Mink!

Bradley Clark

In the Brooder
Feb 1, 2016
16
4
26
I have some mink that decided to show up and kill my three bourbon red hens and the Tom Turkey an afraid they might turn to my chickens is there any advise what I can do to get rid of it I've tried trapping with no result
 
I have some mink that decided to show up and kill my three bourbon red hens and the Tom Turkey an afraid they might turn to my chickens is there any advise what I can do to get rid of it I've tried trapping with no result

Reinforce your pen/coop area as best you can. Continue with the trap attempts. Check on the birdies as much as possible. Sorry you're having a predator issue. I've had Hawks and Eagles flying around my small chicks brooder for days now
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... Darn creatures
 
How secure is your run and can you reinforce it? We don't have mink but we do have fox, coyotes, raccoons, hawks, and fisher cats. We choose not to free range but have a very large run for our birds. It's 1/2" landscape fencing going 12" underground reinforced with rebar. The roof is half solid and half chicken wire to prevent air strikes. Can you run fencing around the bottom of your run and extend it underground if you don't already gave it done?
 
How do you keep your chickens? Do you have a run attached to your coop? Are they free ranged? Do you close them up at night? What type of fencing do you have? Mink can be tricky to catch. They also don't need much of a space to get through. I hope all goes well for you.
 
My chicken are in A small quanset shed with a corn crib run that is the same shape and size but during the day they run free during tbd night all I have to do is shut the door
How do you keep your chickens? Do you have a run attached to your coop? Are they free ranged? Do you close them up at night? What type of fencing do you have?  Mink can be tricky to catch. They also don't need much of a space to get through. I hope all goes well for you. 
 
Mink are solitary and once they discover a food source mink exploit that food source until it is fully consumed. What I had to do in the past is not put a new chicken in a pen that I suspected a mink had entered and killed in until the mink had killed every hen or rooster that the mink could easily reach, and they can get through some small spaces. When the mink finally returned to the leftovers of a previous kill the advantage was mine and I pinched his toes. If you have a mink killing adult turkeys I would advise you to not go out alone. If you do imho you are in danger of becoming mink chow yourself.
 
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Mink are solitary and once they discover a food source mink exploit that food source until it is fully consumed. What I had to do in the past is not put a new chicken in a pen that I suspected a mink had entered and killed in until the mink had killed every hen or rooster that the mink could easily reach, and they can get through some small spaces. When the mink finally returned to the leftovers of a previous kill the advantage was mine and I pinched his toes. If you have a mink killing adult turkeys I would advise you to not go out alone. If you do imho you are in danger of becoming mink chow yourself.
Oh, come on, they're not THAT big!
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They are feisty, though, and you really don't want to corner one. They have sharp, pointy teeth and do bite hard. (My husband traps muskrats and every now an then will reach into a house and fink a mink in a trap - sometime a live one.) I don't think the OP mentioned if the turkeys were killed during the day or at night. If it were at night, it would be an easy kill since most poultry are basically helpless at night. I do agree that they will come back until they have exhausted the food source.
 
Oh, come on, they're not THAT big!
smile.png
They are feisty, though, and you really don't want to corner one. They have sharp, pointy teeth and do bite hard. (My husband traps muskrats and every now an then will reach into a house and fink a mink in a trap - sometime a live one.) I don't think the OP mentioned if the turkeys were killed during the day or at night. If it were at night, it would be an easy kill since most poultry are basically helpless at night. I do agree that they will come back until they have exhausted the food source.

Evidently you have yet to learn about my macabre sense of humor.
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As for killing turkeys at night.... why that's how my Pioneer as well as my Native American Indigenous Ancestors of Color went about procuring the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast. Wait for a clear night with a full moon, then listen for the turkeys to fly up to roost. Take my word for it, in the woods on a still night they would wake the dead. It then becomes a simple task to walk around in the area where you heard the turkeys flew up until you find the whole flock roosting in a tree, nicely silhouetted against the bright disk of a full moon. You can then at leisure kill as many turkeys as your family or tribe can eat. Darkness works in the mink's favor too. For those of you who may be aghast at this method of turkey hunting, remember that starving children with distended bellies plays a poor 2nd fiddle to sportsmanship or even to conservation for that matter. If you get busted hunting turkeys in the fashion I just outlined don't call me to stand your bail. This conversation never officially happened. One other thing, to paraphrase Luci Brasi of God Father fame, "May all of your mink be vegetarian mink."
 
Evidently you have yet to learn about my macabre sense of humor.
wink.png
As for killing turkeys at night.... why that's how my Pioneer as well as my Native American Indigenous Ancestors of Color went about procuring the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast. Wait for a clear night with a full moon, then listen for the turkeys to fly up to roost. Take my word for it, in the woods on a still night they would wake the dead. It then becomes a simple task to walk around in the area where you heard the turkeys flew up until you find the whole flock roosting in a tree, nicely silhouetted against the bright disk of a full moon. You can then at leisure kill as many turkeys as your family or tribe can eat. Darkness works in the mink's favor too. For those of you who may be aghast at this method of turkey hunting, remember that starving children with distended bellies plays a poor 2nd fiddle to sportsmanship or even to conservation for that matter. If you get busted hunting turkeys in the fashion I just outlined don't call me to stand your bail. This conversation never officially happened. One other thing, to paraphrase Luci Brasi of God Father fame, "May all of your mink be vegetarian mink."
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