illinois weasels

[ropin84]

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As anyone in Illinois had any expieriences with wiesels?? I hear they are Rare. But I don't want to find out the hard way that they are noth

 

[Yardfarm Family]

I live in McHenry County, IL and I see mink every once in a while. I'm not sure if they are native to here or left over from a mink farm that closed 25 years ago.

 

[centrarchid]

I presently live in Missouri but also lived in southern Illinois for a good while. You have in addition to American mink, least weasel and long-tailed weasel. All three move in areas that water tends to follow when rains heavy when they are not actually moving along streams. Birds roosting in high locations pretty safe.

 

[littleoak]

I'm in east central IL and get about one weasel a year. They first come after mice that hang around. After they find out chickens are easier they get them. Hard to trap though.

 

[centrarchid]

I'm in east central IL and get about one weasel a year. They first come after mice that hang around. After they find out chickens are easier they get them. Hard to trap though.

As quick as the little buggers are, my dog still chews them up. They do not seem to like being around adult cats either.

 

[jackies]

Live in Madison County Illinois this is the first time I have seen weasels but the dogs have killed 4 so far this year

 

[Teery]

Weasels are vicious little creatures. I never really cared / knew anything about them until I was thinking about getting chickens and a neighbor said we had one in the area a few years back. There is a you tube video of a weasel attacking a rabbit. It is something I wouldn't recommend anyone watches. It is very disturbing but it shows the tenacity and aggression of a weasel. These little things cannot make a quick kill on something the size of a rabbit. They appear to attack the face / head area of there prey.

I guess weasels can get into the tiniest places. Coops have to be closed up real tight. From what I read (I think wiki) they drinks allot of water so your more apt to have them if you have a water source nearby. They can be trapped using a wooden box with a victor rat trap in them. There are examples on youtube of traps as well.

They can be found in just about every state. There are area's in the southwest desert that are weasel free.

 

[animals1981]

i did have issues with them once its not the least weasels. least weasels I have never seen bug chickens they eat mice. The stoats ermines short tailed weasels are brutal. But they usually come around for the mice and rats at first and are killing them. They dont take an interest in the birds for a bit until they realize how easy they are to killl by attaching to the birds head. My dog can't catch them. I never seen a dog catch them. My cat can.


They are prey items also so they are very cautious they have to figure out if the birds are their predators or prey first. Things like large gulls or ravens will kill them so will herons.


Some of our domestic birds might be able to kill or fight them off during the day but at night they just chew on our birds throats heads and suck their blood or whatever.


In the dark I noticed a lot of birds if disturbed will fly away or even lash out and jab at stuff with their bills like loons and herons will do that but chickens are totally helpless at night which makes them the easiest bird to kill. A gull at night can see much better than a chicken and will try to take a rats eyes out. I never see this sort of stuff with my domestic fowl. I am taking care of a gull atm. Its a beast and will go after rats and mice and just start smashing them with its beak and making them scream in the dark. Swallows them in its massive throat. If only chickens could see and act like that at night so many problems could be avoided.