Weasel vs. Chickens vs. Pigs?

[elkfriend]

Hi, our chicken flock will move to a new pen soon in an area with no house or dogs nearby. The pen is fenced with wood fence, about 5 ft high. The coop is a converted trailer, that does not have an automatic door opener (I was planning to just leave the small chicken door open, since its in a fenced in pen anyways. Run is not covered, area is too large. However, it is adjacent to another pen with a few pigs in it (which will go to camp "bacon" in the fall).

Here is the thing:
When I was out there this morning to feed the pigs, I saw a weasel (white, black tip on tail) scurrying around. That is worry-some, I have never seen weasels there (it is "bald-ass" prairie land, no wooded area).
1) How much should I worry about the weasel for the pigs? The pigs are about 70 lbs or so. I had pigs there last year and a skunk got in and the pigs killed the skunk.

2) I bought an elecrtical fence charger and was planning to run 1 wire on top of the wood fence and one wire down low, to deter coyotes and such. I guess to deter weasels, I would have to go very low to the ground (maintenance nightmare)? Can they even be deterred with electric wire?

3) Today I set a livetrap with some meat as bait. I read that weasels are territorial and do not let other weasels into the area. So if I catch and relocate it, in your experience, are there a bunch of other weasels (family) around, or are they usually singles?

Any insights are welcome!

Chris

 

[cavemanrich]

First,,,,,, If your coop is going to be open all night, you will encounter predators. Raccoons will have no problem going over fence.
If you just run a single wire on top of wood fence, that is useless. In order for animal to get a shock, it needs to be grounded. You would need to have multiple strands of wire with alternating, HOT and GROUND. I can search out threads on proper ways to install hot wire, if you would like.
On the subject of weasels,,,,, that is a serious threat to your chicken, and probably not much for your pigs. Problem with weasels, is,,,,, they like to kill more than they will eat. Meaning they will kill multiple chickens, in an effort to have dead meat for the returning times.
An automatic pop door for your chickens, and well secured coop with no points of entry for a weasel would be your best option. Nothing is 100% good. Sometimes chickens refuse to go into coop before pop door locks. There may be multiple reasons for that, but in most cases, chickens will go to roost at dusk.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Trish1974]

This thread may help with your electric fence questions:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-treatise-on-electric-fencing.1117877/#post-17223170

 

[centrarchid]

You can construct a roost over hogs such that raccoons and weasel can get to it. Weasel pursuing chickens during day can be problematic. If no dogs, then a barn can can be very hard on weasels and target those that come in to replace those killed as well.

You can make a roost the raccoons are unlikely to beat. Fencing does need to be addressed in a different manner than you have so far.

 

[Mike Arnett]

Hi, our chicken flock will move to a new pen soon in an area with no house or dogs nearby. The pen is fenced with wood fence, about 5 ft high. The coop is a converted trailer, that does not have an automatic door opener (I was planning to just leave the small chicken door open, since its in a fenced in pen anyways. Run is not covered, area is too large. However, it is adjacent to another pen with a few pigs in it (which will go to camp "bacon" in the fall).

Here is the thing:
When I was out there this morning to feed the pigs, I saw a weasel (white, black tip on tail) scurrying around. That is worry-some, I have never seen weasels there (it is "bald-ass" prairie land, no wooded area).
1) How much should I worry about the weasel for the pigs? The pigs are about 70 lbs or so. I had pigs there last year and a skunk got in and the pigs killed the skunk.

2) I bought an elecrtical fence charger and was planning to run 1 wire on top of the wood fence and one wire down low, to deter coyotes and such. I guess to deter weasels, I would have to go very low to the ground (maintenance nightmare)? Can they even be deterred with electric wire?

3) Today I set a livetrap with some meat as bait. I read that weasels are territorial and do not let other weasels into the area. So if I catch and relocate it, in your experience, are there a bunch of other weasels (family) around, or are they usually singles?

Any insights are welcome!

Chris

 

[Mike Arnett]

Had a weasel get a chicken Sunday night. Since then have been locking the seven remaining birds in the inner coop, inside the outer pen. Weasel has tried digging in every night since, but the wire I attached to the bottom and buried 12" in the ground has kept him out. He must be bigger than the little one that got in a couple of years ago and killed three chickens. That one was able to get through the 1x3" spaces in the rabbit wire I had attached to the bottom of the coop, but this one hasn't. I should have used 1/2" hardware fabric. The weasel is under an adjacent shed and am hoping by depriving him of any protein to eat he will move along, as the other one did after just a few days. We'll see.

 

[cavemanrich]

Had a weasel get a chicken Sunday night. Since then have been locking the seven remaining birds in the inner coop, inside the outer pen. Weasel has tried digging in every night since, but the wire I attached to the bottom and buried 12" in the ground has kept him out. He must be bigger than the little one that got in a couple of years ago and killed three chickens. That one was able to get through the 1x3" spaces in the rabbit wire I had attached to the bottom of the coop, but this one hasn't. I should have used 1/2" hardware fabric. The weasel is under an adjacent shed and am hoping by depriving him of any protein to eat he will move along, as the other one did after just a few days. We'll see.

You are not able to smoke him out,,,, as someone else is standing by with a net???
Are you shorthanded on help??

 

[Mike Arnett]

You are not able to smoke him out,,,, as someone else is standing by with a net???
Are you shorthanded on help??

Thanks, Caveman. May have to try that. No sign of the weasel in the pen last night. We'll see how it goes.

 

[elkfriend]

Update:
Caught the weasel and it is gone now! We kept the traps up and no other weasels around, and we also had a few light snow dustings this week and there is no weasel sign at all, so it must have been a loner.

There are no racoons here, and the fence is coyote-proof I think, so with the weasel gone hopefully it will be nice and quiet!

There are hawks and owls, so that is the next predator group to worry about, but between mixing a couple of turkeys in and deliberately having a couple of black chickens in the flock (to look like crows to keep hawks away), we might be reasonably fine!

I also picked up a nice barnevelder rooster (his name is pablo), he is 2.5 yrs old, good attitude towards humans and looks after the hens, so he will be a flock protector too.

All the best
Chris

 

[aart]

Caught the weasel and it is gone now!

Glad ya got him!....hopefully 'gone' means dead.

so he will be a flock protector too.

Don't count on it.