- Thread starter
- #31
What can I do to kill it!!! it is too fast for me!!
I am so angry that I want to cut his/her head off!!!!!!
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Otter, mink or weasel attack!!!
- Thread starter ADRIANNA
- Start date
What can I do to kill it!!! it is too fast for me!!
I am so angry that I want to cut his/her head off!!!!!!
SSS or trap it
I'm praying for you hun!
Quote:
Calm down, first.
Bullets are faster than any animal. hey are quick and their effect is felt right now. Someone must shoot it and be quick about it.
Calm down, first.
Bullets are faster than any animal. hey are quick and their effect is felt right now. Someone must shoot it and be quick about it.
First off Mink are extremely hard to shoot, kin it to trying to take a shot at a ferret, they can actually see the bullet coming and WILL avoid it.
get a hav-a-heart trap, you can bait it with one of the dead birds, tie it securely to the back of the pan area. once the mink is inside, a pellet gun will take care o the problem, put the muzzel in the cage , wait for the mink to bite the barrel and pull the trigger, quick painless and instant.
The only problem I am seeing with this situation is there were 3 of them meaning mother and 2 kits. you have to get over the cute little fur bearer syndrom and dispatch those babys also.
If you dont you are going to continue to have problems.
Brush up with a local search for preditors in your area. know what your looking at and for. It will help you in the long run.
Mink can get through amazingly small cracks in the walls, floors, wire etc, and they are not beyond pulling the wire off in order to get inside.
There is no such thing as 100% completely mink nor weasel proof, unless you are going to put them inside a total steel building.
those who dont think Otter leave the streams, I hate to correct you but they will in fact follow up tiny streams to find new breeding grounds, food, love etc. They will also leave the water and cross dry ground for many miles searching for another stream or river.
Mabe some also need to know their fur bearers as preditors.
I am in NH and live off a tiny stream and we do have the occasional otter here, in season the Trappers have taken them out of our stream.
Never assume you know everything there is to know, especially where as we all know the meaning of the word assume.
get a hav-a-heart trap, you can bait it with one of the dead birds, tie it securely to the back of the pan area. once the mink is inside, a pellet gun will take care o the problem, put the muzzel in the cage , wait for the mink to bite the barrel and pull the trigger, quick painless and instant.
The only problem I am seeing with this situation is there were 3 of them meaning mother and 2 kits. you have to get over the cute little fur bearer syndrom and dispatch those babys also.
If you dont you are going to continue to have problems.
Brush up with a local search for preditors in your area. know what your looking at and for. It will help you in the long run.
Mink can get through amazingly small cracks in the walls, floors, wire etc, and they are not beyond pulling the wire off in order to get inside.
There is no such thing as 100% completely mink nor weasel proof, unless you are going to put them inside a total steel building.
those who dont think Otter leave the streams, I hate to correct you but they will in fact follow up tiny streams to find new breeding grounds, food, love etc. They will also leave the water and cross dry ground for many miles searching for another stream or river.
Mabe some also need to know their fur bearers as preditors.
I am in NH and live off a tiny stream and we do have the occasional otter here, in season the Trappers have taken them out of our stream.
Never assume you know everything there is to know, especially where as we all know the meaning of the word assume.
gypsey wrote:those who dont think Otter leave the streams, I hate to correct you but they will in fact follow up tiny streams to find new breeding grounds, food, love etc. They will also leave the water and cross dry ground for many miles searching for another stream or river.
I am not debating that Otters will leave the water. However, I do debate that Otters attack & kill & behead chickens.
It is clear this is a MINK. As those of us who have had chickens a long time and follow these threads, the usual suspects of chicken predators are as follows (and probably in this order): Domestic Dogs, Raccoons, Minks, Fox, Opossums, Hawks (Red-Tailed & Cooper's), Rat Snakes & Rats (of chicks, juveniles, Bantams & eggs), Coyotes, Bobcats and occasionally Great Horned Owls and on a rare occasion, a Domestic Cat.
There is no comparison between a Mink and an Otter. Otters are MUCH larger, have webbed feet, and they primarily eat rough fish. River Otters are predators of fish, crayfish & frogs. I have never heard of River Otter raiding a chicken coop and mass killing chickens.
There are other predators which are capable of taking chickens & might if given the opportunity but because the species is either rare or because they are extremely wary of humans, I simply never hear of it, such as Wolverines, Bears, Martens, Fischers, Badgers. BUT NOT OTTERS! So, can we leave the Otters out of this?
