milwichchickenlover Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Hi Over the past few days we have been unfortunate to be visited by a family of squirrels, Mummy, Daddy and baby squirrel who have eaten their way through our grub containers so they have fallen on the floor and taken to the baby one having a nap in one of the grubs! Our set up is a Cube with an additional run to the Cube run and a small eglu. Both houses doors are left open all day till dusk and they have additional space to free range during the day which is fenced off. As soon as we walk down to the bottom of the garden the little dears make a dash for it and escape over the fence and into the field behind our garden. Found the little one asleep and tried to catch it but it ran off before I could get it. OH and my son are now camping out down there with a pellet gun hoping to catch the vile creatures. Any ideas? I'm worried about diseases etc especially as I have two newbies who have only been with us for 2 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Oh help, I have no idea what to suggest . Don't the hens see them off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milwichchickenlover Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 They run after them, yes. I managed to catch the baby one in the eglu but she started chewing on the wire and was worried she's do the same to the pen as the grubs! My hens were very brave when it was penned in but ran off when she escaped! I feel like Jasper Carrot and his moles! Help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Oh dear what a pain. I used to keep my eglu run closed after the chooks had laid and put food out in a feeder under the window where I work so I could stop the fat wood pigeons and a rat eating from the eglu. The situation has now improved and so the door is open all the time not. I suppose that you could try that until they hopefully give up. You would have to take the Grubs out whent the door is shut otherwise they will damage the wire trying to get in. I have also been told that squirrels don't like chilli powder in food whereas it doesn't bother of affect chickens. I can't swear that this is true though, maybe someone else can confirm this. If so perhaps you could add some to your food for a while (don't know what your eggs will taste like ) Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busybird Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 You could buy a squirrel trap (about £30 from Countrywide). Ours is a cage with a feeder at the end which snaps closed when the squirrel feeds trapping it live. It is very effective. However, if you trap a squirrel you must then be able to humanely dispatch it (within a day of capture) as it is illegal to release a squirrel into the wild. As you are willing to use a gun on them I assume you would not feel bad about this. I consider grey squirrels to be vermin - rats with tails. We get quite a few in the garden as we live next to a wood and one once tried to attack my girls when they all wanted some spilt sunflower seeds from the bird table Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ness3103 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 i've heard a good deterrant is eucalyptus oil, squirrels hate the smell. my dad soaked cotten wool in it and put it around his plants to stop the squirrels eating the buds. it seems to have worked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milwichchickenlover Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Thanks everyone - Will try chilli powder for a while, have contacted a pest control man and he has ordered some traps for me. Every day this week the family of vermin have been camped out with the chickens and I agree - they are rats with tails!!! Wish me luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Clucks-minusOne Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 We have lots of squirrels in the wood but don't usually have any trouble with them. They run along the fence and into the trees above the girls. But today they have chewed a container of oats I have near the run and scattered the oats(obviously don't like them). My fault for leaving it out but I will try the eucalyptus oil I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-F-C Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 That's just nuts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro1962 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I must remember the tip about eucalyptus oil. Could come in handy. For a high-tech solution, I have been looking at THIS as a fox deterrent. One of the settings does for squirrels apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlo Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 One ofthe squirrels in our garden nearly concussed himself the other day. I came down and didn't realise that he was in the run. He dashed up to the Eglu end and kept running against it. Eventually he worked out how to get out but it was disturbingly amusing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goda Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 I found a squirrel fast asleep in the nesting box last night in our cube. The chickens were looking at it from the roosting area! I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to get the squirrel out. It wasn’t having it. Very determined. Put thick gloves on in the end picked it up - whilst it tried to get back in the coup. Right, eucalyptus oil and chilli powder. Let’s give it a go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
