Groundhog under the coop

[nurse_turtle]

Groundhogs are "true" rodents and do not eat nor attack chickens. In my opinion, not a threat to the chickens at all.

 

[ChickenSahib]

We had one of those diggers once. We just stuck the hose in the hole and unleashed water on it. We never saw any holes again.

 

[Mattemma]

I just caught my 3rd or 4th last night.Relocate them or dispatch,because they will eat all your vegetation.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I never had a problem with ground hogs but we do have a major battle with moles digging up the chicken run as well as our yard and all of my gardens. My best defense on these destructive lil stinkers is a big sharp pitch fork! SSS method works well, stab, shovel and shut up....

 

[theFox]

The primary danger to your chickens is that ground hog tunnels can be and are used by other animals that aren't chicken friendly.

Ground hogs are murder on many vegetable plants, they can carry rabies and various parasites.

There is rarely just one and if you have a breeding pair then you'll quickly find yourself with many of the critters.

They are easy to take care of, they follow a fairly regular schedule which allows one to hunt them and if you find their tunnels you can always set a spring trap etc... at the beginning of the tunnel, they can be live trapped as well.

Their tunnels can run deep so it isn't always effective just going down a foot with the fencing.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
this is the way I have taken care of them as well hook up the pump turn the water on and when they run out shoot them after having known folks who had to put down horse because of the rodents I do not mess around with them just another rat on the plus side they make good fox bait and the young ones are rather tasty I have a friend who makes 'chuck burgers" LOL tells every one it is " ground chuck " LOL

 

[flyingtnh]

We had one earlier in the summer - not bugging the chickens, but tearing apart our garden. Snares and livecatch traps didn't work, and not only are they pretty aware of that kind of thing, they are persistent - they'll dig pretty deep to get under a fence.

He's no longer a factor... I wrote about it today.

http://flyingtnh.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/battling-the-varmint-cong/

 

[angusshangus]

I have had groundhogs as well. They like to move in under my shed every so often and work over my vegetable garden. I have a large havaheart trap and have captured 7 or 8 over the past 5 years. They aren't particularly bright and are easily trapped if you use the right bait. I've had good luck with fruits like apples or strawberries. I move them 2 or 3 miles away to an unincorporated part of western Essex County, NJ near to where I live... If they can find their way back to my house and survive crossing 2 major county roads then god bless 'em!

 

[darkmatter]

I used this to deal with groundhogs:

http://ushotstuff.com/wg/GroundhogSmp.htm

 

[Agdketo]

Quote:
The problem with that, is you can only move it a certain distance, ( not sure, you'll have to check your state laws because they vary) and then the stupid thing will come back. If you have access to a .22 rifle, just put a bullet in it. it'll only cost you 3 cents. cheap and highly effective.