Help with mink

[jamie1985 6]

I think i have a mink problem, i breed and rear organic meat poulty, yesterday i found 20 dead 2.5kilo bird all with there throats bitten and insides eating out. spread over about 100 m2 area.

I have got a load of mink traps was hopeing some one could give advice on looking for runs and setting them and best bates to use?

Any help would be so greatfully appreciated.

 

jamie

[donkdaniel 236]

I think i have a mink problem, i breed and rear organic meat poulty, yesterday i found 20 dead 2.5kilo bird all with there throats bitten and insides eating out. spread over about 100 m2 area.

I have got a load of mink traps was hopeing some one could give advice on looking for runs and setting them and best bates to use?

Any help would be so greatfully appreciated.

 

jamie

mackrel heads a good start mate the smellier bait the better nothing beats a smoker and a couple of terriers were bouts are you? could be sumthing else mind!

[comanche 3,108]

As Donk daniel says "could be something else ", but as you already have a load of traps already -get em down !

Assuming they are proper mink cage traps ( not weak springed squirrel traps or things with 1.5inch mesh that get sold as mink traps) position them around you remaining chickens . Alongside wire,under the hen-house, alongside the walls of the hen-house .Think like a slinky mink. "Would I run up that hedge ,use that ditch as a highway,keep myself tight to this wall ,scurry up behind this hedge ,like to hide under these roots or old shed ?". Waterways - the banks of streams ,ponds. DItches that run through a drain under a gateway. Chances are if it was a mink it will be back-often within hours -a few times before it decides to move -on .

As a quick fix bait-wise half a tin of decent fishy cat food -the 50% real fish stuff - will get you started .

 

On the other hand the carnage over a large area sounds like something else .One mink would be stuffed to exploding after eating the insides of 20 hens !

Look for other evidence but get the traps in place just in case

[R. Docks 154]

If you livelihood depends on it, I'd call in a professional.

 

I can highly recommend this chap:

 

www.rpcwildlife.co.uk

 

I think he's not far from you.

[leegreen 2,222]

I have spoken to jamie1985 and have advised him how he could catch his critter, I also spoke about the capabilitys of a mink, there were no chickens missing and the kill was quite clinical, all neak kills, no malling like a large mouth predetor, there were no decapitations, the mind boogles.

Anyone any ideas?

[leegreen 2,222]

If you livelihood depends on it, I'd call in a professional.

 

I can highly recommend this chap:

 

www.rpcwildlife.co.uk

 

I think he's not far from you.

 

There are plenty of pro's on here and I don't mean the ones that advertise in the phone boxes