How to trap Minks

[Howard E]

Perhaps a Victor Rat trap?

So if safe in the coop, what about that run? How did he get in there......twice?

The point being if you have one mink, and even if you kill it, you can assume you will have another. Knowing this predator is a threat, how can you rig the coop and run to defeat it in the future?

 

[chrisdecker]

He dug a small hole around the back of the run under the coop.. needless to say we'll be keeping a better watch on that area. We're now debating keeping chickens at all. We started this adventure in March and everything was going good until this. The run, we thought, was safe. it's very sad to realize no matter how careful you are that it can almost disappear in just 24 hours. More especially in the middle of the afternoon, when they seemed to be at the least risk.

 

[Howard E]

That is a reasonable reaction to such a loss. One has to weigh the benefits vs the rewards and decide if it is worth it. BTW, that was a choice my parents (mostly my mother) had to make about 55 to 60 years ago. She tells me now she really liked her birds, but predators.....mostly hawks, owls and especially raccoons......kept killing her birds, so she eventually gave up. It was also about then that commercial flocks were on the rise and it was possible and reasonable to buy eggs at the grocery store, so that is what she did then and has done ever since.

So going forward, one thing you can learn from this experience is just how far you have to go......the extreme of it, to protect your birds from harm. They are vulnerable and just about everything on the planet it seems is out to get them. Looks to me as if you are really close......just a few tweaks and twerks and you can keep birds safe. All depends on your perception of the benefits. Is it worth it to you?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Did you know that it is much easier to catch and kill a mink by stomping on its head at 10AM while it is killing a chicken in the field, than it is to shoot one at night or catch one in a trap?

Just happened to me. I hadn't been able to trap one but I did shoot one which was very difficult at 2 AM.

He was huge at 24" from tip of nose to tip of tail. Normally males go from 13" to 18".