4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Jillus]

I have just had the surprise of my life, the girls were clucking and bocking like crazy and I went out to quieten them when I saw the cause of the commotion. A very dark mink! I came in and got my new camcorder and have managed to get a good shot of it as it entered the stream and swam away before getting out futher downstream. I had thought that I had a rat as I had seen burrows and s"Ooops, word censored!"es into the run and for the last two nights have set traps. Now I have found the culprit and it does tie in with the dead rat I found last week with it's head chewed off, I had thought it was the work of tthe sparrowhawk that had taken my two doves.

 

So what to do, will a mink attack the chickens, will it take eggs or can we co-exist? It is a lovely looking creature, amazingly shiny and sleek. Does it spread diseases like a rat? Any advice gratefully received...please !!

[Jillus]

Apologies just seen previous threads about mink, should have 'searched' first. I just thought it such an unusal problem but see it is fairly common. OH is dead against killing it as he loves wildlife BUt if it is going to kill my girls then I am going to have no option. I wonder about relocating it in a live trap? Has anyone tried that method?

[Egluntyne]

It is illegal to do so I'm afraid.

 

Have a look **here**

 

What a worry for you.

[Gamebird]

Hi Jillus

 

I live near a water course and I have seen a mink or two running up and down the bank.

 

So far they have not found their way into my electric fenced chicken enclosure but if they were a threat to my girls then I'm afraid I would lay traps and despatch it.

 

Mink are not indigenous to this country and are killing off our water vole population.

 

Cute looking as they are they will not hesitate to kill chickens if given the chance.

 

Good luck, I hope it turns out well.

[Sandychick]

I really dislike mink they used to cause me problems when I lived on a boat on the canal. They eat baby ducks and voles I would make sure the chickens are as secure as possible and also make sure they can't get access into any sheds or garden buildings where feed might be stored as they can cause a lot of mess and damage. An air rifle works but I couldn't possible recommend that

[Egluntyne]

I'd put something at the back of the Eglu to prevent then getting in through the little gap where the poo tray sits.

[Jillus]

I have just ordered a Nooski Trap as mentioned on another thread. I will let you know how it works. It has a great write up so could be handy in the future for rats too. We had found a rat only last week that I thought had been killed by the hawk but now I guess it must have been the mink .

 

I am feeling under a lot of pressure at the moment with a sparrowhawk taking my doves at one side of the house and a mink eyeing up my chickens at the other!

[sparkysmum]

Hi Jillus, I am sorry to hear that a mink has discovered your hens and doves. They are horrible, nasty creatures. We had a mink encounter in the late summer and although it didn't get the hens, it was just good fortune that I looked out the window at the right moment. Anyway two points possibly worth making - 1) Boris got such a fright she stopped laying or laid only softees until recently and 2) No-one could help ! Our Environmental health officers weren't interested . There are mink eradication programmes but they don't cover this area. The legal position (in Scotland ) is this - if they are trapped they must be killed!.

The other thing is that even if one is" despatched" it is likely that another may move in to fill the vacuum. Horrible thought.

Anyway we decided that we could't risk the hens being in an enclosed area and they now only free range or are in their "everything proof" walk in run (a huge expense that I didn't really want to go to, but felt we had no choice given the mink encounter)

I Really hope your mink doesn't reappear/ or that you are able to despatch it successfully Allison