Groundhog undermining the coop...long rant

[mudhen]

Just have to vent. Bear with me.
Yesterday I saw the telltale dirt pile spreading out from under the little coop.
I can see that the 16" square pavers the coop sits on have openings in between, like they are 'floating'. This creature has hollowed out most of the area under there!

I called over my handyman who tells me we'll have to jack up the coop, fill in the hole with cement and then pour a slab to set the coop back down.
I've been fighting these groundhogs all year. They ripped up the pasture, I dropped in roach bombs and sealed their holes (cement then dirt). Mid-summer, it/they started to dig under the large coop, but the dogs and a border of 2x4 wire and stone deterred them. In the late fall, they broke through into my studio (a converted 4-stall barn) and I repeated the bomb/cement seal in two places and one outside.
Now the son of a -

has ripped out the little coop foundation. un The dogs don't have access to this coop, or I would treat the same as the bigger coop. Even so, the damage is so bad in such a short period of time, that i believe the only thing holding the coop in place is the fact that it is leaning against a large tree.
Oh, and my handyman says that part of the tree will have to be cut down in order to jack up the building. So will most of the grape vine.

I have so had it with this #@%S*!! What is worse is that the thing won't show his face, as if it has 'learned' that if it does, it will suffer the same fate any other groundhog does on our land...a quick dispatch from the end of my husband's rifle.
As financially crunched as one can be this time of year (well, most of the year, but especially this time of year!) with one cat in and out of vet last week (cystitis), another there this week (high fever), and now the looming expense this next little groundhog deterrent, I'm hoping this is the 'third' of the supersticious 'three bad things'.
aaarrrghhh!

OK, thank you for letting me rant and rave and being self-involved. I now return you to your regularly scheduled pleasant discussions.....

 

[Cocky]

My dad once bought a trap fro them. It had some sort of spring and triger on it. you spiked it into the ground over their tunnels and when they went through again it would set off the trigger and a spike would be sent down into the tunnel and hopefully through the pest.

personally I just always stomp in the tunnels. most of the time it has eventually worked for me.

 

[mudhen]

Wish that would work for me. The trap we used caught only one last year.
As far as stomping the tunnels, well, the openings alone are almost two feet across, and the tunnels are deep enough where you don't know where to stomp, let alone make any difference.
Thanks for the suggestions, though!

 

[tiffanyh]

I think you are thinking about ground moles, cocky. They are different from ground hogs. But from the sounds of it mud hen you might be talking abotu ground moles. They can do quite a number! Hope things work out for you!

 

[speckledhen]

Found this. At least they supposedly hibernate, but it doesn't say how far north they do that.
http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/Professional-Trapper/howtogetridofgroundhogs.htm

 

[Cocky]

yep....I was definitely thinking ground moles....sorry

 

[mudhen]

Yes, I know I definately have groundhogs. Seen them, dispached a few, trapped (and dispached a few more), and still battling the little such-and-so's.
Trapping and relocating would be the ideal and most humane option, unfortunately, no one wants to have a groundhog relocated to their area. And more and more, there is less and less land available for these oversized rodents with no predators.
Thank you speckledhen for the website.
I have, of course, worked with the local fish and game department, who have kindly loaned us traps and picked up a couple of these creatures from us. Unfortunately, they are only required to release them three to five miles away, and even they admit that most find their way back to their original 'home'.

 

[foxtrapper]

Conabear trap placed over den holes is *real* effective on groundhogs.

A coop doesn't have to be up to human habitat standards when it comes to ground stability. Don't lose track of that.

 

[mudhen]

Thanks, foxtrapper. You're right about ground stability, of course. But more of my concern is the eventuality of the groundhog getting at the chickens when it breaks through into the run.
Will look into 'conabear' traps, don't know about them, so I'm off to do some internet research. Thanks!

 

[foxtrapper]

You don't have to fear groundhog attacks on your chickens. Groundhogs are herbivorous.