That one smart Hen on the upper right hand side of the screen kept absolutely still and quiet the whole time, sitting on the horizontal poll and just watching everything. She knew what to do.
Minks CACHE their food for later...and they have an UNSTOPPABLE desire to kill everything they can during a hunt, so killing just one animal isn’t enough. They will wipe out an entire flock (or rat colony, which is a benefit), then cache the kills in some hiding place for later.
Sorry for your unfortunate loss! You are lucky that it was such a timid mink with incredibly low prey drive. Many of my mink would have killed everything in the hen house, probably starting with the geese because they're the most obvious Target. This little thing was scared half to death and quite the coward! The interesting thing about mink is they have a very wide range of personalities. This one was very low on the totem pole when it comes to mink! Did you by chance notice the gender when you killed it? As timid as it is I'm assuming it must have been an extra timid female, or maybe a young mink still learning to hunt for itself.
Thanks. I didn't check gender. It was 24-1/2 inches nose to tail if that makes any difference. I know the mink was just doing what minks and other predators do, it was just my chickens this time. Over the several attacks, the mink took out 55 of 57 of my chickens, and the smaller goose. The first attack, shown in this video, really surprised me as I had no idea we had any minks in our area. My son and I found where the mink got in through the chicken wire apron around the bottom in a corner. We secured that with an additional apron, this one of hardware cloth over the chicken wire. We had to leave town the next day, so were not home when the subsequent attacks came. The mink got in the second time through the wire covering the ventilation by the rafters. The next attack was not in the coop, but in the pond where the geese were. I was amazed the mink was so stealthy and then so swift to be able to surprise the geese. The ramaining two chickens and goose would not go back in the coop after the first attack. No surprise there. So I left the door open just a little with a live trap set. The mink went into the trap, but was fast enough to get out vefore the trap door was able to latch. Possibly, the tail kept it from closing fully. The next time it went over the trap, I was able to remotely turn on the interior lights and fan. This allowed me the time I needed to get to the coop and resolve the problem. I have gone to great lengths since this video to secure my coop, and added a secure run to it as well. I do hope I have it secure enough to prevent any such attacks in the future.
And the mink came and the mink did bite and the mink did delight. And the alarm was silenced. Later that night the sound of the shotgun blasted and echoed into the dark and the mink was no more. Thanks for watching and commenting. Thankfully there have been no further mink attacks on the flock and coop security is greatly improved.
Don’t know if you have a red bulb in the coop or not, but your Geese can’t protect the flock if they can’t see what’s going on. They can hear, but all they can do is hiss. The geese seemed pretty freaked out themselves hearing all the commotion, but not able to see what was causing it. A red night bulb connected to a battery or a solar charger would benefit your guard geese tremendously at night.
I agree. I have tried a red bulb in the coop on several occasions. Seems to cause most of the hens to want to go broody. I've been testing various levels of light in the coop to try and find a good solution. Currently I have been trying white light hanging low, below the roost bars. Both geese and chickens seem to be more active so I worry about them getting enough rest at night. Egg production seems lower too, but that might be related to having different hens from before.
Try a red light. Been doing it for years during the cold winter months here in Minnesota. The geese an hens never seemed to be bothered by it. Good luck 👍
@@Ameer-is3dh Been raising birds for over 25 years. Believe me, they learn to get use to it. It’s like all livestock in Alaska. When there’s daylight or no sunlight for months...they learn to adapt. 🤷🏻♂️
One of my chickens volunteered to wear an explosive vest, detonated vest once weasel got close enough. The other chickens built a statue to honor the sacrifice.
The horror, imagine yourself caged with nowhere to escape and hearing your friends being slaughtered one by one wondering if you will be the next one...
My sister got some chicks and was raising them in the house till they got bigger. She decided to put them in the barn one day and within an hour of them being in the barn, a weasel killed all 6 of them. The weasel however, did not immediately leave the scene of the crime and justice was served.
Sad to hear she lost all 6. It's not pleasant to see all the effort gone and the loss. My grandmother had fits with the weasels back in the day, but they are pretty rare now. Minks though seem to have been thriving. Glad the weasel won't be a problem. Hope it was a loner.
@@paulrietveld9837 Thank you so much! 😊 I’ve been working my hardest trying to improve the literacy rate of America. For once, someone actually appreciates my hard work rather than getting offended that I’m trying to help them. Thank you for being the first person to show me kindness and positivity for what I do! 🥰
The geese put in a good effort trying to gaurd as it is in their nature to be defensive. But towards the end they themselves became scared and retreated as they could only listen helplessly to the agonizing cries of their friends being murdered one by one. The terror.
I give the owner props for having the guts to post this. It's bad enough this happened to his/her flock in the first place. Owner I'm sorry this happened to your birds😢. Thank you for posting this to caution anyone else who has birds they need to protect.
