Mink - how to stop the digging on a dirt floor

[jenwhite]

How do you know it was a mink?
And sorry for your loss...my daughter found our Ivy killed by a hawk and she called me sobbing so I understand how devastating it is to find your beloved birds slaughtered.

I had the same barn setup and I buried hardware cloth...I had some guys come in and remove a bunch of dirt from the horse stall and then they laid down a floor of 1/2 inch hardware cloth and added the dirt back so that the chickens didn't have to dig into the hardware cloth... but mine was a raccoon who had found a tunnel underneath the floor. I also attached hardware cloth on the top half of the stalls and screwed 1x2's on top of that, which is decorative as well if you stain it. Raccoons will climb all over the hardware cloth and try to peel it back if you don't add the 1x2 boards. My stalls had a roof, not sure if yours does.

How do you know it was a mink?
And sorry for your loss...my daughter found our Ivy killed by a hawk and she called me sobbing so I understand how devastating it is to find your beloved birds slaughtered.

I had the same barn setup and I buried hardware cloth...I had some guys come in and remove a bunch of dirt from the horse stall and then they laid down a floor of 1/2 inch hardware cloth and added the dirt back so that the chickens didn't have to dig into the hardware cloth... but mine was a raccoon who had found a tunnel underneath the floor. I also attached hardware cloth on the top half of the stalls and screwed 1x2's on top of that, which is decorative as well if you stain it. Raccoons will climb all over the hardware cloth and try to peel it back if you don't add the 1x2 boards. My stalls had a roof, not sure if yours does.

I saw your note, "Just because you caught it in a trap doesn't mean it was the killer of your chickens". I would agree, however... we saw the mink in the barn running around and going for our last surviving chicken. daughter screamed and the mink ran the other way and into the hole it dug... she grabbed the chicken and ran. we set a trap baiting with eggs, then we were able to catch it. same animal that was going for our last chicken. we witnessed it. and all of the chickens died the same way. Mink are blood sucking crazy animals - if you read about them they act fast and with the first taste of blood something triggers in their brain and they won't stop until everything is dead. maybe you know this already, i did not... untill i read about them after it killed almost all of our chickens.

 

[ariri30]

Beautiful pics, and sorry y'all had to go thru that shocking discovery....
.... but.... please show us where the mink got in, both inside and out?
Did it come directly into the coop or just into the barn?

These might give you some food for thought:
Good examples of anti-dig apron installation.
If rodents are prolific, burying the apron ~12" would be good.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wire-around-coop.1110498/#post-17093528
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208

That’s exactly what needed to see. Thanks a bunch!

 

[jolenesdad]

So sorry for your losses! I second the turning of the coop into a box/cage. I, also, use horse stalls for my girls. As was mentioned, a mink is just part of your concerns in the long run, and eventually it could be lots of things. Rats can be hell, too. As well as the fact that human error could leave part of the barn not secure one night.... or you may not notice an area has been compromised until too late.

what’s the chicken wire against the back wall?

 

[jolenesdad]

Also, based on how many chickens you actually want to keep, you could build a very small coop inside of that stall that is predator proof for nights.

 

[hayley3]

Thank you for your note. We caught the mink so, we know it was a mink And... we saw it running around the barn going toward the last survivor. The barn really works well... we have a really old coop on the property, but its not good enought to use, it needs to be torn down and a new one built. I think i'll try what you did with the 1x2's and hardware cloth. we haven't had any other critters get in, the barn is secure other than the dirt floor.

I feel lucky I never had to deal with mink.
And my first chickens I put into a horse stall without a roof above them, as it was nice and airy like yours and I had no idea and the raccoons would climb up the rafters and could just drop in on the chickens. They killed all my chickens. I still feel guilty to this day. I had a huge barn and found out they were actually living inside my barn.

 

[jenwhite]

So sorry for your losses! I second the turning of the coop into a box/cage. I, also, use horse stalls for my girls. As was mentioned, a mink is just part of your concerns in the long run, and eventually it could be lots of things. Rats can be hell, too. As well as the fact that human error could leave part of the barn not secure one night.... or you may not notice an area has been compromised until too late.

what’s the chicken wire against the back wall?

the chicken wire against the wall is actually just to keep the chickens and bedding from getting in that space... we have a sliding door we open during the day and an outdoor run. the sliding door slides into that space where the wall and wire are. I think my plan will be to dig down around the barn 12" and lay hardware cloth. I also like the idea of creating a coop inside the stall so the entire thing is safe.

 

[jenwhite]

Also, based on how many chickens you actually want to keep, you could build a very small coop inside of that stall that is predator proof for nights.

I think we'll have to go that route!

 

[aart]

we set a trap baiting with eggs, then we were able to catch it.

...and you killed it, correct?

 

[jenwhite]

...and you killed it, correct?

I did not.

 

[Howard E]

we set a trap baiting with eggs, then we were able to catch it.

For the record, what type of trap did you use to catch him? Something like a Havahart live trap? Do you have much experience trapping animals or was this your first one?

And set where in relation to the box stall? Inside or outside or near the entry dig site?