Last night was my turn

[noodleroo]

We don't have weasels wild in south Texas (that I know of; I've never seen one or heard of one being caught here). Thanks for the info. In Rockport we also don't have hills or rocks (really). I just love the pic of the coop and run...

 

[chick4chicks]

Sorry to hear about your chickens. Those darn predators. Hope you catch the culprit. Nice set up.

 

[swift4me]

The pine marrten lives a little higher in elevation, and as the name implies, in a conifer habitat. The close relative is the beech martin that lives a bit lower in a deciduous beech/chestnut/oak habitat. That is where I live.

I'm going back up today to see if my repairs protected the remaining three, and do some trap sets tonight. They are mating now, so I figure the males are wandering around lots more country than usual.

They are a big weasel, but so is a wolverine. These things are about 18" of body, plus 12" of tail, 38 teeth, and a life strategy built around bird killing and nest raiding in the forest, so getting into a locked coop with some roosted chickens is a dream come true for them.

Pete

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
this sounds more like a stoat / weasel

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Love the building very nice. The run is nice to. As for the eaves, believe it or not the same thing happened to me. Lost 4 chickens that night to a coon. I closed it up asap with hardware cloth. So don't feel to bad it's not like you foolishly let this happen. Live and learn.
Take care,wishing you the best

Rancher

 

[Spires6]

Love your coop! Sorry for your troubles though.

 

[swift4me]

Aprophet:

Thanks for your comment. I was wondering too about that. My neighbors here say that the marten does the same thing... break necks and drink blood. All 6 birds, (almost fully grown), had broken necks.

I set traps last night, and I had something get into a cubby set with a 220 conibear, eat and/or remove about 30% of a feathered chicken carcass bait, and didn't set off the trap. I made two other sets with 110s and no love on either of those. Maybe before Sunday. The scat I've found around the henhouse was the size of a marten's, not a weasel. We do have a weasel here too though.

Fortunately, my repairs have worked so far. We'll see.

Pete