The hawk is gone, but something else has moved in..

[tacothechicken]

Welp ....it was rats. Large.rats. I feel kinda bad since I know they normally wouldnt go for my pigeons, but the freak snowstorm drove all wild predators to the brink it appears, given how the Cooper was desperate enough the break into the loft and kill and eat two birds a few weeks back. Mom and dad were HUGE at least 13 in long body not counting tail, so totally could see how they finished off my Figuerita it appears post pulling up the floor boards, that the snow storm trapped them in and starved them, I found the remains of at least two dead pups that had been cannibalized out of desperation. There was 3 remaining pups about 4 weeks old but mom and dad each grabbed one and made a run for it, mom came back and tried to find the 3rd only to give up. I found it 30 minutes later in some straw, it was skin and bones at only 4 weeks old(I used to raise rats so i know lol) and could barely move(probably had frostbite or hypothermia from cold nights), died of shock only an hour later. Too bad for the rats, but a pain in the butt for me. Tore the entire loft down and have my 10 remaining birds in our rabbit hutch temporarily while I now re locate and set up the loft once more I wouldn't have minded them if they just kept to themselves but the moment they touched a bird they needed to go! Hopefully they wont be back and can find a safer place to nest that doesn't cause problems for anyone else.

 

[biophiliac]

I understand how you feel. I had pet rats. How do the wild ones get so big?
I have a gap where one could get in the loft and I should be mindful that they may get desperate in winter. I'm going to work on getting that closed.

What if you make a little garbage pile away from your loft to attract the rats away from your birds?

I hope this guy doesn't pose a problem, ...

He/she had crawled into a small bag of garbage I set outside. I went to take it to the trash can and felt it was surprisingly heavy. Imagine my shock when out popped the opossum! We put out some food scraps for awhile but haven't seen it lately.

 

[tacothechicken]

@biophiliac lol omg a opossum my old niebors cat had a possum friend she hung out whith constantly also we currently have a bunch of spare fencing and chain link wrapped intarp just a few feet from the loft so I'm sure they'll move in there, or the previous owners had a greenhouses that rotted and fell apart a few yards into the bushes so they may end up there, I dont care where they go as long as they don't go near my birds!

 

[Hokum Coco]

Welp ....it was rats. Large.rats.

That is what I had expected also. One Weasel wiped out my whole flock in one attack I was devastated to say the least. Until you get your loft as tight as a bottle your are doing exactly what I would do in your situation.
I am sure you will have things back under control before too long.

 

[AngieGould]

So our cooper seems to be officially done going after the pigeons in the loft after he got trapped 2 weeks back and had to face a bunch of dogs and human coming after him. BUT this morning I went out to count another bird missing my valencian Figueroa hen was apparently killed sometime last night while they were all asleep! It definitely WAS NOT a hawk. She was totally intact except that her head had been crushed and eaten(beak and all) and she had a almost perfect hole in her chest where something went after her heart or liver, (wasnt paying attention to which) we have squirrels, rats and I wouldnt be surprised if there were weasels about. What do you think got to her? I'm thinking of breaking down the loft today and relocating it them and putting birds back in once I dont have starving predators all over our property come spring. Ps i think whatever it is is living directly under the loft, I pulled back the flooring to find a 1 1/2 to 2 in wide hole underneath. Would rats go after pigeons if there was already feed about? Our dogs hunt and kill the rats on our property so I wouldn't be surprised if it ran to the back field and moved in to escape the jaws of death.

 

[AngieGould]

Yes it sounds like a weasel! They can get in though very small cracks so make sure the house is completely sealed up. I suppose a rat could do the same thing.

 

[rum3002576]

I had 3 pigeons killed 2 nights ago. I set up a camera and got a dang weasel coming in. I have traps set now and sealed up some small holes he came in thru.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I set up a camera and got a dang weasel coming in.

Believe it or not with a 3 birds loss I would consider myself lucky!

It is my experience that a weasel is the most blood thirsty predator out there. I would take out all the remaining birds from the loft if possible and relocate them to a place safe. I shot the weasel that killed all of my flock nearly 40 birds on one attack. On the following encounter I relocated the weasel that invaded my flock by first removing all the corpses and baiting a havahart live trap with one victim squeaker beyond the trigger plate. When he stepped on the plate or tried to drag the corpse over the mechanism he was mine.

This is one I shot.

I now have my loft as tight is a bottle. Unless I forget to shut up the man door which happens.

 

[purslanegarden]

Predators may always be around, whether they live in the area or are just passing through. So you'll need to work on fortifying the loft a bit more.

Scaring away the cooper may also have allowed other rodents and smaller predators like rats to become more adventurous and populated. But maybe not, rats will just live and eat whereever they can.

That's one thing I worry about, that my great shelter for the birds, could actually become a home for the rodents also. In your case, you had space under the loft with the floorboards, and even had a family of rats living there.

 

[rum3002576]

I had 10 golden pheasants in a pen for quarantine and a weasel came in last night and killed them all. I have had traps set for 3 weeks. No luck