I came out this morning to let everyone out of their pens, only to find my beloved Tom Turkey, King of the Barnyard and beloved by everyone, dead under his roosting table. His head and neck were chewed down to the bone and I think his crop was gone. There were plenty of ducks, chickens, geese, and other turkeys. Not that I want to lose anyone but why would a predator attack the biggest one? Granted Tom was gentle as could be, and I never saw him get rattled over anything. My poor boy, I hope it was quick. He was such a big baby, a would squeak when I picked him up to put him in the pen at bedtime when he dawdled.
I thought I had a secure enclosure. I have a giant pen, with 1/2" hardware cloth on 3 sides. The back is made of chain link panels with chicen wire over it. I have 2 x 3 welded wire attached to the bottom all around coming out about 18 inches from the perimeter. I can't dig down where I live because the soil is so rocky but that doesn't stop the rats from making holes, and now I've seen black rat snakes slithering in through the holes. (I take up the food at night, which is kept in secure enclosures and am in the process of dealing with spillage issues). Inside the pen are various dog houses, truck caps, and a shed that serves as a coop.
The roof is covered with a combination of 2" x 3 or 4" welded wire, plywood planks, nylon deer netting, and as of yesterday, corrugated tin roofing panels I put up just so the turkeys could stay dry on their choice roosting table. Just yesterday I went around the pen, taking the tin panels and rolls of chicken wire away from the back (one of my bantam chickens got stuck in a roll last week but I found her in time) and making everything what I thought was safer and cleaner. I tightened up loose wire, filled gaps, though I certainly have plenty that a weasel or mink could get though, though nothing bigger.
So I understand that minks and weasels can slip through very tiny spaces (even hardware cloth is suspect). I got ten sheets of 2'x10' lath that's used under stone siding-sharp nasty stuff with really tiny spacing. I was going to line the bottom of the back of the pen. But my suspected culprits climb. I put a massive tarp over the side of the pen with the welded wire roof, hoping that would be a deterrent. Will tarps on the chain link/chicken wire side prevent climbing?
Tonight I will be setting traps and sleeping outside with a .22. I've never intentionally killed anything bigger than a bug, but oooooh....Tom was like a good friend to me. He always followed me around the yard, kept me company, and gobbled back to me when I gobbled to him. He was a very special bird. Fortunately I have some eggs he fathered, so my friend will put them in the incubator for me.
Any suggestions for keeping out weasels/minks? I don't live near water, but my neighbor said one very dry year he lost a turkey to a mind. This year has been far from dry.
I thought I had a secure enclosure. I have a giant pen, with 1/2" hardware cloth on 3 sides. The back is made of chain link panels with chicen wire over it. I have 2 x 3 welded wire attached to the bottom all around coming out about 18 inches from the perimeter. I can't dig down where I live because the soil is so rocky but that doesn't stop the rats from making holes, and now I've seen black rat snakes slithering in through the holes. (I take up the food at night, which is kept in secure enclosures and am in the process of dealing with spillage issues). Inside the pen are various dog houses, truck caps, and a shed that serves as a coop.
The roof is covered with a combination of 2" x 3 or 4" welded wire, plywood planks, nylon deer netting, and as of yesterday, corrugated tin roofing panels I put up just so the turkeys could stay dry on their choice roosting table. Just yesterday I went around the pen, taking the tin panels and rolls of chicken wire away from the back (one of my bantam chickens got stuck in a roll last week but I found her in time) and making everything what I thought was safer and cleaner. I tightened up loose wire, filled gaps, though I certainly have plenty that a weasel or mink could get though, though nothing bigger.
So I understand that minks and weasels can slip through very tiny spaces (even hardware cloth is suspect). I got ten sheets of 2'x10' lath that's used under stone siding-sharp nasty stuff with really tiny spacing. I was going to line the bottom of the back of the pen. But my suspected culprits climb. I put a massive tarp over the side of the pen with the welded wire roof, hoping that would be a deterrent. Will tarps on the chain link/chicken wire side prevent climbing?
Tonight I will be setting traps and sleeping outside with a .22. I've never intentionally killed anything bigger than a bug, but oooooh....Tom was like a good friend to me. He always followed me around the yard, kept me company, and gobbled back to me when I gobbled to him. He was a very special bird. Fortunately I have some eggs he fathered, so my friend will put them in the incubator for me.
Any suggestions for keeping out weasels/minks? I don't live near water, but my neighbor said one very dry year he lost a turkey to a mind. This year has been far from dry.
