Raccoon or Weasel... HELP!

[KyBockBock]

I have free range birds... there coop has a big door for me... smaller side door with cover for the chickens with ramps... I close coop doors at night...
But night before last i forgot to lock up

and i found my hen drug from the roost out around the building... looked like a struggle (my poor girl) and up the neck (leaving the head) an a lil on the underneath was all that was eaten... Last night i set a live trap with tuna thinking i had a coon... and my bf had shut the door but didn't put the brick up against the bottom :/ and the same thing.. drug out of coop from the roost around the side of building. And the live trap next to the coop with tuna un touched.

Tonight i made sure i locked up extra good...moved trap and baited it with raw hanging bacon with a blood trail in the trap... and covered the trap to make a cave like appearance.

also all 3 eggs my game hen had laid from previous days was cracked open with the insides eaten.

Hopeful to catch something tonight... but ideas or input are MUCH appreciated!

 

[WingsWhitetail]

I had a mink get 6 chickens and 6 ducks in one night. It basically tore the necks open and ate a little of the bird. I have heard of mink/weasels tearing the throat open and drinking the blood, then leaving the rest of the bird alone. If it is of the weasel family the best way to go about trapping it is a weasel box. Basically it is a long small box with a hole in each end and a trap on the inside. I have one that uses a conibear trap the goes inside. I have heard people set a pan trap inside the box and get them that way. I guess they travel kind of like mice and rats do as they follow the edge of a wall or what not. A raccoon I would think would carry off the eggs to eat them, the live trap is the best choice for catching one. I have always had the best luck using marshmallows and maple syrup. If you have allot of problems with raccoon I would suggest investing in a lil'griz foothold trap, understand though, you will have to dispatch the animal if you trap one. If you just want to relocate the critter then a live trap is your only option. I ended up hunting down the mink that got my birds, they usually don't go far on a full belly and easily accessible food. Look around inside you coop/barn, behind anything propped against the wall, under anything, crates, nest boxes, ect... A mink or weasel will usually hide out in those places, that's where I found the culprit napping when I got him. Good Luck! Hope you get him.

 

[KyBockBock]

I had a mink get 6 chickens and 6 ducks in one night. It basically tore the necks open and ate a little of the bird. I have heard of mink/weasels tearing the throat open and drinking the blood, then leaving the rest of the bird alone. If it is of the weasel family the best way to go about trapping it is a weasel box. Basically it is a long small box with a hole in each end and a trap on the inside. I have one that uses a conibear trap the goes inside. I have heard people set a pan trap inside the box and get them that way. I guess they travel kind of like mice and rats do as they follow the edge of a wall or what not. A raccoon I would think would carry off the eggs to eat them, the live trap is the best choice for catching one. I have always had the best luck using marshmallows and maple syrup. If you have allot of problems with raccoon I would suggest investing in a lil'griz foothold trap, understand though, you will have to dispatch the animal if you trap one. If you just want to relocate the critter then a live trap is your only option. I ended up hunting down the mink that got my birds, they usually don't go far on a full belly and easily accessible food. Look around inside you coop/barn, behind anything propped against the wall, under anything, crates, nest boxes, ect... A mink or weasel will usually hide out in those places, that's where I found the culprit napping when I got him. Good Luck! Hope you get him.

Thanks i hope i catch something... it just didn't make sense to me to be a coon... with a live trap with fresh tuna un touched

and all the eggs was cracked and eaten in the nest boxes where they were laid

never dealt with a weasel before and all i had was bacon to bait it tonight... and my grandfather told me to cover the live trap and i read a few ppl had caught them in a live trap before.. by covering them

im just lost.. i had to try something

 

[KyBockBock]

And its late night attacks

 

[WingsWhitetail]

I have seen them caught in a live trap like you're talking about. My old neighbor was a bird fanatic. I remember him doing as your grandfather suggested. He had straw bales and stacked them over the trap, covering the openings (he had a big live trap that the animal could enter from either end) leaving a smaller opening for it to go in. i would suggest setting the trip plate as light as possible, a mink or weasel is way lighter than a raccoon is going to be. Keep us posted!

 

[KyBockBock]

ill be sure to keep everyone posted... im pretty such the trap is set light enough... i caught my curious lil banny hen in it this afternoon... and shes tiny

 

[chiklee]

Mink likes old rotten fish, birds rabbits , the smellier the bait the more it attracts them they have a great sense of smell .
and a hide trap is good for mink cover the three sides and top with straw. And if you catch one keep hands back they are very mean . kill and dispose please I raised mink for 18 yrs. I seen them in action.

 

[KyBockBock]

Quote:
Thank you,, the bacon i have in the trap tonight is hanging from a tie cord over the flap release... it has a strong smell its country bacon,, only thing i had to work with tonight... but i drained off the blood and poured it in the trap as well... and since i caught my banny hen in the trap earlier today she left a egg in there that i accidently cracked... so i left it in the trap as well... since whatever got my hens also ate the eggs leaving the shells.

 

[chiklee]

hope it works for you for future use put fish in a bottle make it go rotten and when you need a stink put a few drops of the juice in the traps . I keep a glass bottle of rotten stuff in my fridge for emergency's. as long as its sealed it don't stink till opened . Use a glass ketchup bottle it don't take up to much room. I never had a mink invasion just opossum and it works for them too.
But this is how I caught my mink if one or two escaped .

 

[TheGLucas]

You have probably cought the coon by now but if u have not try bread with peanut butter and if you have out whip cream and a blueberry on top. The first night I used this i cought a raccoon and the other nights the bait was gone but no coon inside but that's just because I have a bad trap. Hope this was helpful!