt the size of a squirrel? If so, the small trap wld work. I got the bigger one bc our early spring invaders were raccoons and opossums.

Thanks for the condolences. It was a hard lesson,
Weasels are usually smaller than a grey squirrel. I ended up reinforcing the brooder, and caught a raccoon that night under the brooder. It may or may not have been the culprit, sticking its little hands and nose through the HWC. Maybe it was a weasel who evaded my trap and can't get through the new floor of my brooder. Since my alterations, so far so good.

 

[3KillerBs]

Tell me please, literally, what is the harm of my act?

It's a matter of property rights and respect for others.

A raccoon that causes problems for a person to the point that the person feels compelled to trap it and remove it from his own property should not be disposed of on someone else's property.

As I said, it's no different than dumping garbage on another person's property.

I do not see that it matters if you know or don't know who owns the land or if the land is public or private. I believe that you have the right to do what you please with your own land (we told our real estate agent absolutely no covenants, restrictions, or homeowners associations), but that you also have the duty and obligation to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to anyone else's land -- public or private -- without specific permission.

Maybe I'm unusual in seeing a person's land property as no different than his car or his house in this. But my principles are consistent in this matter.

 

[Folly's place]

Here in Michigan, a raccoon, for example, can be trapped and relocated either on the same property, or on private land within the same county, with landowner permission. Never to public land, another county, or without owner permission.
If we trap one, it's shot.
Mary

 

[Tre3hugger]

so in the midst of the great raccoon debate, unless I missed it, you've had no further attacks. Did you do anything diff to shore up security?
Maybe close up a section of brooder so you can lock them in at night as we do with coops? Himself argued that ours is build on sleigh runs that would require 10" of digging to get under, but I still ended up putting a board down for my own peace of mind. It makes it easier for me to walk on and do deep litter method. - Now that I'm cleaning it out, I probably should have put tile or something over the board, but it's still sturdy.
The run sides are open w/hwc, but he put salvaged steel pole barn siding on the sides of coop and roof so they're locked down at night.
That 2 wk period I mentioned when we had a run on raccoons, they were able to climb up hwc and walk on roof, but none found a way in.
Re the one he drove 20 mi away, no, I don't think she made her way back. For one, there's a lot of highway between here and there, and two, after staring at that many of them in a trap or tree right outside your window, you realize they don't all look alike. She had a sweet face and didn't get pissy until he picked up the trap. Some of them sounded ready to rip our faces off before we even went outside, and one was trying so hard we wld have put money on him tearing the trap apart to get out. Hopefully this will be the last of your attacks.

I added a floor to my brooded over the wire. SO far so good.

 

[RShayne]

While getting a firearm is your right (unless you are a felon) and I am not going to say you should have one but... (think of the alien guy) . As far as trapping coons and disposing of them, you have the same results using a bucket to empty a creek (if it is a good area another group of predators is just going to move in). It is something you will have to do constantly, with our ducks I have to trap snapping turtles at the pond constantly, just no way around it.

You may be better off predator proofing your coop and / or brooder. You mention a tote in your first post they make great brooders if it is a big one, just build a frame for the HWC so you can put it on top and sets some rocks on it and around it so predators can't get the HWC off or knock the tote over.

My brooder setup is made out of 2x4 studs ripped down to 2x2 and left over poly roofing, no floor but my feed room is concrete, with 1/2" HWC on top. The Sledge Hammer head is covering a hole I had for running a cord to one of those brooder plates (no one used it and it just took up room).

Excuse the mess but ducks will be ducks.

One last picture just for the cuteness factor.

 

[donddon]

Did you use the 1/2 inch hardware cloth on all sides and top? I just built a large run for my Guineas, and I used 1/2 inch all around. I hate to think I wasted $400.00.