- Jan 19, 2015
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Thank you! The last egg I was waiting on finally hatched! I'm looking forward to finally get some sleep!
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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?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.
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.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.
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: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.
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