Ermine in my house!

[zowieyellowflame]

Just after breakfast, we discovered an Ermine (weasel) in our house! Instantly afraid it would be lost in our house, we quickly opened the door and chased it outside, where it ran away.
Now, I am worried about my chickens. My coop is not weasel proof. I can't see how it ever could be either. This weasel has been around for years we think, we have seen it around, and footprints on the snow.
Does this little weasel breed also kill chickens? It seemed so tiny.
We are going to try to trap it.

 

[sarahsark]

I went on Google to do some research for you, because I haven't (thankfully) had to deal with weasels much myself, and this is what I found:
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/arctic_wildlife/107666/2

While hunting the Ermine may travel up to ten miles in one night. Once the Ermine sees or smells its next victim it will advance as near to its prey as possible. With unbelievable speed it grips the back of the victim's neck with sharp teeth and wraps its body and feet around the victim. According to the availability of food will determine the Ermine's population.........

Ermines have a sharp sense of sight and smell that assists them in finding food. Ermine are a flesh eating animal that seek their prey mainly at night. They prefer targeting small, warm blooded animals like rabbits and smaller animals. When small animals for food are scarce the Ermine will eat birds, eggs, frogs, fish, and insects..................


The negative economic importance for humans is that some farmers claim that Ermine kill their poultry.



So, yeah...

Sounds like nasty little things and I am certain, after reading this and several other articles like it, that this Ermine will kill your chickens. I don't have any advice about how to weasel-proof your coop, but I have read a lot of posts on here which gave me the idea that weasel-proofing is extremely hard, because the little evil things can get into just about anything.

Does anyone else have any good weasel-proofing ideas for zowieyellowflower?

 

[zowieyellowflame]

Thanks for that info!!!
I locked the chickens up as well as I could last night, but low and behold.......

The little weasel made it back into the house. Not the chicken coop, but my HOUSE!!!!
We had bought rat traps and beef liver, hoping to trap it outside but instead, we seen it again in our bathroom so we set the trap in there. Sometime during the night he was tempted by the liver and was killed. YOU SHOULD SEE ITS TEETH!!!!
Of course, now I am worried it is not the same one. I am worried there is a family.
What are the chances that the same weasel came into my house and we found it twice on the same day? What are the chances there is a family of weasels living in my house?
Both sounds crazy doesn't it?

 

[Godsgrl]

I wonder if it was sick, and that led it into your house. What a nightmare, sorry you are dealing with this.

 

[plumberroy]

My Dad thought they were good to have in the deer camp cabin because if they were living there rats and mice wouldn't be
Roy

 

[aprophet]

bloody bait beef liver chicken liver etc and a rat trap works here

 

[Araylee]

I have to wonder if it nested in there. Ick.

 

[TRChickenRanch]

I can tell you for a fact.....they DO kill chickens!!! We are battling one right now.
It has killed two of our hens( one of which was Frosty, my footless girl that I nursed back to health and was thriving) she had no chance against him.
Then the other night it got our little rooster.
We thought we sealed all points that it could have gotten in but we were wrong. We found two more small holes and also found it chewed through the screen on the window we have in the coop.
Today we are going to use a fine metal mesh and seal all corners and seams and use the mesh for a new screen as well.
The rest of the hens are in the garage right now which isn't much better as that is not sealed either.
We are going to bait it with some delicious raw stew meat laced with poison and put it on a large rat trap.
Anyone who thinks about catch and release with these things may as well kill their chickens themselves because it will comes back!!!! Once they have found a food source they will stay until it's gone.
I'll keep you posted.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Thanks for that info!!!
I locked the chickens up as well as I could last night, but low and behold.......

The little weasel made it back into the house. Not the chicken coop, but my HOUSE!!!!
We had bought rat traps and beef liver, hoping to trap it outside but instead, we seen it again in our bathroom so we set the trap in there. Sometime during the night he was tempted by the liver and was killed. YOU SHOULD SEE ITS TEETH!!!!
Of course, now I am worried it is not the same one. I am worried there is a family.
What are the chances that the same weasel came into my house and we found it twice on the same day? What are the chances there is a family of weasels living in my house?
Both sounds crazy doesn't it?

What you should be worrying about is why the ermine is in your house - usually these sorts of things are a symptom of a large rodent problem. Do you have a crawlspace or basement?