Mink Attack!

[EggsOnOrcas]

Last night, at around 8:30 pm, the boys heard our goose making a lot of noise. They ran out to see what was going on and then I heard them yell, "Dad! Dad! It's a mink!"

The goose is Bruce the Goose (named after Bruce Springsteen because he's the boss. Also, it rhymes.) He is a 3-month-old Roman Tufted goose which we recently hired to be our guard goose. Of course, his only real method of protection is raising a ruckus so that we can attend to whatever is going on, which he did expertly.

I ran outside to see what was going on. By the time I got there, the mink had retreated. One of the boys was holding a garden hose. They told me that the mink was jumping up around the chicken coop door, trying to get in. Noticing that the garden hose was on, Son #3 quickly picked it up and started spraying at the thing until it ran away. Smart thinking.

I had some polywire strung around the coop about six inches off the ground. While this might work against raccoons, it doesn't do much at all to deter mink. I started putting up some electric netting thinking that it might do a better job.

During that installation, our youngest, Son #4, said, "Dad! Dad! It's coming back." I ran over and saw it scampering about. It eventually ran into another clump of bushes near a tree stump. I picked up a five-gallon bucket and went on over. I saw it stick its head out, but it saw me moving and went back in. Holding still, I waited. When it re-emerged, I quickly trapped it with my five-gallon bucket. I subsequently removed the mink from the premises so that it would not return.

I'm hoping that we won't see any more mink, but they are prevalent here on Orcas Island. Thanks to Bruce the Goose and our sons' quick thinking, all the chickens survived to lay another day.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Great thinking hope it works there might be more lurking

 

[Howard E]

Orcas Island? Lovely place to live, but sounds like a rough neighborhood you live in!

Your best option is to hard wire the coop and run with a type of wire no mink can get past. That may not be easy. Welded wire at a maximum 1" x 2" welded wire, and that on the sides and top plus 2 foot anti dig apron, and a super tight gate that nothing can get past. It/they will be probing and trying to get in, and you can't always be there to save the day, so pen has to do that for you.

If allowed, and you want to try to thin the herd, there is always the option of trapping. Google "mink box". The setup for a mink box with body grip trap is a bit dicey, so that may not work if you have small dogs, neighbors cats, etc.

 

[Folly's place]

I think only hardware cloth will keep out mink or weasels, and you seem to have plenty of them! Reinforce your coop and goose housing, so at least at night they are well protected, and then reinforce the run too. Keep them all in until things settle down.
Can you trap and shoot them? Moving one elsewhere isn't going to work well.
Mary

 

[EggsOnOrcas]

I think only hardware cloth will keep out mink or weasels, and you seem to have plenty of them! Reinforce your coop and goose housing, so at least at night they are well protected, and then reinforce the run too.
Mary

I'm happy to say that the coop did the job, which has hardware cloth surrounding the bottom two feet all around the bottom.