Solitary chicken - need advice

[Kayte]

Hi there

 

I posted a message on here a few months back when my bantam Roxie was eaten inside the eglu, (in a locked run). someone suggested it could be a mink or ferret. My favourite girl Wally was eaten the night before last, again inside the locked run, but this time she seemed to be outside the eglu itself when she was attacked.

 

I'm finding it difficult to understand how the mink/ferret gets in and gets hold of them. I need to make them secure but not sure what I am up against. I now am shutting the eglu door at night but obviously because Roxie was actually pulled through the gap at the back (sorry to be graphic) where the droppings tray is I now put rocks on the inside and outside of the eglu to deter them from sleeping at the back where they could be in danger.

 

I have a fox watch and lion poo around the garden as well. Wondering if a second layer of chicken wire over the top of the eglu would help?

 

Any other ideas?

 

A very sad Kayte.

[bronze]

I'm sorry to hear its happened again.

Don't know if you've done it but wire (welsdmesh not chicken wire) under the eglu to stop something small getting up the hole in the nestbox.

[Kayte]

right, wow, hadn't thought of that.

 

Would the chicken wire not be small enough to stop something getting through?

 

Thanks for the tip

 

Kayte x

[Egluntyne]

Gosh....very sorry to hear this.

 

It does sound like the work of a mink or stoat.

 

TBH chicken wire would probably be no match for their teeth, unless you put several layers and checked it regularly.

 

Just a thought....why not try to trap whatever is visiting.

[sparkysmum]

Kayte I am so sorry this has happened. It sounds dreadful. I have no suggestions but just wanted to pass on my commiserations. It is terrible when a pet dies even when you are expecting it but the shock must have made it much worse. Thinking of you. Allison

[pencilbeckett]

Hi Kayte

 

I just wanted to say i am so sorry for the loss of your poor girl. I agree with the other reply you had about trapping the offender. I am shocked that something has managed to get in through the wire in the run.

 

Hope you manage to get something sorted

[Kayte]

How would i go about trapping it? are there traps you can buy? what do i do with it when i trap it?!! (I'm such a townie) I'm so interested to know what/how becasue my imagination is running wild.

 

I think that what ever it is is somehow hooking the birds through the wire (or in the previous attack, through the gap at the back of the eglu) because the bigger bits of the bird are left inside the run. I hope chickens die of shock when they are being attacked because it is a very horrible way to go. I'm sorry this is so horrible. I don't know how it got Wally out of the eglu in the first place as it was night time and she should have been asleep. Usually when you make any noise on the run at night its ronnie who pops her head out (i think she thinks she is a guard dog)

 

Whatever got Wally was very clean, only feathers and a chest bone left, and it was stripped clean. the last attacker left the wings. I heard that minks tend to just take their heads.

 

horror movie stuff huh?

 

thanks for your kind wishes.

 

i left a voice mail with omlet too to see if they had heard of this happening before.

 

Kayte

[Snowy]

Are you sure it's not rats? Rats will kill and eat a chicken whilst it is sleeping. Why not put out a couple of rat traps at night, round the edge of the eglu and see what you catch? Peanut butter is very good as bait.

 

Sorry about your girlies - awful for you and them Hope you get the varmint that did it

[helenmb]

Poor you what a terrible thing to find and for a second time too!

 

I seem to remember seeing on SpringWatch that mink are a real problem and if you find you have one or more of these then if you notify the local authority they should be able to deal with them. They are a danger to a lot of our native wildlife and for that reason they are usually destroyed humanely. Do you live close to a river as they could be coming from there?

 

You may be able to get some assistance with regard to Rats too, particularly if you are in a town rather than the countryside - as they carry disease etc. I can understant anyone's reluctance as to what to do with them once you have caught them hopefully the council would assist.

 

Its worth a try.

[Kayte]

We are in a town and by a river. I hadn't thought about calling the council, i guess I'm scared they'll tell me off for keeping chickens but I will call them. I know we have mice in the garden. There are paw prints on the cover so I think it is a mink/ferret/weasel type creature.

 

will call vermin people at council now.

