Keeping mink and rats out of my coop!

[gpymama]

So I am dealing with a mink situation in my coop, attack happened last Thursday. We have secured the floor with 1 inch chicken wire, and all the edges doubled wire offset so the holes about 1/2 inch. We also put the chicken wire about a foot up the sides and we are doing to wrap bottom few inches of the door with stove pipe so nothing can chew in. Any thoughts?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Something stiffer like hardware cloth is needed.
Mink can get into a 1" opening so keep any opening under 1/2". That includes places they can pry open to make it 1".

 

[gpymama]

Something stiffer like hardware cloth is needed.
Mink can get into a 1" opening so keep any opening under 1/2". That includes places they can pry open to make it 1".

Ok. We have doubled and even tripled the edges with the one inch, and put down old license plates over the holes. What about the sides? Could they technically tunnel into a 2*4 and go up the sides?

 

[gpymama]

Something stiffer like hardware cloth is needed.
Mink can get into a 1" opening so keep any opening under 1/2". That includes places they can pry open to make it 1".

I wish my husband had just bought the hardware cloth in the first place.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

A common mistake, especially with the difference in price.
Chicken wire keeps chickens in but doesn't keep predators out.

 

[gpymama]

Something stiffer like hardware cloth is needed.
Mink can get into a 1" opening so keep any opening under 1/2". That includes places they can pry open to make it 1".

Ok so chickens are staying in the basement another night and we are doing hardware cloth tomorrow. I am too scared to put them out with the one inch. We are gunna have so much metal in there it will be like Fort Knox. My poor depressed rooster tonight ate some cream of corn (only a few bites) and I did make him sugar water.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

I believe that rats and mice can fit into 1/2 an inch hole so maybe move it down to 1/4 of an inch or even 1/8 of an inch for some wire.

 

[gpymama]

We are going to take out what we did and putting in hardware cloth. Maybe 1:4 inch

 

[50-45-1]

You could easily trap your weasel. If you have some scrap wood and a rat trap.
My experience is that they dont give up easily.
I have attaced an article on how to build a simple box trap.

http://ecofarmingdaily.com/snap-build-a-weasel-trap-to-protect-your-poultry/

 

[PattyNH]

I'm remodeling my barn so the ducks, chickens, and goats will be in there and safe from weather and predators. We've had losses to a weasel as well. I took pics of progress to post a thread for suggestions on improvement but haven't posted yet. Anyway, because of the weasel I went with 1/4" hardware cloth. From other posts I learned to secure with screws and washers so it doesn't slip off the screw head. Here is a pic for an idea of what I mean...
Before:

After:

I added 3 screws with washers to each post. The real pain in the butt was dealing with the hardware cloth because it rolls up. I bought 1x2x8 and attached the hardware cloth to that before attaching it to the ceiling, which helped. Now to just finish the waves. I feel like this project is taking forever! But I know when I'm done I won't have to worry for the rest of the winter - as long as they are inside, that is!