Help! Security breech in the chicken run the last 4 nights in a row!

[HD Chick]

Since no birds lost to this point, rat seems likely interloper. Try rebaiting for such.

Hmmm OK. No more deli turkey. Time for peanut butter! Earlier this morning I noticed tracks in the sand that looked like little hand prints and lines where a tail may have dragged. It very well could be a rat!

 

[TNBlacktails]

Try one of these.

what is this

 

[blucoondawg]

If it is a weasel deli meat isn't your best bet, the best I have used is liver, it is bloody and they like it. I agree if your chickens aren't dead yet it could be a rat rather than weasel

 

[aart]

what is this

It's a mole trap, gets buried in mole tunnel to work..... I doubt it's appropriate in this situation.

 

[HD Chick]

Decided to buy a live trap instead of the game cam. We were advised to bait it with a raw store-bought cornish game hen. We're also going to make a rat trap in the immediate area by using a half-filled water trash can smeared with peanut butter just above the water line. We'll leave a few branches up to the rim. The trick is, the rat reaches, loses his balance and drowns. Hoping to have a critter one way or the other by morning!

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I'm curious to know what the culprit is...let us know when you catch it!!

 

[KLLEETRUCKING]

First of all, no chicken loss = good. But you already knew that.
I've never actually lived in Ca. or the desert but have spent some considerable time there. There's some sort of ground squirrel that is tenacious in their digging. I've observed holes dug through hard packed gravel and marveled at their dedication. As long as they don't harm your birds that's good. I'm guessing they're after some feed whatever the beast may be.

Although they haven't harmed your birds, those tunnels are a leg up for the ones that will.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Rat, pika, pocket gopher, badger, armadillo, what ever the answer is it is something that lives to dig or else that digs to live.

 

[HD Chick]

Sorry if this post is redundant as I'm participating in another similar thread and I don't want to leave anyone hanging. We were almost giddy last evening when we set rat traps inside and outside the run alongside our brand new live trap specifically for smaller sized varmits like weasels. We used bloody raw liver in the live trap and a combo of liver and peanut butter on the rat traps, since we weren't sure what we are dealing with except it doesn't like deli turkey. "Whatever you are, we've got you now, sucker." is what we thought. We got up several times during the night to check the chicken run but nothing seemed disturbed. This morning we discovered the thing had burrowed into the run again and avoided every last dang trap. Sigh. We will fight on! We're relieved we haven't lost any chickens yet. This photo is outside the back of the run. We're apparently dealing with something small and smart. We haven't seen any tracks or scat yet although the last thing we do is carefully smooth the area. All we've seen so far is wild bird prints. Thanks for all your help!

 

[HD Chick]

Success at last! We refortified our defenses and for the first time in 6 nights the varmint was unable to breech the chicken bunker. It went around the entire run and tried a few new places but couldn't get in because there's wire cloth underneath. It avoided baited rat traps and a live trap again. For the first time I was able to capture some footprints before wild birds walked over them. Still don't know culprit's identity but at this time we are thinking it is a kangaroo rat. Our girls can return to their coop!