Predator suggestion HELP!!

[SuperChickMama]

I've had weird happenings in my coop lately.....

First day I find a chicken egg crushed in the nest box. I collected the eggs, and threw the eaten egg on the ground outside.
Second day I find the crushed egg shell GONE and part of it in the box.

I thought it was a neighbor kid, so I used the lock.

WE had 3 days of severe rain, On the second day of rain I am going to collect eggs, and I see a hole to the diddle coop. I took my shoe and stuffed it full of mud.

After the rain I cleaned the coop, didn't notice anything out of the way..... hole still filled, but I DID notice a couple new holes I thought my chickens were being sneaky. The holes are only about 3 inches wide 4 inches max. and an inch or 2 deep.

Yesterday we find a dead diddle.......... not just dead, mangled, and mostly missing.
Today..... another dead diddle..........but this time just dead!!

We live in the Mountains of North Carolina. We don't think it is a fox, the holes are to small. Not sure if we have weasels..... could it be a opossum??

PLEASE help if you have any critter suggestions..... We are getting 2 or 3 claw traps...... TONIGHT!! and setting up the game cam!.

 

[wildriverswolf90]

Hi there! I live in the NC mountians as well. And there are some sneaky weasles around here. You'll need to put concrete in the bottom of your coop or 1/2 inch hardware cloth.

 

[chfite]

Do you have an apron of wire on the ground around the perimeter?

Chris

 

[SuperChickMama]

WE have .5 inch steel gauge wire on the "diddle coop" and most of the adult coop, the run has plain old chicken wire, there are 4 x 4's around the floor and on part of it the wire was buried under the dirt about 6 inches and had some extra concrete around it...

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

sounds like a weasel to me. nothing else could fit through that small of a hole. my suspects are 1.)weasel
2.) snake
3.)rat/mouse
hope you resolve the problem!!!!!

 

[SuperChickMama]

Thanks, we set 2 steel traps and baited with pork chop, It has been 2 days and no sign of the critter, I think it's a weasel also, but my sister thinks its it may be a gray fox, somehow I don't see a fox of any size squeezing through that small a hole...

 

[aprophet]

Thanks, we set 2 steel traps and baited with pork chop, It has been 2 days and no sign of the critter, I think it's a weasel also, but my sister thinks its it may be a gray fox, somehow I don't see a fox of any size squeezing through that small a hole...

I use 4-5 " snares and catch greys , all this rain we have had the last coupla days has made the possums move hard I have disposed of a few the last coupla of days

 

[SuperChickMama]

Welp, I saw my predator tonight while I was cementing holes in a monsoon. A BIG FAT RAT..... his name for now is Templeton, we set a live trap and hopefully he will be a trapped rat because he is going to SUFFER. He is gonna get shaken to DEATH!!!!! Don't mess with a Mama and her BABIES!!!!!!

On the bright side, we have 3 new chickens, and 7 new diddles a few days old, and a new one about 4 weeks old, HOPEFULLY we will catch the rat and he won't be able to get through our WHOLE wheelbarrow full of CONCRETE!!!!!! We filled holes, one hole was about a foot across and a foot deep, it was a well....... luckily I had some stuff in it but that sucker has been digging around my rock stuffers!