Maugwa
Songster
Chicken wire will not stop weasels or mink. If you can fit a large thumb though the hole, a weasel can get through it. If you can fit a golf ball through a hole mink and weasels can get through it. You can put golf balls through chicken wire loops. You need 1/2" hardware cloth for weasels or 1" for mink. If their coups are tight, but not the runs, the good news is these critters do most of their killing at night, but not all of it. If you shut your birds in at dusk and let them out at dawn, you've taken care of 90% of your mink and weasel problems, another hour or two in the early morning, and You may be to 95%, if your coup is truly tight enough, but if there is one hole, they'll find it. Weasels more than mink, may still hunt in the day if they are hungry. They are braver if there is snow, or leaf litter, tall weeds, etc. They like to run around under light snow and pop up through it in new places, and under leaves too if they are deep enough and loose enough. Out in the woods they hunt quite a bit in daylight, but aren't that likely to around houses, dogs, and people, unless they have good cover and feel somewhat safe. The bad news is they are very bloodthirsty and smart, meaning they'll be back often and are hard to trap, especially in a live trap. Live traps just aren't that tricky to smart animals. I'm not saying that they never catch a mink, but I'd bet you miss several before you catch one. You also have to make sure the gaps in the live trap are just as small if you plan to use them for mink or weasels. Most live traps aren't. Run of the mill live traps will hold squirrels, skunks, maybe a mink if it's a big one, but seldom a weasel. You can wrap the trap in hardware cloth though -- remember, a thumb size hole. A weasel can more or less fit through what a mouse can, and needs a trap trigger that's as sensitive as a mouse trap's.
Check your laws where you live first for what follows, then decide from there what you'll try next, or not talk about; The very best mink and weasel traps that I've ever seen are free, but they are not live traps. You use juice cans, like tomato juice comes in, but when you open it, cut the top open with an old heavy knife, like a strong hunting knife. Cut it like you would cut a pie in 8 slices. Be careful you don't get cut by the knife or the sharp metal points you'll be making. Pour the juice in another container, then with a piece of pipe or bar or big bolt (Don't use wood, it'll get stuck), bend all the pie shaped points in a bit, so they are about an inch and a half, or two from one point to the one across from it. Wash it out with running water and dry face upside down. Put something bloody in it and poke it in with your metal thing, keep your hands, away from that hole end. Lay it out on it's side. A weasel may make it all the way in and if not cut too bad, may be alive in the the bottom, but it can't get out past the sloped points. A mink will get it's head in, but cut it's own throat trying to pull out, or continue to work it's way in past the one way points. A cat or dog, skunk or coon, won't get in far enough to get their head stuck, a coon may get a cut arm, but probably not a fatal cut. Squirrels and such aren't drawn to blood. Keep in mind that all wild animals that are removed from their own territories, and humanely relocated to new territories, especially predators, are usually killed by the wild animals that already have a claim on that territory, or kill some that live there to take over -- live traps only make the trapper feel better about it.
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