Bitter

 

Anyone who raises chickens knows there are plenty of predators who’d like to make a feast of their birds.  Earlier this week, while on the phone with my MIL, I saw a weasel making it’s way from the farmyard across the field in our backyard.  I mentioned it to my MIL; we talked about trapping; then we didn’t give it another thought. 

We SHOULD have done more.  Friday morn, we lost five chickens (4 Wyandottes & 1 Rhode Island Red).  We were fortunate it was only five.  Weasels can demolish a whole flock in one night.  My FIL, husband & Dash worked to secure the chicken coop and they also set traps. 

We caught a mouse, but no weasel and lost one more Wyandotte sometime before Saturday morning.  So, more work was done to secure the remaining flock of 23 birds.  This evening, my husband researched online to learn more about a weasel’s habits and hopefully how to defeat this cunning predator.  I hope we catch it, but I’ll never feel as secure about the safety of our flock. 

Update:  The safety measures have worked for a night.  Sunday morn, we hadn’t lost any more chickens.  We will need to be much more diligent, though, about checking the coop and surrounding perimeter.