lost 10 chickens yesterday

[poplarhollow]

So what part of the country did a mink show up?

 

[aart]

When I was at work during the day, something came in and killed 10 of my 43 chickens. I have a welded wire run with hardware cloth on the bottom half and welded wire on the top of the run for hawks, etc.. I was just sick. The girls were giving me up to 3 dozen eggs a day. I got a small live trap and put two chicken heads in it and set inside the run after i locked the girls up for the night. This morning at 6 AM nothing in the trap and there was no way I was turning the girls out into their run. Gave them scratch grains and hay to bide their time with. Got home from work tonight and was going to go out and get the trap out of the run as my DH and I were going to make a couple of weasel traps thinking that was what it was and low and behold I caught a mink in the live trap after the chicken heads. It came back today to have a killing spree. My run wasn't as predator proof as I thought. I have set the live trap again and am doing some reading on a mink. Girls were traumatized even today as they gave me just 11 eggs, but I gave them sunflower seeds, cleaned their automatic water and talked to them quite a bit.

So sorry for your loss. Did you figure out how it got into your run?

Mink get thru welded wire easy.

 

[aart]

It amazes me. 20 years of nothing bothering my hens. Running around in a open enclosure. We build a new chicken house with enclosed run thinking everything would be a little safer and wham. Mother nature decides to pull a fast one on us. Today I did not let my hens out of their large chicken house again as I have the live trap set again in their run. I know it sounds silly but I don't want to take the chance that there is more mink around to hurt them and I know it is not fair to the hens but I can't be there to keep a eye on things. It has been so cold here that the Jack Russels aren't out patroling the farmstead instead they are curled up napping on their sun porch.

Geezz Murphy's Law. That stinks!

I am curious too, where are you located that you have mink?

ETA here's a pretty good link about mink and weasel

 

[Sandyd]

I live in central iowa. Only thing we have not far from us is our 1 acre farm pond. No deadfalls around it. But we do have large oak timbers further north and west of our pond. I won't be able to put welded wire over everything. Can't afford it. Run is 40 X 20. Maybe build some weasel boxes and have sitting around the outside of the run. Have been doing research on the mink and weasel. I sure hope we aren't being invaded by them. Any reconstruction is going to have to wait till it gets warmer and my husband already told me we couldn't cover the whole thing with welded wire.. Have the door to the cage also that has a 1.5 inch gap for hinges and latch. It is 6' high powder coated dog kennel sections that were purchased individually.

 

[farmboy22]

You don't want to know what I would do to the mink if it killed my chickens

 

[Sandyd]

I live in central iowa. Only thing we have not far from us is our 1 acre farm pond. No deadfalls around it. But we do have large oak timbers further north and west of our pond. I won't be able to put welded wire over everything. Can't afford it. Run is 40 X 20. Maybe build some weasel boxes and have sitting around the outside of the run. Have been doing research on the mink and weasel. I sure hope we aren't being invaded by them. Any reconstruction is going to have to wait till it gets warmer and my husband already told me we couldn't cover the whole thing with welded wire.. Have the door to the cage also that has a 1.5 inch gap for hinges and latch. It is 6' high powder coated dog kennel sections that were purchased individually.

I meant hardware cloth covering the whole run. Had to separate a hen as she must have gotten a wound below her vent and the other chickens were pecking her. Sprayed blue kote and gave her a shot of penicillon before I left for work this morning. Took a chance and opened the slider to the run and they are all ok when I got home from work.

 

[aart]

2x4 welded wire won't keep mink weasel out anyway.
Just keep trapping them, hopefully they'll move elsewhere.