9chicks Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 Hi All. This is just a bit of warning. I lost my 9 beautiful girls over the weekend to a mink. My omlet co-op and run set-up is super secure when it comes to foxes and great at stopping the rats (we have mesh on the floor) but I never felt the need to protect them from mink. I suspect the mink was either young (and came through the top wall mesh) or it came through at the gap near the door. We live in the countryside in southern England, about 150m from a river where there are also otters. I saw a mink in my neighbour’s garden 18/24 months ago. But I hear their population is on the rise. Please pass this message on and secure your runs. I would imagine that mink attacks are off the majority of people’s radars in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison W Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 So sorry for your loss, awful to have them killed that way. Horrid things mink, don’t just stop at one ☹️☹️☹️ That’s one of the downsides to the omlet runs, large top mesh and the rounded doors do mean there’s a big-ish gap either side halfway up. Difficult though with such a determined predator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9chicks Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 Thanks Alison. I am totally gutted. Yes, take heed, the omlet run will not protect your girls from a mink attack unless you add extra mesh. Mink will do as much damage as a fox - all 9 of my girls were killed at around 3-7pm. All their bodies were left. I am wondering if we should be raising this with Omlet to try and encourage them to sell their runs with a smaller mesh. Apart from this, I have found the run and house excellent - I have had it for five years and it still looks and works great. I did have a plastic fruit mesh over the higher sections to keep the rats out but recently added more panels increase the size - I didn’t think to fruit mesh the new section straight away as it’s summer and plenty of other food sources for the rat. I had no idea that the finer fruit mesh has probably been protecting my chicks from mink and other similar predators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison W Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 Well the large mesh size wouldn’t keep rats out either. And then there is the recurrent bird flu & the recommended mesh size to keep wild birds out is 25mm so it’s beginning to feel like perhaps a redesign is in order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9chicks Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 Of course, I forgot about bird flu. Yes, they really need to rethink their design. If other people are of the same view (ie omlet need to rethink their runs due to bird flu and better protection from smaller predators) it would be useful if you added your thoughts to this chat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
