Energy source hot wire and neutral (L1 and L2) have to go directly to the fan, not fed from the thermostat. If it were DC, wiring backwards would make the fan run backwards. AC doesn't matter.
I've been using carabiners and leash latches on all the hasps too but I can't afford to lose another bird so thought I'd go with padlocks on the most vulnerable doors and nests. Some doors have locking handles. I have 32 hasps. Mostly one per door but 6 doors are long so I have one on each end. I currently have 8 padlocks all keyed the same.
Had 3 traps set last night and caught nothing. I'm making 4 more traps today. One box trap with a #1.5 jaw trap and a live rat for bait in a cage. 3 PVC pipe traps baited with mice. I'm just hoping the # 1.5 aren't too strong for a 4 ounce blood sucker to trip. The bait was taken from the trap in front of a burrow without tripping it.
Cabelas didn't have any size # 0 and the # 1s were more expensive. I may go online and get a couple # 0s. I'll probably set them from time to time even after this passes.
This is the description of the largest of the 3 weasel species native to Missouri from the MDC website.
Size: Males: total length: 13½–17½ inches; tail length: 4½–6¼ inches; weight: 6–9½ ounces. Females: total length: 11½–15½ inches; tail length: 3–5 inches; weight: 2½–4½ ounces.
Habitat and conservation:
Weasels live in a variety of habitats but prefer woodlands, brushy fencerows and thickets along watercourses. Their home is a shallow burrow that was usually the former abode of a mole, ground squirrel or mouse. They also live in rock piles, under tree roots and in dense brushy vegetation. While not abundant in our state, weasels should be encouraged and appreciated. Regulation of harvest is essential, as this species is state-ranked as Vulnerable and is a Species of Conservation Concern.
Foods:
Long-tailed weasels eat animal food entirely, preferring their prey alive and quivering. The only carrion consumed consists of victims they have stored in their burrows. As long as rodents are available, they are eaten almost exclusively. Major food items are mice, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, shrews, moles and rabbits, and occasionally small birds, bird eggs, reptiles amphibians, earthworms and some insects. Despite their size, weasels are voracious predators.
Distribution in Missouri:
Statewide. Most common in the south-central and southwestern portions.
More interesting info:
Fur was harvested in the past, but weasels no longer may be trapped in Missouri. Many weasels are destroyed by farmers who report them killing poultry. Certain individuals sometimes kill poultry, but the species as a whole causes little economic loss. Weasels eat large numbers of mice and rats.
Ecosystem connections:
Weasels are aggressive and ferocious predators that eat mice, rats, shrews and even cottontail rabbits. They are also fed upon by other predators such as great horned owls, hawks, foxes and bobcats.
I had to contact the conservation agent on duty yesterday to report my planned trapping methods and my address. I also have to tell them how many I catch. Legal trapping season for furbearers in MO is from November 15-January 31. But weasels and spotted skunks may not be taken.
On another positive note. I didn't lose any last night and I caught my rooster on the lam at 5 this morning. I've tried each of the last 4 nights and mornings but couldn't find out where he was roosting. There are 2 groves of trees where he was hanging out during the day so I searched them at dusk and couldn't find him. One was fairly open and all pines with some honeysuckle. The other was a virtually impenetrable mix of hardwoods, honeysuckle and bramble. I was hoping he wasn't in that one. I stood between the two at first light waiting for his first crow. He was in neither. He had put himself to bed on a big rock at the back of a dead end corridor between 2 outbuildings. It was still dark enough that I could temporarily distract him with a flashlight and get close enough to put a net on him.
So now I officially have 2 breeding age males. The one I caught this morning was my oldest rooster. He couldn't save his flock from the midnight blood suckers but he saved himself. He was in the building that had the wall pried off the first night.
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