Years of raising poultry means oodles of experience allot withpredatorsof all shapes and sizes .
We ’ve had tragic losses and have prevented even more . We ’ve circumvent hungry predators and have even follow as a fearless — clueless?—opossum malinger toward our coops while we stomach right beside the them .
The years we have spend fighting our animal adversaries have serve us hone a very specific aspect of domestic fowl rearing : we know what the locality nasties find tasty . ( Besides our birds , that is . )
If you are having predator problems and are wondering what to apply to tease your traps , take your cue from five options that have worked for us .
Here are some effective ways to keep pests out of your b .
Raccoons
tinned kat food is our go - to bait for these nocturnal carnivores . We have taste a variety over the years , both flaked and paté , and we have sample an array of proteins .
The most successful selection — the one that drew the most racoon to our traps — was flaked salmon .
Every single fourth dimension that we used flaked salmon , we had a racoon in our trap the next morning . Flaked tuna was also popular with raccoon , but not to the same grade as the salmon .
Ana Hotaling
Less successful was the paté version of these , much to our chagrin . Paté is much promiscuous to handle !
Least successful of all ? Ironically , chicken and turkey . The only thing we could surmise is that the scent of fish entice a racoon ’s roof of the mouth more than that of domestic fowl . Apparently the domestic fowl has to be springy to bring up a raccoon ’s interest .
Opossum
It took a while to see what bait would work good for these omnivorous pouched mammal , since they are opportunistic eaters . They ’ll go through anything that fills their bellies and fire their bodies .
We test everything from guy and click food to kitchen trash and aging remnant to see what bait offering would comfortably draw in them to the predator cakehole . Two choice eventually leave the others behind : softly scrambled eggs and beef that is starting to turn bad .
It could be cooked meat or raw meat , but it had to be aging . heart fresh from the butcher ’s section simply did not attract possum as gist that had begin to decay . Our effrontery is that the rancidity please an phalanger ’s taste bud substantially than a fresh , clean taste .
Ana Hotaling
As for the testis ? Our surmisal is that they just like the tang .
moderate out these ways you’re able to prevent predators from enter the chicken rill .
Weasels
Smaller than most predatory carnivore , weasels can quickly lay waste to a flock . Of all the hunting watch in our area , the weasel — and its first cousin , the mink coat and the badger — posed a temporary puzzle to us , as our farm has ( to day of the month ) never been savaged by these creature .
Several of our fellow poultry - keep neighbors have , however , and asked for our suggestions regarding which bait to expend . After some trial and mistake , chunky , beef - stew - elan click food — the kind with its own pan gravy — proved to be the gross choice .
Since weasels hunt around the clock and give birthing at dissimilar time of the year , maintain fresh sweetener in your vulture traps is all-important . honest-to-goodness bait turn a loss its meaty aroma and will no longer attract these predators .
Mice
The landing field mice that have found their elbow room into our henhouse over the yr survived by scrounging crumbles spill by our layers . What they really love , however , is creamy goober pea butter .
Regardless of whether we habituate a snap ambuscade or a containment gob , creamy peanut butter land these niggling gnawer running . Crunchy goober pea butter run , too , but the prominent texture of crunchy does n’t tolerate for as much bait to be used . So we ’ve had more success with creamy . Ana Hotaling
Rats
There is one and only one bait that has ensure winner for our blabber traps : volaille feed . Not peanut butter , not kitchen scraps , not remnant , not cat nutrient .
Rats will unfalteringly gnaw through seal sack of chick cultivator and grownup pellets , contaminating the table of contents . We lose at least a half dozen 50 - pound bags of feed before we had our light - bulb second : the rats wanted the level rations , so let ’s give them the layer ration .
We did find out that , for maximum efficiency , we had to carefully place the bait within the trap ’s cup . Otherwise , the cunning rodent would feed on the crumbles that were on the trap but not in the sweetener cup … and this would not set off the trap .
An add up bonus : clean the bait cup is much well-situated with chicken crumbles than with messy goober pea butter .
