[Charlwood1005]

A member of my family claimed to see two rats close to the house. We haven't got chickens yet.

The council came out and put down bait boxes, after a further two visits he said that there was no evidence of rats but there were indications that we had mice.

Two weeks later the wife claims to have seen a weasel in the same place that the rats? were seen.

I have taken to staring vacantly out of the window :roll:  in the forlorn hope that I might see something so I know what to do.

Will be building the hen house in the next 4 weeks hopefully.

Any advice will be welcome

Thanks

[Viv]

Welcome to the forum, someone on here will be able to give you advice if it is a weasel.
Looking forward to hearing all about your hens and of course pictures are a must

[poultrygeist]

Hi,
Welcome to the board.
Are you building a run for the chickens or letting them free range around the garden ?

If in a run, I would make it rat proof as much as you can. Our fencing is 25x13mm wire mesh (1mm/19g) up to about 3' then 1/2" chicken wire above that all on a sturdy frame.
The lower 6" of the mesh is bent flat on the ground with paving slabs on top to stop rats and foxes burrowing under. It seems to be working so far.
Make sure your feed and bedding is kept somewhere secure. Ours are in plastic dustbins with lids which are far from rat-proof but again we've been lucky.
The advice (which I haven't yet taken) is to put down rat poison inside a small tunnel like construction or under some large guttering along the edges of the run or by a wall/hedge which they use to get to/from the food. That will need to be re-stocked when taken.

Hopefully some more experienced and knowledgable folks will advise.
Don't let it put you off.

Rob

[Charlwood1005]

Thanks for the replies

I am just building accomodation, pictures to follow.

The girls will be free ranging in a 12x6 meter pen.

I think we will start with four and build up from there.

Once the hen house is built ( HQ1 ) or Hen Quarters 1 I have to fence off the area so the girls wont be arriving until early May.

Has anyone seen a weasel? and do they attack chickens?

[Viv]

from memory I think that they are more ferret linke with a longer nose I do not think that they look like a rat.

[Vember]

weasels do attack chickens But they will also attack Rats, could be that the weasel has seen off your rats. I have seen a rat an weasel fighting the weasel won !!
 The nasty thing about weasels is they tend to rip off heads and leave a body for you to find  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:

Sorry can't tell you anything good

As Pg has said make sure you make it as rat proof as possible, Twilweld netting is the best, rats can bite through normal chicken wire

Hope that helps :?:

[naturesparadise]

if you have weasels then you have a problem they will go after your chooks

they can get into the smallest of holes  you could set a trap for it

then take it a number of miles away and let it go

[mercury]

Weasels won't bother your adult hens charlwood, but if you've any little chicks they will take them, i think people get mistaken between weasels and stoats, the stoat is bigger and will take adult hens and eggs

[Charlwood1005]

Pictures as promised

[mercury]

WOW!!! poshest hen house in lancs