Live Traps

Locking the chickens up at night seems to be working well. But an animal is still getting inside the fencing somehow. It chewed up the little window trying to get in the coop.

After speaking with the retired ranch Foreman at church, he offered to set a trap to catch the animal. He suspected it was a bobcat.

The first night the animal eluded us, eating the bait, releasing the door, but also getting out.

So I went out the next day and bought a bigger trap. 

The coop window before.

The coop window after. The animal is tall enough to reach the window and strong enough to bend the wire.

Foreman set the trap with fish bait and put it in the area where we found the feathers.

Once the animal steps on the metal plate, the door shuts behind it.

The next morning the fish was gone and the door shut, but no animal.

The trap comes fully assembled.

The trap was suitable for small to medium sized animals.

Suggested bait only helps if you know what you're hunting.

From the box: Step 1

From the box: Step 2

From the box: Step 3 (although we probably won't be following this step)

We used battered fish fillets I had in the freezer, soaked in cherry Kool-Aid (per farm store suggestion).

Set both traps next to each other.