mink proofing coup and terrified chickens

[13hensandaroo]

Hi Chicken Family.
More than one black mink have been terrorizing our chickens. The coup is situated not too far behind the house where we can hear any unusual noises. lt took only 1 night of going out multiple times trying to figure out what it was. We couldn't see any tracks, the chickens were stressed to the max,bloodying themselves trying to get away. They refused to go back in their coup. By morning I heard the chickens going crazy, ran out to find two black mink about a foot long dragging what I thought was a dead chicken around in the coup. Once the mink let go of the chickens neck, the chicken came to and ran away. We have since hardwired all the vents on the roof with 1/4 inch hard wire. We use to leave just the chicken door open into a secured area but not with the mink, its no longer an option.
My big problem is during the day while in the chicken yard they press themselves up against the fence trying to get out. They won't go near the coup and I've had to put 14 chickens by hand in the coup and they go crazy and won't settle down. I just couldn't do that each night. Ive got them in my garage at night, and I've got to figure out a solution. I don't have lots of land to build or buy them a new coup in a new location. I've also got to figure out how to get rid of the mink or Ill just have to stop raising chickens. thanks

 

[Howard E]

In the short run, this is how you get rid of your mink problem.......

The pan idea offers the most potential for success. A mink is big enough you may want to move up to the 120 trap (two springs vs. the 110, which only has one), but to get going on this, use whatever trap you can get your hands on until you can do better.

Duke traps are mass produced and mass marketed, but in my view, almost any other trap made would be a better choice. Biggest issue with the Dukes is the trigger is not sensitive enough to work well....so it may not fire at all. Of those I've tried, I like the BMI traps, and would get this one.......and maybe 2 or 3 of them. The BMI traps are about 5X as sensitive as the Dukes and the bell trigger may eliminate the need for the pan shown in the video.

http://bmi-traps.com/products.html?...ypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=11&category_id=1

Next issue is to find out what attracted the mink to begin with. Do you have a rodent problem?

If not, then what else is needed is to eliminate any means of entry into the run or house. Minks and weasels are both diggers and climbers, to a full on enclosure is required.

But you can work on that later.......after the minks you already have working your coop are eliminated.

 

[13hensandaroo]

Thanks Howard. Ive set out haveahart live traps with chicken meat with no takers. I'e done rat kill traps around coup and gotten small mice. We don't have rats,we never leave feed around at the end of day. We do have a small creek behind house and a pond nearby. New housing encroaching behind us and pushing wildlife to our small 2 acres,some woodsy.
How about conibear 1? Along creek?

 

[Howard E]

Conibear 110.....but do place it inside a weasel box......or.........if there is a known entry point where minks are using and will push their way through works as well. Box serves as a tube with bait in the back.....but any choke point......like a hole in the run fence.......that you can create to get them to pass through the trap will work. But make it so they can't go anywhere or do harm if they do get past the trigger. Some type of dead end.

Word of caution.......conibears are essentially giant mouse traps. They will kill just about anything that trips the trigger.......so cats, etc are goners. These are big enough to break the arm of a small child. The biggest of them are big enough to kill a full grown beaver and also big enough to break a man's arm.

 

[Howard E]

There is no reason why an electric fence would not work on a weasel, mink, etc, except for the size involved. Getting the wire close enough to the ground so they can't slip under or through it to avoid the shock would be the trick. Placing a wire only 1" to 2" off the deck and doing so evenly would be a neat trick.

I've wondered if electric poultry netting would work, and perhaps it would except the spacing is not tight enough.

But another concept I've been toying with would be to use the smooth, 1/2" or 3/8" smooth sided insulated posts, and simply clip about a 12" section of chicken wire to those. Then make your chicken wire the hot wire.

Place those along the base of the coop or run, about 1" to 2" or more off from the exterior. Raise and lower the chicken wire to the point it is nearly touching the ground. Can't touch or it may ground out, but has to be close enough nothing can sneak under it. But not likely they will.......likely they will raise up to try to climb it and as soon as they touch the fence, BAMMO!!!

In theory, this could replace any aprons, etc. and would be a great way to protect a tractor from diggers and others trying to get in. It may even work well enough to replace hardware cloth on hoop coops, etc. Just about anything approaching from the outside is going to have to touch that hot wire.

 

[lazy gardener]

A bit of a hijack here... OP, hope you don't mind, but you might find the info useful. @Howard E, You are not fond of the Duke brand of traps. I was looking at the dog proof (paw catch style) coon traps. What brand would you recommend?

 

[Howard E]

LG.......if the trap must be dog proof, then the Dukes will work. It has a pull only trigger and is not as sensitive as a lot of other designs.

If serious nabbing of coons and possums is the goal, we have a guy in MO who makes a trap called the Coon Dagger. It has a two way trigger (push or pull) trigger, in which the trigger used is a ring vs. a lever that has to be pulled up. With the coon daggers, almost anything that puts it's hand in there is going to get caught. And that may include a fox. Coon daggers are available from a lot of trapping places. If just getting a few, get the ones that have been powder coated. Serious trappers who buy them by the dozen get them bare metal, then dip them in wax before putting them to use.

BTW, even if it does catch a cat or small dog, it is not going to do harm. It just means it is going to get caught. You can always release them.

 

[13hensandaroo]

Ok thanks. Will do.
Now I have to get chickens to go in coup. They won't go in even if I put food in there. They huddle outside in the corner of fence or fly over fence and perch on our deck.

 

[Howard E]

This is an interesting video as it shows a variety of minks, weasels, etc. all working a mink box trap. None of them get caught. So the problem would seem to be an issue with the trap and perhaps trap trigger. That is what I would expect from my Duke 110. Trigger on it is stiff to begin with, and has at least 1" of trigger movement on the end of the trigger whiskers before it fires. So trap is NOT sensitive.

Note the comments on how to improve it.

But also note the size and scale of these varmints. Mink, weasel (ermine) and perhaps even a tiny little least weasel.

Gotta know your opponent and set things up accordingly.

 

[Howard E]

On the mink game cam footage, here is part 2......which in my mind, reveals the reason why his mink trap did not work. Trap is too big. Fast forward to about the 1:50 mark to see the mink go to work on a trapped animal. The trap shown looks to be at least a 160 (6" jaws) or 220 (7" jaws) vs. the 4 1/2" openings on a 110 or 120. No wonder these guys could come and go with impunity. They were running right past the trigger. Point being there is often a really subtle difference between what works and what doesn't. Trap size, trap brand (size, shape and sensitivity of the trigger), box design, box placement, all of it matters.

And again, watching the video gives on a good idea as to the scale of least weasel, weasel and a mink.

Know that any one of the three......including that tiny little guy, can kill an entire flock of birds in a single attack. If you have issues with any one of them, exclusion is required and as you can see, it ain't easy.