[wolfie]

Hi, have just had to dispatch a heavily bleeding Aylesbury, examined the wounds and thanks to Youtube have identified the culprit as a mink. Does anyone have any experience of trapping/shooting the b*****ds. We have about 20 geese and ducks outside the house, too frightened to go back on the pond, and 4 sitting on the pond too worried to come near the house. Not expecting them to be there in the morning. Rather a rapid learning curve into the dark side of smallholding. Have lost more in the last 2 months than in the last 18. Am deciding I now have to harden up, stop naming things and get a realistic/ cynical grip on the larger picture. Never saw this with Tom and Barbara  - or Hugh.
All help as always gratefully received.

[ukag0972]

Buy a trap or two and place some of your dead bird in them, probably close to water.
They are vicious little critters. We had one kill 35 hens and I caught it the next night. Iwas told to drown it as it really smells and if you spill it's blood, no animal will go near there.
Thebloody thing wouldn't die, I thought it was a submarine, as I could stay under for ages holding it's breath.

We ended up shooting it!

Good luck!

[shetlandpaul]

be careful, drowning is out it is an offences to cause suffering in an animal. shooting is your best bet when trapped. you don't say were you are if your near water then it may also be an otter. yes they do like chickens and ducks. now if it is then your going to have to shift them because the otter is covered under loads of laws. if it is then stay well away a bad tempered otter is a whole lot worse than a mink. A full male otter is also quite large.

[Bodger]

They are very easy to trap using cage traps and fenn traps.

You can buy either at your local farmers merchants.

The cage traps can be baited with tinned cat food.

The fenn traps need to be set in artificial tunnels along side chicken pens and in dry ditches etc. There's a massive diference in size between an otter and the mink,so the size of the hole in the tunnel precludeds otters being caught by mistake.

I despatch any that I catch in a cage trap with an air rifle pellet in the ear.

Now I'm a long way from being an expert at using Fenn traps but I have had some success with them. I have them permanently set around our smallholding.
I have also found them very useful in helping to stop rat infestations getting started and in letting me know that I may have a few around. I tend to use them in conjunction with rat poison, in as much as I have bait stations in use for just about 12 months of the year.
As well as taking rats, Fenns will also account for mink and stoats etc. Fenn traps are what are known as body crush traps. This means that they are designed to crush the body cavity of the animal causing virtually instant death. This is opposed to the now illegal leg hold traps such as the infamous gin trap. You really need the next size up for mink from the Mk 4 but even so, I've had good results with the 4's.

I always have the hope that any feather taking vermin will run through the artificial tunnel that all traps must be set in, before they get to my chickens. There's nothing like being optimistic is there?   They say that a picture paints a thousand words, here are some pictures.


This is a likely spot for setting a trap. Its at the back of one of my chicken sheds which has a little ditch come soak away to take the rain water from the roof. Any visiting vermin would be quite likely to have a quick scoot along what would appear to it to be a natural highway.





Here are three unset Fenns.





Heres one of the simple tunnels that I mentioned earlier. Its against the law to set fenns out in the open.





Here's the inside of the tunnel to give you an idea of its construction.





Heres the Fenn in almost the set position. The jaws have been pressed apart and the safety mechanism is now keeping them open.





A blurred finger showing the safety mechanism.





The foot plate is then set but the safety is still kept on. Note the peg which the trap is anchored to the ground with.





The trap is set in the ditch sideways to the tunnel entrances. Now and only now do you release the safety.
The white wire is my electric fence that i have to keep foxes at bay. It doesn't work for mink, rats or stoats.





The trap is fixed with a peg and the tunnel placed carefully over it. The tunnel prevents non target species from being caught in the trap.





I've placed a couple of strategically placed stone to try and guide my prey towards the tunnel and the waiting trap.





Thats about it then. its not rocket science but do watch your fingers.

Its a good idea to scratch the ground up infront of both ends of the tunnel. Members of the weasel family are very inquisitive and this is often enough to rouse their curiosity. I hope that this has been of help.

[Roxy]

I have not seen a any myself, but a poultry keeper, who has hens and ducks, says he has big trouble with mink, in the river at the bottom of his field.  He has lost hens and ducks.  Fortunately he is licensed to hold a shot gun, and has shot one, but like he says, there are more than one!!  The river runs past us too, and we are only a mile away.  Someone told me he saw an otter at the bottom of our field sunbathing, but not seen that either.

[Womble]

Yup, viscious little beggers!!

One of them was attracted by the smell of my landing net  during a recent fishing trip:






At this point I had to drop the camera to rescue said landing net from Mr Mink. However, after a brief tug of war with him, I realised that he was not only totally fearless, but also had teeth like screwdrivers, and let him borrow it for a bit!!

So, good luck in catching yours. Of course, as a good smallholder, we expect you to make the most of your natural resources, and look forward to seeing the resulting winter scarf!

[Bodger]

You wont believe this but a bdooly stoat has just had the audacity to run across our lawn. The fenns will be repositioned accordingly this afternoon.

[Roxy]

Stoats and weasels can do some damage in a hen house.  A few years ago, they killed 4 of my hens.  Plenty of farm cats around now, and they do keep catching them.

[shrekfeet]

Great reply Over the Fence - thanks!

[cameldairy]

Can i ask..what's a stoat? (sorry for my American ignorance )  That mink looks like our smelly ferrets. i guess they are closely related. Except nobody would want a ferret wrap! LOL