Heather Nicklas enjoys living close to nature and wildlife on her rural Laramie County property, but over the past year or so one of her wild neighbors has gotten to be too much.
A badger has been vexing her since last year, digging holes everywhere and devouring her chickens.
Her efforts to trap it have been in vain, and she said her livestock guardian dogs will “bark, bark, bark” at the badger but haven’t run it off or caught it.
She’s certain it’s a lone animal — not a mother with babies — though she’s gotten only one brief glimpse of it.
But that lone badger is an overachiever when it comes to wreaking havoc, Nicklas said.
“Last year, my entire chicken flock got murdered,” she said, about 25 birds in all.
She fortified her chicken coop and hasn’t lost any birds so far this year, but she wonders how long it will take for the digging bandit to breach the perimeter and start massacring chickens again.
Meanwhile, she worries about her larger livestock breaking their legs in the badger holes that permeate her pasture. She has a Shetland pony, two alpacas and three goats.
Trapping Effort Backfires
Badgers aren’t unheard of in the area. Normally, they stick to hunting ground squirrels and prairie dogs.
But, for whatever reason, one particular badger took a liking to Nicklas’ property last year, and it hasn’t left.
She tried setting a cage-style live trap for it, using a chunk of beef heart as bait.
It backfired.
“I ended up trapping one of the chickens,” Niklas said.
Snares or leg clamp tramps aren’t an option.
“I just won’t do a foot trap or anything like that, because I have my dogs, my barn cats, and my kids,” Nicklas said.
She’s tried to stay vigilant, hoping to catch the badger off-guard, but her attention is frequently elsewhere.
“My neighbors have been on the lookout for it. And I’ve been on the lookout for it, too. But I’ve got two little kids out here with me, so I can’t spend all my time watching for a badger,” she said.
She caught a glimpse of it from her vehicle just as she was arriving home one day at dusk and didn’t have time to react.
“I had my toddlers with me, and the badger disappeared quickly,” Nicklas said.
After last year’s chicken massacre, Nicklas has slowly built back her flock, and she’s reinforced her chicken coop.
Fortifications include metal on the siding and roof, and steel mesh cloth buried along the perimeter.
The badger seems to have taken that as a challenge, Nicklas said.
“More holes have been popping up right next to the chicken coop. I don’t know if it’s trying to find a way in to get to the chickens or just going after the mice and ground squirrels that live near the chicken coop,” she said.
Badgers prefer to prey on ground squirrels and prairie dogs, but they’ll take advantage of whatever food sources they can find. (Courtesy Isabella Smedley) 
Badgers prefer to prey on ground squirrels and prairie dogs, but they’ll take advantage of whatever food sources they can find. (Courtesy Isabella Smedley) 
Rural Laramie County resident Heather Nicklas says a badger has invaded her property, digging holes everywhere and slaughtering her chickens. (Courtesy Heather Nicklas)
Bracing for Another Year
Nicklas said things with the badger quieted down last winter and then ramped back up over the spring, summer and fall.
“I need to get rid of it, and I don’t know how,” she said. “I’d like to find a trapper who can come take care of it.”
Retired biologist Franz Camenzind of Jackson told Cowboy State Daily that Nicklas does, indeed, have her hands full.
Prairie dogs and ground squirrels top the list of badgers’ natural prey, he said.
Indeed, badgers will sometimes go so far as teaming up with coyotes to hunt prairie dogs.
But they’ll take advantage of any food source they can find, and they can be persistent, Camenzind said.
They aren’t “true hibernators,” but they do go into a mostly dormant state over the winter.
However, they stay out and active longer than prairie dogs and ground squirrels. So, once those burrowing rodents have gone into hibernation, badgers have to find alternative food sources to fatten up before winter hits in full force, Camenzind said.
“If she (Nicklas) can just hold out for a few more weeks, the trouble should slacken again for a while," he said.
He said beef heart should make good badger bait, so maybe try that again.
“I would recommend live trapping the badger and moving it at least a couple of miles away,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