Probably a good idea to get hold of a very talented armor Smith and get those geese fitted out with swords, full armor plating etc. Maybe even get puppies for them to ride as miniature horses. It's the only way to protect chickens adequately
Nature is beautiful, isn't?! It's so much better to get put down fast and get slaughtered than being killed that way. Minks and weasels are very vicious, they have no mercy of course. So sorry for the baby chicks. Poultry need a 100% safe coop for the night, that's not hard to build or buy, you need some investment and engagement. For the ignorant city people who say and think that it's better to get killed by a fox or a mink than get slaughtered: woul you peacefully euthanize your cat or let it brutally killed by a wild animal?
A Ferret was a killer too before it was domesticated, it's a member of the same Mustelidae family, the only difference now is humans do the killing for them via the supermarket meat section.
This is sad because the rooster or the geese would have absolutely stomped the mink and defended the coop succesfully but they couldn't see good enough in the darkness
@@jazzcabbage9561 A rooster can engage and fight off hawks, which are way stronger and more dangerous than a mink. And those geese weight up to 4 kg and are very aggressive and territorial, they would have destroyed the mink if able to see it
this kinda shows how at a disadvantage the birds are. They are completely blind in the dark and the mink can see everything. sucks to not have the night vision of a predator to escape danger.
Also sucks to have a home that isn't predator proof. Very irresponsible. Although I'm against having to take a course in order to own chickens, in some cases it may help to prevent loss. Someone commented, "live and learn," but do people have to see this happen to understand that it will happen, therefore causing them to build safe homes for their birds? I hope this video drives home that message.
The solution is near. Put a light in there. Connect the light to a computer with an IR camera. It will watch and see how much movement there is. Using AI you can create a pretty good algorithm for how to detect. Consider false positives. Let's say the birds get into a fight with each other and then the light goes on. Problem? Not really. It might spook them into being quiet. What else can you do? I suppose you could have a dog live in there or something. But then you need a good fighting dog. And maybe it will eat the chickens. Or get in a fight with them. I think the little camera connected to a simple arduino or raspberry pi or esp32 with just a simple efficient algorithm and an ir camera all of which you can buy for like $40. The light turns on, the minx maybe gets freaked out. Then you can simply have a rule where if the light gets turned on and the movement increases at any point while the light is on, it sends a text message to your phone each time this happens. Or if you think that's too annoying, you can have it play a sound of your voice on a loud speaker. "HEY, I'm getting my gun!" That might spook him off too. I think the real problem is if the minx, or raccoon, or coyote or whatever learns that this is a source of food they will go for it. Making it seem more risky just keeps them away longer so they maybe go find another food source instead of yours. The other issue is that sometimes there aren't many food sources and even though you spooked them a bit more than usual, they can still smell those delicious chickens. So now you can use facial recognition on that same stream... all that computer really has to do is stream it to your desktop. And on your desktop you could easily run these and many many many more algorithms. So your computer uses computer vision to identify 'animal' and 'not one of my chickens' and 'not one of my geese' etc. THEN you get an alert. That would be even better because you could have a rule if it detects a rodent vs a rule if it detects another human. Like if it sees a human then it alerts you and you can decide to call the police while grabbing your gun. Or your neighbour. I mean that would be the best defense of all. Good neighbours. "Alright, if any of us see anybody who isn't us we all get our gun and stay in touch". I think that's how nations began. The reason we don't do that today is because there is a much bigger king and we are in his kingdom. But when those kings fight among themselves and leave the masses to die? What happens then?
It's not "nature" if they enter a coop, where a man has gathered his birds. Nature is what happens outside of coops. That mink has deserved a A-24 treatment.
@@SpartanThe300th lol what? No, you think a wild animal gives a damn if it’s on someone’s property, or even realize that they’re trespassing? It’s a wild animal, and it’s gotta eat. That’s literally nature
@@Davidwantstodeportaliens I take your point. But in that case it might have to deal with the part of the human nature (protection of territory and property).
Anyone who builds a shelter that allows this is going to figure it out the hard way. Gotta forward think when you are a Shepard, my friend. Always study the design for penetration flaws.
@@santos122122 They will look at you but still not run because they are partially asleep. I've had hens peck me when I'm trying to relocate nest, but still not run.
@@MrRicomex you have mental ilness ? stop suporting criminals and stop being criminal , if you suport criminal hunters then you are a criminal too for suporting hunter
I've tried the lights. White lights for extended hours makes the chickens aggressive to each other. I switched from white to green. It was worse. Then I tried red. The hens all started going broody, made for lots of nest box problems. I like the idea of getting light in the coop to help them see, but haven't found a solution. I'm open to ideas. I've had Barred Rock hens. They are quite bossy with the other hens. I would imagine the roosters would have even more attitude. But take on that mink? 🙈
Dim white lights, Muscovy ducks, and a German Shepherd or Belgian Malinois or concrete footed chicken coop. Would solve all your problems. Personally I would go with the Muscovy ducks along with German shepherd or Belgian Malinois raised from a puppy with your animals. I had a German Shepherd once it had adored my ducks and rabbits. Kittens too. It brought home a couple of kittens whose mother had been run over by a car. The Dog and I raised the Kittens. The dog(his name was Dog) and the two cats(names were Tom and Cat) spent the next 12 years patrolling my land. Usually together, they worked like a team. Never had a single Predator issue after that. They all died within month a of each other. It was so sad I sold my land and move back to the city.