I am not debating that Otters will leave the water. However, I do debate that Otters attack & kill & behead chickens.
It is clear this is a MINK. As those of us who have had chickens a long time and follow these threads, the usual suspects of chicken predators are as follows (and probably in this order): Domestic Dogs, Raccoons, Minks, Fox, Opossums, Hawks (Red-Tailed & Cooper's), Rat Snakes & Rats (of chicks, juveniles, Bantams & eggs), Coyotes, Bobcats and occasionally Great Horned Owls and on a rare occasion, a Domestic Cat.
There is no comparison between a Mink and an Otter. Otters are MUCH larger, have webbed feet, and they primarily eat rough fish. River Otters are predators of fish, crayfish & frogs. I have never heard of River Otter raiding a chicken coop and mass killing chickens.
There are other predators which are capable of taking chickens & might if given the opportunity but because the species is either rare or because they are extremely wary of humans, I simply never hear of it, such as Wolverines, Bears, Martens, Fischers, Badgers. BUT NOT OTTERS! So, can we leave the Otters out of this?
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- Mar 20, 2008
- 1,793
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I'm so sorry for your loss. There was a weasel in my barn last night. First time this year. It killed 8 showgirl chicks and just ate the heads. Also a Holland White poult.
I'm in NE Ohio and we have some sort of rare weasel here. They are very small. My husband found a nest of them last year but they were quite a distance from the barn so he just left it. If I remember right they are on the endangered list. I suspect it was one of these that got the chicks because the mother was left alone.
Again, I'm so sorry. You lost an entire flock and it was a senseless killing. That aggravates me the most.
I'm in NE Ohio and we have some sort of rare weasel here. They are very small. My husband found a nest of them last year but they were quite a distance from the barn so he just left it. If I remember right they are on the endangered list. I suspect it was one of these that got the chicks because the mother was left alone.
Again, I'm so sorry. You lost an entire flock and it was a senseless killing. That aggravates me the most.
So otters/mink are "to hard to shoot" ninja warriors, able to dodge bullets? Tell that to my uncle in MN.
But if that is so, then get some black powder, stuff it in a chicken carcass and when the critter runs off = blow the darn thing up!
Seriously, shoot it or trap it - then shoot it. 'Time to stop listening to us 'experts' and do what you gotta.
But if that is so, then get some black powder, stuff it in a chicken carcass and when the critter runs off = blow the darn thing up!
Seriously, shoot it or trap it - then shoot it. 'Time to stop listening to us 'experts' and do what you gotta.
They aren't super critters and can't see and dodge a bullet. A bb or pellet perhaps... However, they are small and fast and a shot gun would be the best bet to shoot one.
A small cage trap might do the trick. Make a tunnel of the trap by covering with something. The bait should be big enough to see but not to block the tunnel effect. Wire the bait in the trap so they have to work at it. You may set a foothold trap at the nonopening end of the cage trap, as well as one along each side. If they are coming in together, you want to gang set with multiple traps and try to nab all of them at once. The idea with the footholds around the cage trap is in the event that you catch one in one trap, it may act like an attractant to the others... Stake the footholds down so that even with the animal pulling the trap to the end of its chain, it will not reach another trap and set it off.
If there is a hole in the floor large enough for the mink to get through, then you have a serious breach of security as it were. The answer isn't to give up on chickens, but to learn from the experience and adapt. That is what keeps us on the top of the food chain. I.e, don't let anger, grief, etc... get in the way of what you want in the long run.
A small cage trap might do the trick. Make a tunnel of the trap by covering with something. The bait should be big enough to see but not to block the tunnel effect. Wire the bait in the trap so they have to work at it. You may set a foothold trap at the nonopening end of the cage trap, as well as one along each side. If they are coming in together, you want to gang set with multiple traps and try to nab all of them at once. The idea with the footholds around the cage trap is in the event that you catch one in one trap, it may act like an attractant to the others... Stake the footholds down so that even with the animal pulling the trap to the end of its chain, it will not reach another trap and set it off.
If there is a hole in the floor large enough for the mink to get through, then you have a serious breach of security as it were. The answer isn't to give up on chickens, but to learn from the experience and adapt. That is what keeps us on the top of the food chain. I.e, don't let anger, grief, etc... get in the way of what you want in the long run.
Does someone on BYC live near you that could help you trap it?
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