 

thanks guys

[Egluntyne]

How would i go about trapping it? are there traps you can buy? what do i do with it when i trap it?!! (I'm such a townie) I'm so interested to know what/how becasue my imagination is running wild.

You can buy live catch traps at B&Q but then you would have the thorny question of what to do with the trapped animal. The only advantage to these traps is that you can release it if it isn't the target animal (unless you catch other vermin).

 

However, it is illegal to release trapped vermin, or to drown them. You are supposed to kill it with a sharp blow to the head or shoot it. The first is unpalatable for most town dwellers, and the second is probably not an option for most backyard hen keepers who are unlikely to possess a firearm.

 

I'd bait a few ordinary rat traps and see what happens.

 

**this PDF file** confirms what I have just said above, but suggests that the live catch trap is the most successful method.

 

Good luck.

[Louisdog]

Sorry to hear about your poor hen

 

Are weasels quite small so they could squeeze through the wire? Rats too can squeeze through small gaps? So if the animal hasn't been in the run then maybe it was something a bit bigger like a ferret.

 

Did you think something may have got through the nestbox hole, maybe you could plug it with a lump of wood? I know that it is chewable but would take ages to gnaw through compared with chicken wire.

 

Do you have a webcam you could set up to see what is happening?

[helenmb]

Hi again Kayte

 

You won't get into trouble about keeping poultry so long as your deeds to your house forbid it. I think keeping hens as pets also is never normally a problem only when someone has a rooster who crows as day breaks!

 

Good luck - hope they can help you as it sounds like something that is coming from the river. Mink can be very vicious so best to get in the experts - plus I don't think there would be any cost if it was mink. They will have a pest control officer who you might be able to speak to for advice too.

 

If found a couple of internet links which might help they sound quite small so the might manage to infiltrate the eglu and run?

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/103599/mink_homepage_900257.doc

http://www.waterscape.com/features-and-articles/features/wildlife/mink

[Kayte]

I spoke with environmental health and pest control today - they said they couldn't help and told me to call the rspca! not sure why...

 

I'm going to look into some traps.

 

Fingers crossed for an event -free night.

 

thanks so much for all the help, info and support. I will keep you posted.

 

Kayte

[sparkysmum]

Hello Kayte, Just a quick note. We had a visit from a mink a month or two back. The whole business was awful as no-one was in a position to actually help us deal with it. The legal position (at least in Scotland) is that if you trap them you MUST kill them (shotgun) You cannot release them anywhere. We decided that since we could not possibly do this, the only thing we could do was to do away with the "hen garden" and now the hens free range across the whole garden. I felt that they would have no chance in "their " enclosure. I was worried that the mink would keep on trying. I hope you find that your "visitor "is easier to deal with. Allison

[Louisdog]

have you thought of using an airrifle if you do trap anything? A friend used one for a magpie recently and said it was very quick and humane.

[Bondinho]

Sorry to hear about your hen

 

If you did trap it in a live trap thingy, could you not take it to a local farmer who I'm sure would deal with it for you...quite happily I'd imagine!

 

Hope you get it sorted.

[Redwing]

Firstly - how terrible for you, I am so sorry.

 

I was thinking about this as I saw to my girls this morning and thought that perhaps you could have a curved strip of metal with spikes as 'legs' that you could push in to the ground at the around bottom back part of the Eglu to prevent access to the gap at the slide out tray.

 

Does that make sense?

 

I am guessing a blacksmith would make this up quite cheaply.

 

Also if anything can burrow in to your run perhaps you could stick some weldmesh on the back of the ventalation holes at the front of the Eglu?

[redfrock]

Hi Kayte

 

So sorry to hear you have had to go through such a ghastly experience again . Sending you big hugs.

 

I have been pondering this most of the day, and I must admit that when we had the eglu I did wonder if anything could / would scoot up the nest box hole (although ours were sited on slabs). I am just wondering whether you may be better off with a cube. I know it is a huge expense, but it is at least raised a good couple of feet or so off the ground. I know very little about mink, but wonder if this would at least deter whatever it is that is plaguing you, rather than the ease of them being situated at ground level.

 

Claire x