Mink??

[rungirl]

Minks are a horrible threat to chickens. I had several friends who have lost their entire flocks in one night to a mink. They are hard to trap so if you can get a shot, take it! If they get in, they bite the head off the chicken while they are sleeping on the roost, drink the blood and leave the chicken. Supposedly they line up the bodies in a row also. Systematic killers. They only need a small hole to get into your coop so make sure you keep things tight. Gives a whole new meaning to "sleep tight".

Lisa

 

[SquawkSquawk]

I had 10 chickens and one morning I went into the henhouse and they were all dead and I saw a dark brown mink run out. Only two were left out in the big play yard, a bantam leghorn and an australorp. It just bit them in the neck and murdered them, and it took away the other little bantam leghorn, which was the only one missing. Then I found the hole it got in under the concrete house slab, which NOW I have sealed off with sheet steel and rocks. Anguish that I could have prevented the holocaust. It killed all my big beautiful ones, even the big rooster. They had hatched one little chick which was protected in a pet carrier in the henhouse. She is growing well. I also then bought four RR Reds. I just keep them for eggs.

 

[AGeese]

I had 10 chickens and one morning I went into the henhouse and they were all dead and I saw a dark brown mink run out. Only two were left out in the big play yard, a bantam leghorn and an australorp. It just bit them in the neck and murdered them, and it took away the other little bantam leghorn, which was the only one missing. Then I found the hole it got in under the concrete house slab, which NOW I have sealed off with sheet steel and rocks. Anguish that I could have prevented the holocaust. It killed all my big beautiful ones, even the big rooster. They had hatched one little chick which was protected in a pet carrier in the henhouse. She is growing well. I also then bought four RR Reds. I just keep them for eggs.

Yeah they're pretty destructive, a neighbor lost 19 chickens to a Mink. There was one running into my brush the other day.

 

[Folly's place]

We all have weasels of some sort, and they are seldom seen, but present. Mink are only one of them! That's why 1/2" hardware cloth everywhere, and a good perimeter skirt or foundation, are all essential. Chickens who can fly (not Silkies!) are relatively safe during the day, but at night all are extremely vulnerable. And rats will enter and kill birds at night too.
I guess I wouldn't bother trying to trap a mink that wasn't at your coop, because there are weasels around you just haven't seen. Look up which are living in your area.
Mary