stoats

[janetmarie]

We have a stoat that is killing our chickens. It visits about every three days. We have tried to wait for it at night and have tried conventional rat traps both without success. We have seen it on a few occasions. At this rate we will have no chickens left, any ideas what to do next. Thanks janetmarie

[wonkon-wonk]

i like stoats.

[Ethel]

Very difficult to trap stoats - is there any way of making your chickens more secure?

[gelda]

An electric fence will keep him out, expensive at first but cheaper than buying more chickens, if you catch the stoat there are bound to be more family members about.

[wildwood]

Try putting the rat trap in a 2ft long piece of 4" PVC drain pipe if you can. They seem to like those tunnel-type of environments.

Seen a prog ages ago on how they clear island around NZ of stoats and they use those pipes (with poison in them). An adult stoat can squeeze through an 1" hole, unbelievable but they showed it.

[janetmarie]

thanks for all of your suggestions on my stoat problem. i will be trying all of them. Wonken wonk i like stoats too but i also love my chickens they are like pets to me, so if the stoat left them alone we would get along fine. There are plenty of wild rabbits for them to eat. janet marie

[terambulan]

Please dont harm the stoat....they're much rarer than chickens (that are abundant in supermarkets).

Use a pipe running into hose (tumble dryer type) and direct into a plastic bin. Hopefully the stoat will run thru and be trapped in the bin. It can then be moved to another venue, or even caged (domesticated) as they're excellent at eradicating mice/rats; (someone will want to save the mice/rats).

No poisons or traps, please.

[Ice.Maiden]

Yes, try not to kill or injure the stoat jm. I understand that you don't want your chickens harmed, but stoats need protecting. Are you sure it's one, and not a weasel> These are more common, and are more likely to be searching for eggs, rather than the fowls themselves.

[janetmarie]

My chickens are not the type that are found on supermarket shelves. I do not rear meat chickens, there are some very rare breeds and they are treated as pets. Stoats around here are not so rare. Local people see them all of the time and it is definetely not a weasel. I do not want to harm the stoat and at the moment we have had no more trouble so hopefully it has decided to leave due to extra security of our chickens. Thanks for your suggestions. jm

[horseykaren]

well all these Stoat lovers can come an explain to my little girl why her pet Lionhead Rabbit had its throat bitten out on Sunday. Im just looking on here to buy a lovely big trap to kill the whole family of stoats or weazels or whatever they are, before any more of my prize bunnies are murdered in there own cages.

If you get to see the horrible murdering beast, then get your Air rifle out. If I ever get to see anything near my bunnies... god help it!!!