My whole flock was killed last night, please help me

[MissDeb]

Quote:
Hi Kathy,


First of all, let me say how sorry I am for your loss. I would be devastated!
As someone who is an avid trapper, I just wanted to let you know that the leg holds you are using will be useless unless you boil them. Its a long drawn out process but you need to get any WD40 smell and human smell off of them. Once you boil them you need to pull them out of the water with a wire hanger. Hang them outside to dry where they wont come in contact with any human smell.
You will never catch a fox or weasel with any sort of scent on them. Then you also have to use a pair of rubber gloves to set the traps. Have a second pair on hand in case your first pair become contaminated. If you can, look up "dirt hole sets" on the internet and it will give you alot more information. They are very effective because weasels and fox are very curious, they will usually check the hole to see what another animal might have buried in that same spot. Make the hole set near your barn, make it obvious and use alot of dirt (as if some small animal buried something in that spot) and in your situation another animal very well could have buried a chicken, or whatever.... Just setting a trap out in the open will not help one bit. The chances of catching anything other than the neighbors dog is very slim. I hope this helps! I certainly don't want to confuse you, but someone needs to let you know that the leg holds wont do much for your situation unless they are applied right.....

If you have any questions feel free to email me.

Debbie

 

[SueNH]

Weasel or mink. I just went through the same thing.

Did you ever catch anything?

I had all my ducks wiped out and 2/3 of my chickens. Mine was a mink. Havahart trap was useless. Leg trap where he was getting in at one coop did the trick. Rigged it with a couple of milk crates so he couldn't miss the traps. His last hit was a daylight hit. I had just gone in the barn to check the feeders, got a bucket of grain and returned to hear the chain jingle. He must have been watching me.

Trappers in the area said they have never had so many calls for weasels and their kin as this year. Must have been that snow pack.

Google up a thing called a weasel box.
Contact your state trappers association.

 

[SueNH]

Rusty leg traps can be lubricated with real lard or suet melted down. Real animal fat. Attracts and lubricates. Chicken fat, goose grease...whatever.

You can boil it and wax it for storage after it's job is done.

Weasels don't care about human smell. I've had them approach me in the woods to within a few feet. Curious little buggers.

My offending mink actually lived on the far back corner of my property in an old beaver house. When I would check the fence out there he would always swim over and check me out. As long as he stayed those 20 acres back I was fine with him there. Flooding drove him in and I guess he thought he found paradise.

 

[Robotair2700]

Many years ago (40 some) as a youngster Friends and I trapped. Our method of preparing the traps was: Gather walnut hulls and boil them ,put the traps in this boiling "soup" , no smell , no problems. Caught plenty of everything. Walnuts are a natural smell in our woods area.
We also waxed our traps at the end of each season, then at the next it was back into the walnut hull soup. I have also used the bury hole trap setup , worked very well. We had pheasant in the coop at the back of our pasture( so they would'nt be disturbed all the time) we caught many weasels and coons trying for them, only lost one. Made good money off the hides.


Bob and Charlene

 

[MissDeb]

Quote:
Sue,

Im certainly not here to argue the fact that varmints and dogs (coyotes, fox etc...) Do have a sense of smell unlike no other. I have had fox walk up to me as well while out calling. But its a different story when your trying to trap something. If you have any sort of human scent, lard, goose fat, chicken fat, your doing nothing but going to either one, run the weary animal off with your scent, or two, snap a fox in the nose when checking out the scent on the trap and I can guarantee you you'll never see him again.
Kathy, if you need a hand Sue had a great idea, contact your local trappers Association. We have done many of these sets for folks who have had predators on their property. A mink box is another great idea, but if its a fox, you'll never catch him with a mink box. Do both! you'll likely catch something!

 

[Farmerbetsy]

I vote raccoon, as this is what has happened to 8/10 of our flock. I'm so sorry for you, I utterly empathize! We need to build a fortress. Best of luck to you. Betsy

 

[ChickNLittle]

Last year I had ordered chicks three times. Out of that bunch I only have 7 hens. (I have more than that, but out of the three orders last year that is what i have left). I know it was a raccoon because we trapped one every night for about a week. Then my husband caught one going through the fencing. So I've learned a LOT since last year. Namely you have to build your coops as predator proof as you can. They can pull your chickens piece by piece through chicken wire. : One inch mess is about the best you can put up, along with an electric wire about a foot off the ground if possible. Whatever got yours may or may not be a raccoon. In a way, it sounds like a dog that was trying to catch one either to eat or kill and he just randomly ran after them. Whatever it was, it will be back. You can be sure of that. So...I'm not sure what your setup is, but you need to re-evaluate it. Remember even if you only have a small opening between the roof and the rafters, they Raccoons and other animals can still get in. Good Luck! I'm sorry about your chickens, I sure know how it felt when it happened to me.

 

[MissDeb]

The thing that makes me think it was a varmint is she stated there were no tracks in the snow. If it had been something as a large as a fox or raccoon, I would think they would leave some sort of track.

Anymore news on this? I hope you catch whatever it was!

 

[ChickNLittle]

That is a good point Deb.

 

[BikerBabeRules]

thanks again all. I haven't caught anything yet, but i'm working diligently. It seems to make the rounds once a week. I did find all my dead birds, it hid them under the darndest places in the barn, eating only their heads and necks, or leaving them totally intact, just killed them. I put the dead ones found in the brush pile out in the pasture, it came there and ate the heads and necks, after these birds had been dead for a week. Gross to say the least. I keep thinking weasel, i've got those hole traps set and stuff. I'll get him. At least this last trip back through, it stayed out of the barn. I will update as events unfold.