Still have a mink problem

[Sylviaanne]

A little over 3 weeks ago and mink got into our chicken coop and killed all but 1 or my chickens. ( A rooster that sleeps on the porch with our cat survived simply because he wasn't in the coop.) The mink somehow squeezed through the fencing to the yard, climbed up a 9 foot coop wall, busted 1/4 inch animal fencing we put over the coop vents, slipped into the coop and went on a killing spree. I walked out to find all of my chickens dead in the coop, many of them headless! I put a trap out and baited it with crab meat. It took a few nights but we got him. ( I get a new pair of mink ear muffs!)

I kept looking at our eggs on the counter that day and made the snap decision to try and hatch a few. I made a styro-foam incubator for $15 with stuff from Walmart and set 8 eggs. Three eggs got pulled at day ten for not being fertile. Yesterday I had 4 chicks ( 2 Ameracaunas, and 2 Welsummers) hatch and there is 1 more Welsummer in the incubator that has pipped but hasn't hatched yet. ( 28 hours post pip and not zip yet...gah! I can hear him chirping in there though.) Such a bittersweet experience.

Say, what all did you buy to make your incubator? I have a large ice chest my husband bought for that purpose last year. Did the baby hatch?

Yeah, set back to back (rooster in one trap and the other allowing mink to get in to try to get at the rooster. Cover both traps with a section of tarp/black garden fabric/old rugs/sheet. Might take a few nights to get his courage up, but if the mink is hungry it will probably enter the open trap.

We have a nasty raccoon that won't go in the trap. I think he almost go caught twice so he won't try it again. I will try this method and see if we can get him. Dang thing came up on my porch last night trying to get my chickens. The birds won't sleep in the coop or run, they are scared and so they sleep up here under the lights and now that animal is daring to come up here to try to catch one. My husband went out twice after he took off, looking for him but when I saw him on our porch and started screaming at him, I'm sure he wouldn't have come back last night. Tonight might be a different story.

 

[ivan3]

Sylviaanne wrote: We have a nasty raccoon that won't go in the trap. I think he almost go caught twice so he won't try it again. I will try this method and see if we can get him. Dang thing came up on my porch last night trying to get my chickens. The birds won't sleep in the coop or run, they are scared and so they sleep up here under the lights and now that animal is daring to come up here to try to catch one. My husband went out twice after he took off, looking for him but when I saw him on our porch and started screaming at him, I'm sure he wouldn't have come back last night. Tonight might be a different story.

Good luck! Here is an old thread on live traps: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/232969/modifications-for-standard-havaharts-save-time However, when the "smart" ones show up, I'd suggest keeping a couple of Duke's dog proof traps in reserve:

 

[19disbre]

It's been 3-4 weeks and I still have a mink problem. Since his initial slaughter of way too many guinea in one night I have set up several steel traps and he springs them sometime but I can't catch him. I have put a caged rooster in the barn where he made his previous kills and he returns 4 out of 5 nights avoiding springing the traps. What else can I do to get this guy?? I've put poison laced nuts out... Nothing... Any ideas??? Sorry but mink NEVER eat nuts they are very very carnivourus so you have a better chance of poisoning something else than him coons will eat nut but not mink

 

[HotDesertChick]

We had mink problems in a chicken barn many, many years ago on the Oregon coast. Mink are smarter than crappe, and can be quite vicious to people as well (don't ever attempt to grab one!). My mom finally killed a repeating offender with a long/heavy Brinkmann flashlight, finally catching him within an 8' x 8" coop, AFTER he/she had killed just about every bird in the coop. She was ******! (is this O.K. to say?)

I have never lived in an area with mink populations since, so I am certainly no expert on nabbing/killing the dastardly devils. I have dealt with other predators over many years though.

Would a double-ended Iive trap increase your chances to catching the wary-yet-smart vermin? Peruse these kinds of traps at Livetrap.com (no...I don't work for the company!), or another source of well-designed live traps. Throw out those worthless Havahearts? Been thar, done that.. I couldn't even catch the dumbest animal on earth (an armadillo) with ours.

With a "double-set trap" , you set BOTH ends of the trap to open, making it a bit easier to entice Mr. Wary into entering/passing through. If the animal has been trapped, and escaped from any type of live trap before,...this may not work at all. Animals are smart.

Bait the trap with something "fishy" like Fancy Feast near the treadle in the center of the trap, dropping a SMALL amount of "cool food" near both openings.

If ANY trap has been fouled by blood, or human scents, the mink may readily pick up on this. Prior to use, clean with an oxidant (like peroxide...then rinse), or an enzyme cleaner, to eliminate smells that you can't see,...but your mink may easily pick up on.

Good luck!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If that's a chicken in the cage in the first post, I think it's something bigger than a mink. probably a fisher.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

http://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2013/11/09/fishers-are-back-in-virginia/

 

[Keslek]

Could it be a ferret? It looks a lot like one. Someone's released pet? I know your pain, however, mine is loss of eggs and not the hens. I think we may have our issue solved. Praying!!!

 

[19disbre]

It's definitely a mink not a fisher or ferret the best to catch him would be a body grip trap a 110 or 120 size with a Coni-pan the animal will be killed instantly the trap will break the neck of the mink and it will be dead. put it in some inclosure like a wooden box piece of 5 or 6 inch PVC or over the door of your live trap cover the un-guarded with mesh bait with the freshest bloodiest meat you can get chicken liver smeared in the box will work good 90% of animals in the world will not go into a cage trap for example Coyotes will never go in a live trap literally 1 in 1,000,000 will get caught mink are rarely caught in a live trap coon and possum are by far the easiest things to catch in a live trap I have never had a predator problem then I set foothold traps just outside my pen (4-12inches) because they will circle many times right up against the fence looking for weak spots before they did or chew or anything because they don't want to waste energy

 

[Keslek]

So what ever we had taking the eggs are no longer. the fence on the ground attached to the vertical fence is keeping it/them from digging and we are back to getting 7-8 eggs a day. Yippee.

 

[critters]

For the record, my predator is a mink according to game and forestry. Just thought I'd share and no, still not caught.