I found all four of my ducks dead in the coop

[abelardo]

just be careful because they will bite

 

[abelardo]

What happened did you get it

 

[dmashchickens]

I set two traps with the ducks as bait. My husband and I reinforced the coop, again.
I went out twice last night and again this morning and cages are empty, but carcasses are still there with no evidence of being touched. Positive note, I didn't lose any chickens last night. Negative note, I didn't catch the little beastard either

 

[abelardo]

don't give up on catching that monster

 

[Egghead_Jr]

It doesn't look like you have a floor for the coop. That's a problem. There are some ingenious traps for weasels. Use something like a 4 inch PVC pipe with end or something similar that you can put meat in it at back wall and a rat trap in closer to entrance. If right size container the weasel must go over the trap not around it to get to meat. If it somehow makes it across once it's still go to leave. Odds are it will get killed.

 

[dmashchickens]

The coop was on this property when we bought the house. They raised chickens and actually had two coops and 300 chickens. The house and out buildings were all built in the 1920's I believe. Instead of tearing it down, we decide to slowly renovate it. It has a cement ground, but it is slowly cracking. Btw, he was able to drag the entire duck out of the first trap without setting it off and ate of the chicken in the other without setting it off. Is he not heavy enough to set off a live trap??

 

[bobbi-j]

That's a tricky one. I'm not sure how big the weasels are where you live, but ours are pretty small - they can get through a pretty small opening. I'd be checking the coop thoroughly to see if there are any holes in the walls or other openings. Do you have insulation between the two walls? If it's a double wall, I'd take the inside one out. Take away the hiding place, hopefully drive it out. Then you'd need to figure out how it got in, in the first place.

ETA - Just realized I responded before reading the whole thread. You'd think the weight of the duck would have set off the trap even if the weasel didn't. Could be the weasel is too light to set off the trap. Could be the trap was set incorrectly. There are a lot of "could be's".

 

[dmashchickens]

The game warden came out and we were able to determine by my description, the holes, the ditches and creeks around my property, that I have a mink and not a weasel. He helped me reset the one trap and gave us advice on another type to use. He currently didn't have any in his possession. We found the outside entrance and set this other trap, I'm sorry I can't recall what it's called, down around his entrance. This trap will kill him. The others I bated with chicken entrails and also used mousetraps baited inside the live trap. He did say it's very possible his weight isn't enough to trigger the live traps, hence the mouse traps. Once this is done, we'll be putting wire fencing around the entire outside regardless of holes and try to finish more of our inside reconstruction. bobbi-j thanks for the advice and egghead_jr as well!!

 

[aart]

The game warden came out and we were able to determine by my description, the holes, the ditches and creeks around my property, that I have a mink and not a weasel. He helped me reset the one trap and gave us advice on another type to use. He currently didn't have any in his possession. We found the outside entrance and set this other trap, I'm sorry I can't recall what it's called, down around his entrance. This trap will kill him. The others I bated with chicken entrails and also used mousetraps baited inside the live trap. He did say it's very possible his weight isn't enough to trigger the live traps, hence the mouse traps. Once this is done, we'll be putting wire fencing around the entire outside regardless of holes and try to finish more of our inside reconstruction. bobbi-j thanks for the advice and egghead_jr as well!!

Nice you got some professional assistance...best of luck....sorry about losing the ducks.

 

[RobandSue2]

Did you get it?