Mink

Have you ever seen a mink? I mean a live one? I saw one this morning. It ran out of our chicken coop and into our pile of cut but not yet split logs. It appears that this has been his den all winter. I say "he" because females take small animals such as mice and small birds. Males hunt larger animals such as squirrels, rabbits and will "occasionally raid a chicken coop and will prey on nesting waterfowl." I have a feeling that we may find our female mallard in there.



We've lost 5 laying hens over the last few nights. We're down to 16 + the rooster. The mink has killed our Buff Orpington, an old red hen, a Silver Lakenvelder, and two Black Australorps. That's a lot of chicken for one stinkin' weasel. (Mink are carnivorous mammals belonging to the weasel family, Mustelidae,).

Well, at least we have this figured out before our broiler chicks arrive next month. Now, to get rid of him...I don't think the fur will be worth as much as the hens he's eaten, though.