Weasels in winter in SoCal

[SoCal Chicken Mama]

The past few nights as I went out to put my chickens to bed inside their coop house I saw a weird creature jumping around. It gets dark so dang early now (pitch black by 5:00 pm) that it is often past dark when I get out there. The girls are usually perched on a roost near a tree in the run. I bring out a bright light and when they see it they fly down and go inside the coop. When the light appears, the creature jumps up high and then dives down. It appears to be trapped inside the narrow 6" area between the coop and run. I'm not sure. It hates that light, though. After I did some research and figured out it was the size and shape to be a weasel, I put that light out and left it on all night. Chickens are fine this morning, but I am going to make some more secure prevention today. I will fill the floor of that area with bricks to prevent it from digging up into there, with 1/2" hardware cloth stapled to the wood underneath. I will try to find or make one of those weasel traps with a rat trap inside. The ckickens are relentless about digging deep holes inside the coop , which has a dirt floor run area underneath the "house" where they sleep. So, I am thinking I will secure the hardware cloth floor to that, too, and fill it with 12" paving stones for them to walk on, with a 1/2" crack in between them to drain water/pee. Then I will find a motion sensitive light for that area that will come on if the creature appears again. I'm doing this because I found a deep hole near the back edge of the inside coop run, and it may be able to get under the bricks and come into that area. The 6" area I am talking about is all along the back side of the coop, near the wall of the house. Will it work? I have a trail cam, but I haven't set it up yet.

 

[cavemanrich]

Weasels are nasty predators the will kill multiple chickens in same night. Their thinking may be to have a food source for extended time.
You certainly want to predator proof your run.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Callender Girl]

Thank goodness you haven't lost any birds!!

Lost three of my first four chickens to a mink, a weasel "cousin," one winter night when I forgot to close the coop door. They are horrid murderers because they appear to kill for sport, not to eat. I had to retrieve the mutilated bodies of my girls. None were even partially eaten.

Minks, at least, always return to the scene of the crime, so fortifying your coop and run with hardware cloth (pricey, but effective) and paving stones is a great plan. The more, the better. I have motion sensor lights, too, although based on rabbits' behavior, wild critters may eventually get used to those and ignore them.

No experience with a trail cam, but I'm in favor of anything that makes you and your birds more safe and secure.

Please keep us posted on the situation, and good luck in your efforts!

 

[SoCal Chicken Mama]

Weasels are nasty predators the will kill multiple chickens in same night. Their thinking may be to have a food source for extended time.
You certainly want to predator proof your run.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Thanks. I've been reading older posts about weasel problems, and I don't understand the ones that say, "I buried the hardware cloth, but not deep enough." I assume they are talking about the skirt, but it doesn't go straight down, does it? I thought it attached to the wood at the bottom of the run and then flares out about 8"? So they dig down near the edge of the coop/run, and then give up when they encounter the wire?
My run is surrounded by concrete on two sides, a french drain on one side (plastic liner filled with gravel, and then bigger rocks on top, bordered with really big rocks to direct the roof run off into the drain. I didn't think they could get in from there, but the hole the weasel got in was in the gap between the coop and the run. So it got in from its own tunnel that was already there?
I blocked that with hardware cloth and 6" wide by 16" concrete blocks on top of it. There are places where the 6" block won't fit because of the metal on the coop. I stacked regular red bricks on top of the gaps. And put a motion sensitive light. The light seems to have blown my circuit on that side of the house.
The run has two more sides (it's a pentagon, I had to build it that shape because of hardscape that was already there). One is blocked by a wooden path that is 18 inches wide, with weed cloth underneath, right up against the edge of the run, so they can't dig there. The remaining side is very short, and I did bury a skirt of hardware cloth there, inside and outside of the run. It's close the the air conditioner, so there isn't much room for digging on the outside, more of a skirt on the inside. The new hardware cloth I am laying tomorrow will be on the floor of the under coop run, wired to the sides (there is no wood there). And I will put 12" square concrete pavers on top. I'd hate to do that to the whole run, because then there will be no place the chickens can scratch. I've already done it to certain places where they routinely dig deep holes and they don't dig there anymore. But if the predators already have deep tunnels underneath, how can I make the run secure? There is a birch tree inside the run, I would assume its roots are taking up much of the space under there.

 

[cavemanrich]

The light seems to have blown my circuit on that side of the house.

Consider looking into reason for circuit tripping. Faulty electrical cords are a potential fire hazard. Best to be on the SAFE side.

But if the predators already have deep tunnels underneath, how can I make the run secure?

Consider the trap idea, set outside of your chicken run.
Ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.