The last 4 nights I have lost 12 chickens to something. Only one of them had had the head and neck taken all the other ones have just been killed. I have found tunnles under pallets that I stack hay on. They are about 4" dia and I have found holes under the wire cloth that I have buried. I have set a live trap with all kind of different baits to no avail. I need some help. Please...

-- Phil Lizak (lize40@excite.com), January 18, 2002

Answers

weasel?

-- julie britt (jbritt@ceva.net), January 18, 2002.

Might set up a snare trap at the hole openings or in the tunnels, more effective if they use the same tunnel(s).

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 18, 2002.

I'd guess a weasel or mink.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), January 18, 2002.

So, If it's a weasel, any suggestions on how to rid it?

-- Phil Lizak (lize40@excite.com), January 18, 2002.

Phil I recall someone telling me one way to catch a weasel is to plant a pole on a 45 degree angle, put bait and trap at the top. Apparently they like running up poles. Next door neighbour used this and was successful. Don't remember what he used for bait. Weasel's will kill just for fun.

-- bernie (bernadette_kerr@hotmail.com), January 18, 2002.

http://www.sullivansline.com/

-- Kevin (kevinmail@earthlink.net), January 18, 2002.

Yup! sounds like weasel , alright. Canned fish makes good bait for a rattrap. Make sure trap is chained to something strong. Good luck. Tomas in B.C.

-- Tomas (bakerzee@hotmail.com), January 18, 2002.

A weasel would not need a 4" diameter hole. How about a skunk?

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), January 18, 2002.

Phil, check the archives, there are many discussions on proper security for your poultry, one just down aways. It makes no difference what killed them. The point is, with proper housing you will not lose poultry to any predator. Forget so called chicken wire or poultry netting. Like I have said time and time again, it will only keep poultry in...it will not keep anything OUT. Good luck, do some searching and reading. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), January 18, 2002.

Phil,

10 to 1 says that is a coon. Weasel would only need less than 2" hole to enter. In fact, weasels are great ratters as they will fit into any hole that a rat can get through. A coon may look big but it can squeeze through almost any hole that it can get it's head through. Check where the critter entered and look for hairs. Any critter, looking for food, will make only the minimum hole needed to squeeze through. Sacrifice a can of cheap tuna or even cheaper can of cat food assuming you have a large enough livetrap. If there's a coon around, and it's not trap-shy, you should be able to give it a name, Supper!

Marty

-- Martin Longseth (paquebot@merr.com), January 19, 2002.

We've had good luck baiting traps with dry cat food. That works for skunks, raccoons and possum. We had a skunk take six chickens before he checked out the cat food.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 19, 2002.

Well, I started cleaning everything out of the barn on Sat. found a few of the tunnels and since it's cold here in MI i figured I'd pou some water in and freeze the varmit out. during the second bucket the thing jumped out of the hole and scared the #$%# out of me. anyway it was a rat. So I went ahead and set a bunch of rat traps. So far nothing. Any suggestions on bait?

-- Phil (lize40@excite.com), January 21, 2002.

If you REALLY are curious about what's in the coop, check with some of your friends who are deer hunters....they may have one of those "game watcher" cameras. Maybe you could borrow it and set it up in the coop and get a picture of what you're dealing with, and then figure out what you need to do to catch it.

-- Dan (dshaske@excel.net), January 21, 2002.