Stella's Social Club

[Cynthia12]

Yes..weasels suck the blood right? So sorry..hope you get what ever it is soon!

 

[1muttsfan]

Kelly have you thought about covering your no climb fence for the bottom few feet with hardware cloth? And maybe the upper part with chicken wire? We have weasels and fishers here too, my pen had to be built like Fort Knox.

Always so frustrating to loose birds to a wily hunter.

 

[mlm Mike]

Lost another 5 chickens in 2 days. 3 small ones were killed and pulled through the fence, 2 larger ones killed in ambush attack between 2pm and dark, then taken down to the fence and left because they were too big to fit through the non-climb fence. I lost my best broody.

She had raised so many babies for me.

It's obvious it is not going to stop until they are all gone. I still think it's a weasel since it is going through a 4 inch by 2 inch spot in the fence. The chickens were confined to the large coop today (8X12, so they are not cramped by any means) and the trap is baited and set.

that I get the bugger.

Oh no, sorry Kelly. I hope you are able to trap it.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Pulled though the fence sounds like raccoon. Weasels bite heads and necks or make a tiny hole in the breast and leave them there, strewn around the pen. I'm so sorry - it is completely frustrating! I've never been able to catch a weasel or fisher in a live trap but I've caught a lot of raccoons with peanut butter and jelly.

Only the 10 week olds were pulled through the fence. My dog chases it off after the kill, so it doesn't have time to eat it on site. I have found bite wounds on the neck and head of the one's that were left. I've also seen it and it's not a coon. It's small, like a cat (and it has a tail), lightening fast and agile like a squirrel. So weasel is all I can think of.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Kelly have you thought about covering your no climb fence for the bottom few feet with hardware cloth? And maybe the upper part with chicken wire? We have weasels and fishers here too, my pen had to be built like Fort Knox.

Always so frustrating to loose birds to a wily hunter.

I may have to. I didn't think we had weasels here honestly.

I'm hoping I can trap it. To lose one here and there to a bobcat is sad, but to have your flock constantly under massacre is so awful.

Oh no, sorry Kelly. I hope you are able to trap it.

Thanks. I hope so too.

 

[ronott1]

I may have to. I didn't think we had weasels here honestly.

I'm hoping I can trap it. To lose one here and there to a bobcat is sad, but to have your flock constantly under massacre is so awful.

Thanks. I hope so too.

The old type of spring trap was recommended by chicken canoe. He catches them in Missouri with them and says they work best.

Keep it away from the dog though....


Link to trap at true value

 

[Happy Chooks]

The old type of spring trap was recommended by chicken canoe. He catches them in Missouri with them and says they work best.

Keep it away from the dog though....


Link to trap at true value

Yeah, but it's not feasible here for me. My dog would get in it.

 

[1muttsfan]

I would probably try a livetrap with a chicken head in it, icky as it sounds. Then you could relocate it deep in wilderness.

 

[drumstick diva]

or give it a burial at sea (or pond, or ditch.)

 

[robhuncor]

If it's a fisher - like a big weasel - they are solitary and have a huge territory - up to 30 mile radius. After my massacre, about a year ago, we set up a small video camera and when it came back we saw it deliberately jump on top of the 3 havahart traps we had set up and spring them. It was racing around like a maniac trying to figure out how to get in the chicken house and visiting the sites of all the bodies it had left around the day before. My poor surviving hens where on lock down for weeks after that. Knock on wood, we have not seen it again. It killed 17 of my hens late one afternoon while I was at work. There were also some badly mangled ones still alive. There is nothing more devastating than having the hens you try so hard to protect and care for be wiped out by a vicious predator. I feel awful for you Kelly.