Hey. Been an emotional 24 hours. Started with my husband calling to tell me 7 of my hens had been killed by what we thought was as the time a weasel. 4 buffs, brahma, chanteclar and white jersey. Very upset. Also one of my Muscovy hens was injured but not killed. The 7 killed were on the coop perches and the duck in the barn that is attached. There were 9 others in the coop and many in the rafters of the barn. Come to learn it was a mink. My husband had put the bodies in the other barn that is attached to the coop/chicken barn and that evening he found them moved. Then noticed one moving! The little !@#@ was still in there. He got the gun and waited. He saw it go by him but did not have a clear shot. We then searched the whole barn, no mink but found 2 holes rats had chewed into the coop. Fixed them and set traps to catch the mink. We went out later and found one sprung. I heard a sound and spotted the mink. He got a quicker death than he deserved after what it did to my hens. The one thing that makes us curious is why it stopped. It tried to kill one of the duck hens but was stopped. The only thing we can think is the drake attacked it and it ran off..... Still keeping an eye on the duck as she does have an injury but thankful to the drake that he may have saved the rest of the flock. What do people think. We did get the muscovies as we had heard they will kill rats and weasels.... never thought they would have to fight a mink!
