Weasels

How do I go about catching them when they're preying on cooped up chickens? I tried small cages baited with fresh beaver meat and newspaper tube cubbies with 110's baited with beaver meat. Saw somewhere that they're attracted to anise oil, is this true?

Did you try a rat trap or foothold in a weasel box or in a
Milk jug. Use chicken for bait and mix the anis oil with some
Vasolin and smear it in the back

Why would they hit on beaver when they are there for the chickens? How are they getting into the chickens? Can you trap there?

I have cubbies in the coop guarded with 110's and situated so the chickens can't get to them. I used beaver meat because it was the freshest bait I had. Literally caught the day before. They're not eating the killed chickens, just chewing off some of the heads and leaving them lay. i used part of a dead chicken and got nothing. The owner has pretty much wrapped the coop in hardware cloth and still can't find where they're getting in. Owner has about a dozen cats, so setting outside the coop isn't an option. She did find a hole in front of the chicken coop door that wasn't there the day before. EatenByLimestone, I suppose you have never used beaver meat to catch fox or coyotes? Is it natural to their enviroment, maybe, but not always. Yet they still respond to it. Meat is meat. I saved the beaver livers and will be trying those. I'll try the anise oil mixed with Vaseline.

Never gone after fox or coyotes, lol. People around me generally think foxes are beautiful, they don't want to pay me to trap them! I don't know that we've ever had a coyote call. At least it never made its way to me, lol. We wouldn't take the job anyway.

Have her extend the hardware cloth out away from the coop. The weasel will find it hard to dig through material its standing on.

If you need to, bury the hardware cloth.

From what I've been told, the owner has raised chickens for decades and never had a problem with weasels. Once she realized the problem she has been very pro-active in trying to eliminate any entry points. It was only after she had installed the last bit of hardware cloth that she saw evidence of digging. When I inspected the area the first time there we had a nice covering of snow, but there were so many cat tracks around the barn and coop that I couldn't find any weasel tracks. I think they have a den or burrow in the barn somewhere. Truck was totaled when I went to add some different sets, salt truck forced me off the road. Still not sure if road is passable or not, but plan to go out and see if I can get up the road in the rental 4X4. Sucks being with out my truck, but insurance guy says it will be taken care of in a week.

With the digging, it could be rats. I have seen it happen.

Ouch! Hope your truck gets fixed soon!

Jim, would rats attack the chickens and chew the heads off? I have some small double door chipmunk cages I'll set with fresh meat and anise oil formulation that NE Wildlife suggested. Just got the estimate for the truck, WOW. Cost more to fix then what I paid for it. Likely insurance will total it. Still runs and will go into gear, just can't turn steering wheel. Going out in a while to set cages and freshen up ones already on location.

Chicken liver or gizzards on a rat trap

A PIECE OF FRESH BEAVER LIVER WILL ALSO WORK WELL. [JMHO].
ANY FRESH LIVER IS GREAT FOR WEASELS. IT IS THE SMELL OF FRESH BLOOD THAT ATTRACTS THEM.
I WOULD LIKELY MAKE A FEW WEASEL BOXES WITH THE SMALL HOLE IN THE FRONT BAITED WITH LIVER INSIDE. I OFTEN USE A REGULAR RAT "SNAP" TRAPS INSIDE THE BOX TO KILL THE WEASEL.
BAIT THE TRIGGER WITH LIVER AND WRAP IT ON THE TRIGGER WITH FISHING LINE TO HOLD IT SO IT ISN'T STOLEN.
I WOULD PUT THE BOXES OUTSIDE THE COOP BECAUSE THE MANY CATS CAN'T GET INTO THE BOXES. SET THE TRAP FAR ENOUGH BACK A CAT CAN'T REACH HIS PAW IN TO SET OF THE TRAP.
IT IS UP TO YOU BUT I WOULDN'T USE ANISE IN THIS SITUATION SINCE THE WEASEL IS ALREADY COMING TO THE COOP AREA AND THE BLOOD FROM THE LIVER WILL ATTRACT THEM TO THE BOX. [JMHO].

I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT BARN RATS BUT IT IS COMMON FOR A WEASEL TO KILL AND ONLY EAT THE HEAD.

Thanks Katcatcher. I used bloody beaver liver and still didn't connect. I also baited my small chipmunk size cages, but the cats set them off. I told the woman I couldn't do much with all the cats running around. She hasn't had one killed since they found the small entry point and sealed it off. I pulled all sets yesterday. I told the woman if she has anymore problems this winter I wouldn't charge her any set fee, just if I caught the little buggers.

Q ) Are you sure it's weasels ?
Norway rats can ( and do ) kill poultry in the exact same manner as a weasel or mink !

Not entirely sure. I was never able to find any tracks because of all the cat and chicken tracks. I was thinking rat as well when we found a hole dug into the dirt in front of the coop door. I have caught rats easily in double door cages as well as footholds and snap traps. I used fresh beaver meat and beaver liver for bait and got no response. I also tried the anise oil in melted Vaseline. I believe the lady finally got the coop sealed up as she hasn't lost any chickens in the last week or so. I could have maybe caught the weasels outside of the coop, but with 10-12 cats running around it was a lost battle. Was surprised that there were even any weasels around with all the cats.

You are dealing with a Mink.

