Determined little bugger... mink going after my girls

[fldiver97]

Heard the girls making a ruckus this afternoon, distressed. So I run out the back door and there’s a mink in the middle of the yard chasing them. Didn’t want to back off so I threw the first available thing - my shoe!!!! As I am trying to get the last chicken in the run to lock them up he/she comes back. By now I was in all out witch mode, broom in hand. Went after the mink and then got the last girl in the run. The girls are safely locked up but will have to confine them and try to trap the mink One of my dogs has been chasing some critter the last couple of nights, could be the mink

 

[cavemanrich]

Mink are cruel predators, that are hard to trap. They also will finish off a whole many hens in one action. My understanding, is they have poor eyesight, but superior sense of smell.
They are also able to get thru some small openings
Hope you can capture and remove far away from your chickens.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Howard E]

The farmer holding the shotgun in my avatar bears a close resemblance to me. Rarely have occasion to use one, but it's handy when needed. Actually, all of them (meaning plural)

If a mink was bold enough to launch an attack on my birds during the day........I'd be bold enough to walk up and plug him. At close range, even a diminutive little .410 shotgun would take most of his head off. Even at a safe distance, it will render him graveyard dead. Just saying.

 

[Gilded Feather]

The farmer holding the shotgun in my avatar bears a close resemblance to me. Rarely have occasion to use one, but it's handy when needed. Actually, all of them (meaning plural)

If a mink was bold enough to launch an attack on my birds during the day........I'd be bold enough to walk up and plug him. At close range, even a diminutive little .410 shotgun would take most of his head off. Even at a safe distance, it will render him graveyard dead. Just saying.

‘Graveyard dead’. Love that. I can’t help but read that in Jerry Clower’s voice.

 

[paneubert]

@fldiver97 , check out my recent post about making some weasel boxes with rat traps. May work for catching yours! If you make one, bait it with something bloody and meaty.

 

[Howard E]

@fldiver97 , check out my recent post about making some weasel boxes with rat traps. May work for catching yours! If you make one, bait it with something bloody and meaty.

For a mink, the weasel box you described is too small. Needs to be scaled up to use at least a 110 body grip style, and for a mink, a 120 (double spring) might be better. Same concept as the rat trap in the weasel box, but trap is about 4X larger and has to be modified on the sides to account for the body grip springs. Also deadly to cats, etc, so stick with the same weasel box design, just make the hole larger.....as in large enough for the mink, but small enough to exclude cats, etc. that you don't want to kill.

All that is if you have time to assemble all the components and the mink will agree to forbearance until you do. In the meantime, keep the shotgun handy.

PS: I believe in the weasel box thread, I saw a rat trap with the small metal bait pan. You don't want that for a weasel box.......you want the larger yellow pan. They step on that when the enter going to the back of the box. If you just used the small metal bait pan, they would miss it.

PSS: Was once going through stuff on the Victor trap website and came across the ubiquitous wooden rat trap. Victor didn't recommend it for rats! ??????

It would probably work for the smaller black rats, but some of the big brown (Norway) rats are so big, often times it only bonks them on the nose. Just as well, rat traps are not what you need for eliminating rats. Traps alone won't even put a dent into a thriving colony.

 

[Sequel]

Heard the girls making a ruckus this afternoon, distressed. So I run out the back door and there’s a mink in the middle of the yard chasing them. Didn’t want to back off so I threw the first available thing - my shoe!!!! As I am trying to get the last chicken in the run to lock them up he/she comes back. By now I was in all out witch mode, broom in hand. Went after the mink and then got the last girl in the run. The girls are safely locked up but will have to confine them and try to trap the mink One of my dogs has been chasing some critter the last couple of nights, could be the mink

Is right! Oh no! I hope you get the little creep! Good on you for saving your chickens!

 

[Callender Girl]

I am an animal lover through and through. For years, I would live trap the many, many mice in my old farmhouse and transport them safely (and far down the road). I let the rabbits that destroy my garden live. I relocate opossums that wander into my coops. I chase away raccoons that invade the hay shed. Only once did I reluctantly kill trap a rat who had taken up residence in a tree next to one of my coops.

The only critter I have ever wanted to kill -- and gave chase to twice in one night, armed with a three-pointed cultivator -- was a mink. They can get through the smallest openings and kill without eating their prey, which would include my three hens and a drake duck. I hate mink! Good luck getting rid of yours.

 

[mowin]

[QUOTE="fldiver97, post: 21619916, member: 38487"

By now I was in all out witch mode, broom in hand. [/QUOTE]

Now that made me laugh. .
Sorry you have to go through that.
Good luck with getting rid of him.
If safe, I agree with shooting the critter.