Mink

[barnowl]

Hello, I am new to having chickens. Well about a month ago I had my first flock, I had 9. One night one of them disappeared but we saw no tracks left behind or even feathers of anything getting it. Than the next night my entire flock was killed. But this time it had freshly snowed so we saw all the tiny tracks. My husband went to check on the chickens and saw that some were dragged out into the field from the coop and some were lined up, but all were missing their heads. For the past month I have been trying to catch this mink and I have had no luck. We set out a cage trap with chicken, we have a conibear trap now and we have tried it with deer guts (my husbands idea) and last night I made a fish paste. It didn’t even attempt to come close to the trap. Now I have done a bit of research and know they are suspicious creatures so I think my trap placement is too obvious. We live in the middle of cornfields and we hardly have any trees or shrubbery. How do I blend the trap in more? And better yet what is the best bait to have for the night in freezing temps? I have been thinking about placing trail cameras as well. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

 

[McChooky]

My advice is upgrade your coop by covering all openings and vents with hardware cloth (1/2") If you decide to get more chickens and want to catch the mink 1st set a mink trap. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You must have a brook or stream near you where it came from. They hug the banks of those and will use culverts as pathways. With the chicken gone your chances will increase in a culvert or bank of the water that it traveled to get to you.

Check with your state regulations if you are allowed to trap them or if there is a season. I've shot two of them in the past five years when they were actively killing birds. One was riding my cock birds back trying to get through his neck feathers when I chased him off then sat with my gun waiting for his return. I say this as my state has a two week window to trap mink but I can shoot any not avian predator actively destroying livestock as long as I've taken reasonable precautions to dissuade them, i.e. fencing, coop etc.

 

[McChooky]

You must have a brook or stream near you where it came from. They hug the banks of those and will use culverts as pathways. With the chicken gone your chances will increase in a culvert or bank of the water that it traveled to get to you.

Check with your state regulations if you are allowed to trap them or if there is a season. I've shot two of them in the past five years when they were actively killing birds. One was riding my cock birds back trying to get through his neck feathers when I chased him off then sat with my gun waiting for his return. I say this as my state has a two week window to trap mink but I can shoot any not avian predator actively destroying livestock as long as I've taken reasonable precautions to dissuade them, i.e. fencing, coop etc.

I'm more afraid of a weasel or a mink getting inside my coop than other predators.They're blood thirsty little beasts.

 

[cmom]

Lots of YouTube videos of them decimating birds.