NY chicken lover!!!!

[nposluszny]

I just looked the ermine up and that's one nasty critter.

Nasty yes, but incredibly effective against vermin. If you can secure your birds proper (I'm thinking hardware cloth) they will tear throught anything else that night be around and a potential threat to the chickens. On the other hand, they really REALLY hate moth ball crystals and those fabric softener crystals....possible perimeter repellent, if you put the birds away for night/be careful to not let them eat them. I found those crystals (both kinds) super effective against rats and mice, my local friends say that it's kept a persistent ermine away from their house (they have rabbits). They smell awful to tiny noses!

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Nasty yes, but incredibly effective against vermin. If you can secure your birds proper (I'm thinking hardware cloth) they will tear throught anything else that night be around and a potential threat to the chickens. On the other hand, they really REALLY hate moth ball crystals and those fabric softener crystals....possible perimeter repellent, if you put the birds away for night/be careful to not let them eat them. I found those crystals (both kinds) super effective against rats and mice, my local friends say that it's kept a persistent ermine away from their house (they have rabbits). They smell awful to tiny noses!

nope, I have a cat and 2 dogs to catch vermin. Jump over to the stock thread. I posted about Luna the farm cat.

 

[nposluszny]

nope, I have a cat and 2 dogs to catch vermin. Jump over to the stock thread. I posted about Luna the farm cat.

I can't have cats, have terrible luck with them, love my little outdoor goldfinches and live too close to the road. Would be worried about one thing or another. My dogs are good at chasing things, not so much with catching. I have great luck with rat traps and pellet guns myself. That little ermine though, lol, he got into the bathroom when he was here and surprised my dad at 2am during a bathroom run. The squeaking/yelling was just hilarious!!!

 

[myfivegirls]

Thanks for all your tips. I think they're starting to wise up, none caught last night. But I found that they're hanging out under the wood pile, or at least that's where I saw three, one of which I killed. So, I'll put bait there as it's outside of the chicken yard. I hesitate to put poison in holes inside the chicken yard as the chickens could dig & uncover it during the day.
Last year we had red squirrels & caught 1 or 2 of them, haven't seen any more, but no bird feeders now. Probably still around, just not visible. Saw a fat gray squirrel this winter.

Found one small pullet with what looked like a rat tried to bite it's head last night, but she escaped. Going out soon to move young pullets into a pen on pasture away from the "brooder barn". Just will leave cockerels in there until I can finish my other pen for pasture, just got the hinged roof "door" left, roosts then can move them out too. Lost two meaties, even after making the adjustments to secure more! They were like 5-6 wks old, so a good size. They were moved out today as well.
One I get everyone moved out, I can take out litter & add flooring of some type, as that's how I think they're still getting in.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I can't have cats, have terrible luck with them, love my little outdoor goldfinches and live too close to the road. Would be worried about one thing or another. My dogs are good at chasing things, not so much with catching. I have great luck with rat traps and pellet guns myself. That little ermine though, lol, he got into the bathroom when he was here and surprised my dad at 2am during a bathroom run. The squeaking/yelling was just hilarious!!!

oh no!! I would have stretched like a cat toy and woke the neighborhood.

 

[tao chick]

I live in town. Ermines are highly unlikely. It wasn't taken far from the coop and only the breast meat was eaten, which is why I guessed cat. Regardless, I reinforced the coop and moved it closer to the house and haven't had a problem again yet. I say yet because my luck isn't great with these meaties. Process day is coming soon.

 

[Gramma Chick]

I live in town. Ermines are highly unlikely. It wasn't taken far from the coop and only the breast meat was eaten, which is why I guessed cat. Regardless, I reinforced the coop and moved it closer to the house and haven't had a problem again yet. I say yet because my luck isn't great with these meaties. Process day is coming soon.

Eating just the breast is a bird of prey trait I think

 

[tao chick]

Eating just the breast is a bird of prey trait I think

Hmmm. I wonder if they'd squeeze through a hole into a coop to pull one out.

 

[cutipatooti]

I had a hawk fly into a 8 by 16 by 8 pen then go into the pop door and take a 5-6 lb chicken from the coop and fly out of the pen. It also killed another hen and left it. It did not go far from the pen with the body, just to the edge of the woods where it ate it's breast. Would not have thought a hawk if I had not seen it.

 

[tao chick]

I had a hawk fly into a 8 by 16 by 8 pen then go into the pop door and take a 5-6 lb chicken from the coop and fly out of the pen. It also killed another hen and left it. It did not go far from the pen with the body, just to the edge of the woods where it ate it's breast. Would not have thought a hawk if I had not seen it.

Wow. Thank you for this info. Hawks live near enough that it could have been an early bird that morning. The top is completely covered on my one run and the meatie coop, but I can imagine a hawk (imagining Looney Tunes chicken hawk, haha) finding the path needed to get the meaty and pull it out. I'll be sure to keep the pens secured assuming a hawk has found out about the food source.