Breeding Line of Working Mink

[Minkenry 1,044]

So for the last several months I've been working on a project to start my very own line of working mink! As far as I know, this is the first time anyone has ever attempted to breed a line of mink for anything other than fur. I decided that since I was going to do this project, I might as well start out with the highest quality mink I could possibly find. I tested just under 700 doe mink at the fur farm near my house for prey drive and confidence with humans. I didn't necessarily select for "tameness", just high drive, and a lack of fear. I then took the most driven and confident 20 home, and tested them further. I did some basic training, took them hunting, and carefully watched how they reacted to real prey that could actually bite back. I then filtered out the least desirable individuals until I got down to 3 very exceptional doe mink. I went through the same process with buck mink and then bred the 3 exceptional bucks to the 3 exceptional doe mink. I now have two hopefully pregnant females and one litter on the ground. Just my luck the doe who first gave birth was my favorite female who was bred to my favorite male! Here's the video showing what we got! 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by Minkenry

[Black neck 16,257]

How did you test them mate

[Mickey Finn 3,035]

Minkenry, it looks like you are off and running. Thanks for sharing the vid with us.

[mackem 27,812]

Good luck in your project 'Enry,hundred years time maybe people will be going for a days minking instead of a days ferreting 

[Minkenry 1,044]

On 4/21/2018 at 08:02, Black neck said:

How did you test them mate

I started out by testing confidence and prey drive on the farm by dangling a muskrat skin and seeing how they reacted. If they attacked it confidently, I then tested to see how easily they released the skin if I started touching them. I only took mink who would instantly attack the skin, and hang from it while I pet them. They had to pass this test three different times, on three different nights, to make sure it wasn't just a fluke good performance. 

 

Then I took them home and did some basic training, and hunted them on muskrats and brown rats, putting them in progressively harder situations, trying to weed out any mink that were less than ideal, until finally I only had the very best mink left. 

[Black neck 16,257]

1 hour ago, Minkenry said:

I started out by testing confidence and prey drive on the farm by dangling a muskrat skin and seeing how they reacted. If they attacked it confidently, I then tested to see how easily they released the skin if I started touching them. I only took mink who would instantly attack the skin, and hang from it while I pet them. They had to pass this test three different times, on three different nights, to make sure it wasn't just a fluke good performance. 

 

Then I took them home and did some basic training, and hunted them on muskrats and brown rats, putting them in progressively harder situations, trying to weed out any mink that were less than ideal, until finally I only had the very best mink left. 

Very good ?