Weasel…Help!

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chickschool

chickschool

Songster
11 Years
Mar 5, 2011
469
30
199
Traverse City, MI
I thought it was a hawk picking off my babies but yesterday I caught the little devil attacking one of my silkies! I have locked up all the chickens and set traps around the run. Where theres one is there more? If I get it is it safe to let them out? Is there anyway to prevent this from happening again? My chicken run is 30'x40' and the top is covered with netting but these little stinkers are so small I don't know how I could completely keep them out.

Thank you for any words of wisdom.
 
Thanks. It was very helpful. I'm just wondering about where to get the chicken "parts". Can I use store bought chicken? Mine are strictly pets. No eating here. :)
 
It is very hard to weasel proof a coop. Contrary to what many people think, a weasel can fit through a hole as small as 3/4" diameter. You can catch them fairly easily by using a "weasel trap box"(google it). It is simply a box to keep other animals out with a 1" hole on one or more sides to allow the weasel access. Plain old rat traps are set inside. You can use a popsicle stick or piece of cardboard to increase the size of the trigger foot to up the odds of it triggering the trap. They are primarily mouse eaters but will take easy to kill birds over a hard to catch mouse. That being said, the ultimate bait would be to put a mouse in a small box as bait. This small box would provide mouse scent and allow the mouse to scratch and move around which would attract the weasel. Place the mousse box inside a larger box surrounded by a few rat traps. Weasels can play havoc on any kind of small pets. Good luck catching the little bugger.
 
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I am so worried about weasels and minks. I never want to go out to the coop and find one of my girls injured by something I should have prevented. I lost a rooster to a hawk because I was not outside when they were free ranging.
 
pepsmomma said:
I am so worried about weasels and minks. I never want to go out to the coop and find one of my girls injured by something I should have prevented. I lost a rooster to a hawk because I was not outside when they were free ranging.
Click to expand...

It's awful isn't it. You work so hard to keep them safe and then to find one dead or injured is heartbreaking.
 
Today I noticed some chicken poop on outside wall of coop. Must be small opening beneath roof extension. Will take care of that in the morning while the girls free range. They won't be happy to lose their roosting spot in roof extension. But momma wants them safe.
 
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So it's been five days and we still haven't caught the weasel. I've tried everything suggested but no luck. One thing I realized was that although our chicken run is extremely large (40x30) it really doesn't have anyplace for them to roost up high. Does anyone have some cool looking ideas that I could build fairly easily that would give them a place to escape to if something gets into the run?
 

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