No tracks and critter was never spotted. Some chickens had head chewed off, others just killed. Big rooster was actually pulled by the head into golf ball sized whole. Took a little effort just to pull it back out. None killed since coop was sealed up with hardware cloth.

Site unseen, no way to make that call...absolutely , No Way !

Most folks that think it's a weasel or mink will find it ends up being a large Norway rat, as the kill the exact same way both of the fore mentioned do. . .and did I mention, they can climb and enter near or at the top of a structure ?

Yeah, I told her there was no way to definitively identify what critter was doing the killing. I assumed it was either mink or weasel. So did she based on what people told her it was. Had no idea that rats could or would do that. If anything there was plenty of waste grain all over the floor of the coop. Owner kept her chickens well fed for sure. I was surprised that anything would prey on the chickens with all the cats around, but she told me all the cats came into the house at night, except a few feral cats that came around occasionally. She has not contacted me in over a week so I guess she has had no more chickens killed. I will reach out to her to make sure though.

rats will kill chickens

Got a call from the woman with the chickens. No chickens lost for over two weeks, but last night she lost 15 hens and a rooster. Does this sound like more than one weasel? Some had heads chewed off, others just killed and left whole. Couldn't find any holes, but she hand a guy literally wrapping the entire coop with hardware cloth. I set several traps in newspaper tubes and did find a couple holes in the other side of the barn that I set foot holds in and covered with buckets to keep the cats out of. I found a boat load of coon scat in the hay loft, but it all looked at least a few weeks old. Only other place something could get in is the small door that the chickens use to go outside, but it has a sliding door that the lady latches from the inside. I think I'm going to try a hail Mary and go over with my predator call and see if I can't get something to show itself. I have a couple pre-charged pneumatic air rifles and would be perfect for removing coon, rats or weasels.

What Jim said...

My original thought was : 'How did you first prove it was a weasel ?"
Norway (now in many places called the 'Brown' ) rats often kill just like a weasel or mink does, a bite to the neck and or head.
I have trapped for many poultry farmers and also nearly two decades for pheasant and quail farms and more often than not, the culprit killing birds was a Norway Rat !

The culprit turned out to be a large buck mink. Caught it in a 120 with a pan. Guy had overlooked a hole in the floor because it was covered over with straw and debris. I was always assuming it was a weasel, but as I stated earlier, that was only because that's what the home owner was told it was. I never found any sign because of all the chicken scratching's and cat tracks everywhere. I did catch a brown rat at one of the holes in the barn, but that was before the last killing spree where 14-15 chickens were killed in one night. The last hole was found after the guy had installed the last batch of hardware cloth. I've left the trap set incase there's another mink. Which leads me to my next question. Do buck mink stay with a female once she's ready to or already has had her babies? I've been told no they don't, but would like to hear from you guys on the subject.

We have had many poultry and game bird operations get hit by mink. They can do some bad damage over nite. They just kill for fun many times it seems as they don't always eat what they kill. Just get a taste for blood and fun. Coyotes often have the same killing behavior.









Coyote (s) came in and killed 5 lambs mostly for exercise and amusement. Ate out some brain/skull and face tissue on one, carried one lamb off and let the others lie where they died. Some of these predators are stone cold killers just because they can at times.

Yeah the last batch was killed (14-15) and not a single one was eaten on. The next night one chicken was killed and it was eaten to the kraal. That's when I found its entry point and put the 120 there, protected with hardware cloth so the chickens couldn't get into the trap. Just got back and had another rat in a zero jump trap. I used the jumps because I can actually put them down inside the hole. Nothing has tried to go through the 120 for 3 or 4 days so I informed the homeowner that I would remove traps this weekend. Once I pull all the traps I will go in and thoroughly inspect the coop and cover any holes I might find. I guess you could say I dropped the ball by assuming the guys she had working for her would have been more thorough in the efforts to seal up all the holes. On the plus side the place is only 3 or 4 miles from my house so I haven't spent a lot of money on gas.
Could anyone tell me if male mink stay with the female and help raise the young or do they go about their merry bachelor way?

Female mink have delayed implantation, the male is not hanging out with her for those 3 or 4 months till she gives birth.

Mr. Jameson, we got called in once for some pen kept deer that had been attacked. Couple does were killed and a couple others chewed on, as well as the big buck. Turned out to be dogs from down the road that the owner turned loose every morning before he went to work. The deer breeder thought it was coyotes, but the large tracks and hair in the fence where they dug under all pointed to dogs. Game warden and dog warden were called in and the next day they found the dogs less than a mile down the road running loose, none were tagged either.
I forgot to ask the homeowner where she got the information about the male sticking around with the female, but everyone else I've asked about it says the male has nothing at all to do with the female once he's bred her.

Certainly dogs can cause some problems with live stock at times. An unskilled individual may have a difficult time in distinguishing between dog kills or maiming or coyote kills. I have had a couple that could have been either species years back. The more recent kills were coyotes on the lamb pasture killing spree. Caught a wet female and an older dog coyote there. Both had some wool in their stomachs. Head, face and organ feeding usually points to coyotes in most cases. As does the skull and neck bite wounds.

The deer kills were exactly that, kills. No feeding on any of them. The tracks in the mud were the leading identifier. That and the hair in the fence crawl under.