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Trapping a weasel...

Started by shinnlinger, April 07, 2013, 09:39:02 PM

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shinnlinger

Hi,

A weasel has been spotted on my property (and neighbors fish farm) and suspect number one in finishing off some laying hens this winter.  The old birds and sad daughters are one thing, but I have hundreds of broilers coming in a month or so.   Haven't had much of a predation problem with my pastured birds since running electric mesh around the porta pens a few years ago, but all the same I want to minimize risks. 

Any pointers?  Hire my pro trapper neighbor and admit my ignorance?  Buy a havahart?  Stake out the woodpile?

Dave
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

Brad_bb

How much does a Weasel eat?  How significant would the losses be if you did nothing?  Do they kill mice or rats?  Might be a good thing?  We don't have any such in my area(IL)
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thecfarm

Not a good thing to have around with chickens Kinda like racoons,shunks,foxes. Might just as well put a sign up saying roast beef,$5.99 all you can eat.  :o I got sick of fighting all the critters and gave up on all the fowl. I had one fox come right out of the woods while my wife was talking to a customer to grab a chicken. I trapped a few of the roast beef eaters and told them not to come back.  ;D
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Jeff

It is not how much they eat, it is how much they kill. Years ago we used to keep tame rabbits. We lost them all one winter to a weasel. The only mark you would find on them was a little blood on the throat. I caught one of em by accident at the cabin in a minnow trap in the shed. We don't mind them up there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGJLAkc_kvo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NUaL795fpE
Just call me the midget doctor.
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Ezekiel 22:30

buckey

a live trap with anise oil on the trap pan will do the trick...

Axe Handle Hound

Brad- Jeff is right.  It wouldn't be bad if they'd take a chicken every now and then, but they get into the coop and kill ALL the chickens and then leave. 

We used a small conibear in a long wooden box.   

tgalbraith

Quote from: Brad_bb on April 07, 2013, 10:21:42 PM
How much does a Weasel eat?  How significant would the losses be if you did nothing?  Do they kill mice or rats?  Might be a good thing?  We don't have any such in my area(IL)

It is'nt so much how much they eat, it's how much they "KILL". One weasel in a hen house will kill every bird and only drink
a little blood and leave the rest. :'(
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loggah

Weasels are blood thirsty little critters ,they used to get chickens and ducks when we had them!! a weasel got in and killed one of the big white ducks we had ,dragged across the inside of the coop and tried to drag it under the door, chewed its head off and dragged it off!!! The duck probably weighed 15 times what the weasel did !!!! probably a big rat trap with some red meat on it might get him,the conibear and the tunnel sounds good also. Don
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Chuck White

I think that even after a weasel has had it's fill, they'll continue to kill.

Remember too, weasels have scent glands the same as skunks do, they even smell like a skunk only not so powerful!
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Jeff

In the one video above, where I am looking under the truck, it turned out the weasel was after a big mouse. It was relentless looking for that mouse, even with 3 humans present. I found the mouse huddled in a clump of grass near the tire of the truck shortly after the video ended.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

WH_Conley

Using the tunnel method, if you don't have a Conibear a number 1 1/2 or larger leg hold trap in the tunnel will do the same job. Just make sure there is enough room for it to close and wire a piece of bloody meat to the pan.
Bill

trapper

A 6 inch square wooden box 1 foot long with a 2 1/2 inch hole in the middle of the front.
A 1 1/2 long spring or coilspring trap inside right below the opening.  some bloody meat inside in the back of the box.  The box also protects the trap from cats and dogs.  Make the top removable or able to swing open. to bait and set trap and remove catch.  A  rat trap could also be used inside the box.
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Fraxinus

I caught a weasel last fall in a havahart trap in my cellar.  The trap had been baited for chipmunks which we were overrun with last year.  It had no bait in it at all when I caught the varmint.  I think he just went in there out of curiosity.  I was amazed at how the critter was so "unfrantic", if that's a word.  Since I had no chickens or other livestock that needed protecting, I took him outside and let him go.  Never saw any more chipmunks and never caught any more mice in the house.  Up until then, I had been catching 1 or 2 mice every night.
They will definitely decimate your poultry.
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Jeff

This dude didn't survive the rat trap used to catch pine squirrels in the cabin shed.

Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

loggah

A few years back my mini-museum had  bunch of mice move in for the winter,i was trapping them and throwing them out onto the snow where the crows and jays were scoffing them up. One morning i grabbed a mouse by the tail and threw the mouse about the time it hit the ground a weasel popped up out of the snow about 2 inches away , he stared at the mouse about 2 seconds grabbed it and down the hole it went!!!! ;D ;D shocked me pretty much to see that,that weasel hung around most of the winter snagging the mice i threw out. Our chickens were long gone so i didn't mind it getting the mice. Don
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Jeff

Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

millwright

I have one living in my sawshed and haven't seen a mouse since he moved in.

Fraxinus

I haven't seen that one since I caught him and let him go and I also haven't seen any chipmunks.  Last summer we were overrun with the little buggers.
Too bad he wouldn't clean out a few squirrels, too.
Loggah, I throw the dead mice out for the crows, too.  Back when I was catching them regular, those crows would come around every morning to check and see if there were any.  They sure don't miss much.  :o
Grandchildren, Bluegrass music, old tractors, trees and sawmills.  It don't get no better'n that!

shinnlinger

Ok,

Borrowed some "weasel traps" from an old timer. The consist of homebuilt narrow wooden boxes with 1-1/2 holes drilled at either end and a small snap trap to put in the middle.  The look promising to me but wonder about bait.

Anise oil?  Bloody meat?  The old timer had them at his camp and waited for mice to build nests in them but I don't want to wait that long if I can help it.

Dave
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

loggah

Dave, just set a mouse trap outside catch a mouse ,and use it for bait  in the box. Don
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

clww

I was catching a bunch of mice last fall at the cabin. I'd throw them down the hill from the cabin. The next morning, there would be coyote tracks in the mud. This went on for most of a month, and I never did see this coyote.
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