Weasel - how long do I have?

[McChooky]

You are wise to get rid of the rats. They attract weasels (and snakes) Because they love water so much and their favorite food is fish they often live near large bodies of water where its plentiful.
I would use a weasel box to trap him if possible. Google will show you where to buy this type of trap

 

[Folly's place]

Glad you were able to save your chickens! Weasels are amazing little critters, but definitely not in the coop!
Get your housing safe ASAP, good that you have a helpful neighbor.
Mary

 

[lagrange chicks]

If you have rat traps make a box that the trap just fits width wise, have a 11/2" hole in the end of the box (up about 2") so the weasel crawls up a bit to get in. Set the rat trap trigger just below the hole so the weasels 1st step in is on the trigger, bait with fresh meat. Hope you get it they are vicious killers.

 

[MeatyCluckers]

If you have rat traps make a box that the trap just fits width wise, have a 11/2" hole in the end of the box (up about 2") so the weasel crawls up a bit to get in. Set the rat trap trigger just below the hole so the weasels 1st step in is on the trigger, bait with fresh meat. Hope you get it they are vicious killers.

Thank you! We did - last night the weasel actually caught a rat and then somehow dropped it on a snap trap (set up for the rats), and then couldn't figure out how to get it out the hole so it left it. I baited the box with that. Here's hoping.

 

[MeatyCluckers]

Glad you were able to save your chickens! Weasels are amazing little critters, but definitely not in the coop!
Get your housing safe ASAP, good that you have a helpful neighbor.
Mary

They're outside trenching right now! Concrete and hardware cloth will be buried deeper and skirted. I won't feel safe until I trap the weasel, though.

 

[McChooky]

They're outside trenching right now! Concrete and hardware cloth will be buried deeper and skirted. I won't feel safe until I trap the weasel, though.

I've used cinder block,gravel,dirt,rocks and landscape staples to secure the hw cloth to the ground.My coop and runs up against the woods underneath trees (Above ground roots )If you have any areas with silty fluffy soil that won't compact that will be a problem area.I couldn't dig down so I stacked cinder blocks(a couple rows of them) and filled them with gravel and dirt.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

>(we buried the wire but apparently not deep enough).

How deep did you bury it? We have a similar problem here with ground squirrels. They burrow deep and everywhere and love chicken feed and eggs.

When we rebuild our coop we're going to bury 1/2" 19-gauge hardware cloth in the run but I'm not sure how deep.

 

[MeatyCluckers]

How deep did you bury it? We have a similar problem here with ground squirrels. They burrow deep and everywhere and love chicken feed and eggs.

When we rebuild our coop we're going to bury 1/2" 19-gauge hardware cloth in the run but I'm not sure how deep.

It was buried about 6 inches in most places. Now it is 18-24 inches and cemented in. I’m sure if a rat was really determined it could go below that but I’m doing my best to make it unappealing and hard.

I found a couple weak spots/points of entry for rats (spots where the hardware cloth had been cut slightly for a wire to go through etc). Between that, snap traps, and the treacle feeder I have seen no rats inside the run overnight for the first time in a long time. Every morning and evening I go out and inspect for new holes and if I find any (I actually didn’t today!), I fill/cover and stamp the hell out of the ground. Have been setting traps still but haven’t had any luck catching him yet.

I have not seen the weasel in two nights now. I’m assuming it’s still there but it hasn’t tried to breach the walls again and hasn’t been spotted anywhere our cameras can see. Im keeping a very watchful eye, but just crossing fingers and toes that maybe a predator got it (we’ve got the lot of predators here so there are lots to choose from - including a barn cat nearby who was out prowling all night around the run and the next morning I found just the head and the stomach of a rat in the lawn).

 

[McChooky]

We already had rats when we moved here because the previous tenant didn't haul his trash off. Took 2 yrs to get rid of them without hiring an exterminator(starved them out)We also removed an above ground pond because it attracted frogs and snakes(which I hate) Congratulations on getting rid of the rats!

 

[MeatyCluckers]

We already had rats when we moved here because the previous tenant didn't haul his trash off. Took 2 yrs to get rid of them without hiring an exterminator(starved them out)We also removed an above ground pond because it attracted frogs and snakes(which I hate) Congratulations on getting rid of the rats!

Well, I'd say "rid of" in quotations because I'm sure with how many there were, they're still about somewhere - just not able to access the run. It's been a lot of work. We live in an area surrounded by both farm, nature, city, and (currently) active demo and construction so they have a lot of choices for where to move on, but for now anyway they seem to be a significantly smaller issue. I still don't feel super secure because I feel like weasels will find a way in no matter what you do if they're determined enough - so I really will feel a lot better if I can trap it or find its corpse somewhere. I actually saw a barred owl the other night perched over the coop area (after the chickens were in bed and locked up), so I'm hoping it will just keep watch overnight.

I love my chickens and I do love keeping them most of the time - but this whole ordeal has made me really doubt that I'd replace this flock if we lost them (although our set up is pretty outrageous and expensive and definitely not portable so I'm not sure what we'd even do with it if that was ever the case). I'm much too high strung to handle this, I feel like I haven't untensed my shoulders in ages.