Mink got all my neighbors chickens

[jaycee]

Hello, I don't have any chickens yet, I'll be finishing my coop up this spring. I do have 8 Khaki Campbell ducks who lay for us. I came here to relay my neighbors story from this past week. He had 4 chickens who his wife kept as pets and got a few eggs off of. He has a sealed chicken coop. He puts his girls away one night last week and when he went to let them out in the morning, there were feathers everywhere in the coop and all 4 birds were dead and intact except that their throats had been "slit". There were no holes under or in the coop with the exception on 1 inch square hardware cloth on the door. He began researching and told me that day he thought it was a mink. I was skeptical and thought it could be vandalism. I know rodents are famous for squeezing into spaces seemingly smaller than their bodies but 1 inch???

Amazingly as I was coming home that very night in the road between his and my farms, there was a long black creature dead in the road. I got out and inspected it, it was maybe twice the length of a cat and its head had been run over but its body seemed almost boneless in the midsection perhaps thats how they squeeze into small places? It was a mink and I took it to my neighbor, he skinned it out for the pelt. He has lived on his farm since he was a kid and hes in his 60s, he said they had some trouble with minks 50 years ago in his childhood but he hadn't heard of any around here since (southern Illinois is where I live).

The crazy thing is I think it was probably coming across the road for my ducks when it got smashed! I do have 4 rescue dogs who have access all around the barn where the ducks are locked up at night. Will the scent and activity of the dogs scare off any mink if there are more of them? Or does anyone know are they usually solitary animals in their range?

Thanks for reading!
Jaycee

 

[Kevin565]

The Dogs will deter it but no guarantee it won't comeback. If your ducks are locked up properly then you shouldn't worry yourself. Yes Minks are solitary creatures but if there's one there's probably a breeding population somewhere near.

 

[jaycee]

Thanks Kevin... the ducks are secured in fact a predator would have to go through at least 3 fences to get to them ... one to get into the yard, another to access the outer duck pen and a third to get into the stall they occupy in the barn at night. All these are standard chain link fences which I had thought would be pretty secure. But the holes in the chain link are at least 2 inches square I never imagined a predator that could kill mature birds could get through a 1 inch hole!

 

[Kevin565]

Minks are very Crafty. Ferrets are similar creatures and mine can still slip underneath my door

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Realize that many things can climb OVER a chain link fence. I would expect mink to be one that could, but have no real knowledge of or experence with them. We have large roof rats, and they can get through a 1" hole. Not sure about mink. You might want to find out how they are contained by those who raise them for their fur. Something that can hold them in should be able to keep them out.

 

[Jay262]

I live in a area where we have many many minx and your problem sounds like it is possibly a weasel rather then a mink but still could be either or. Same beast different head anyhow both will kill your birds for sport and both will come back over and over. Nonthing is really gonna deter them you will need to trap them or shoot them. I have heard of geese fending them off but even then you run a chance of a goose being injured or killed by them so i dont really recommend it but geese to make great alarms they go nuts when one is in the area.