@@StevenPLegere I might give the dim whites a try. Thought of some LEDs at about mid height in the coop, like a string of Christmas lights or something. See real have mentioned the Muscovy ducks. I have put a hardware cloth apron completely around the coop extending out nearly 2 feet, slightly below ground level. Not concrete, but hopefully as effective. I'm sure that was a huge loss after a dozen years with that crew, and all in such a close time frame.
Perhaps a motion detection flood light. It will only be on when activity, they are usually pretty still when asleep. I don't think it will help them though, they will still be killed I expect. They will just be able to see what's coming to them. :(
or how about they put little razors onto the legs of the chicken like they do in cockfighting on tv/movies?? that way, the chicken can slice the mink's throat!! haha! and if that doesn't work, try a better alarm system, a better set up for the barn, guard dogs, etc.
He isn’t scared though the mink can kill the geese but it will take a lot of energy that’s why if bathroom was real I would want my personal spirit animal to be a mink
@@figspigsandfeathers8179 it’s because geese don’t have very good vision in the dark. A goose would be able to crack a minks spine with a single smack of its wing but unfortunately if the mink grabs it round the neck (which is normally where they aim for) it can’t fight back
This is exactly why it is incumbent upon us to make sure our animals have secure shelter at night. Mink, and all the weasels are bad ass. They also become driven by excitement and instinct to store food. They don’t just catch one. I’m sorry for the birds fear and suffering , and the farmers losses. The simple answer is make their shelters predator proof. Unfortunately, what most farmers do, is see a predator, kill a predator. Even when they are no where near any livestock. We need to take responsibility for our livestock’s safety, and stop blaming predators for living and eating. I have had pretty much every kind of livestock my entire life. The last time I tried to kill a predator for doing what was only natural to it was in grade school. After that, I took responsibility and built predator proof nighttime shelters and had dogs during the day to protect animals in pastures. I even had a Whippet that learned that it should harass birds of prey for even flying over the property. He learned it because I would go out and clap my hands under them until they flew away. He was very effective and took his job very seriously. Also, quit killing your aggressive mean roosters. They can be quite effective deterrents as well. As a matter of fact, the grade school incident I mentioned was a prime example. A fox had grabbed one of my hens. She was a beloved pet. Upon hearing her screams my rooster attacked the fox. The hen got away and hid in the barn. The rooster paid for his heroism with his life. Less than two weeks before that, my dad had told me, if that rooster flogs your sister again I’m going to kill it. I taught my sister how to deal with the rooster. So he lived to save the hen. There is always a way. We just have to be willing to learn.
Figs, Pigs and Feathers I just wanted to let you know, because of your comment I have subscribed to your channel. I got the idea we may have similar philosophies.
@Ryan Guidry We know Ryan. You've already expressed your need, several times, in great detail, for sadistic revenge on little woodland creatures. A little too eager to torture things aren't you?
Rude commenters, probably never had a coop or any chickens. Shit happens. Why don’t you all come help him improve his coop then. They can get in a very small opening.
@@alllifemattershow is this a celebration?? What are you even talking about? It’s educational for folks to see what can happen, as hard as it is to watch. Maybe you’re the psychopath for watching it..
@@franticzenster8140 why would you tell someone to relax from a 3wk old comment. Do you honestly think I'm fuming as of the time you wrote the comment lol. Its something a child would say 👍
I have several wild minks (and weasels) that are ALLOWED to hunt rodents all around my farm and I have had ZERO predator losses of my poultry (numbering 100 birds). Don’t blame the mink...this is a common mistake beginner poultry keepers do. Instead, blame your unwillingness to predator proof your poultry housing. 1/2” wire mesh and covering any gaps between doors and walls is such a simple thing to do. If you kill one “problem” mink, another mink will simply take over its territory and then you’ll lose more birds and have to kill another mink. Please predator proof your coops and enjoy the BENEFITS of allowing minks (and other predators) patrol around your poultry pens. They are fun to watch and are so good at killing rats. As for the “Joseph Carter” comment, please look him up and watch his ratting videos using guess what...MINKS: ‘Joseph Carter The Mink Man’.
Absolutely well said. Mink are wonderful fascinating creatures, and although they are outlawed in the UK to own one, I would have a baby one to hand rear tomorrow. Yes you are right, they are terrific natural tatters, that I would welcome, not hunt down.
Mink are wonderful animals, despite their bad press, many by armchair experts. They are only doing what they have to do to survive, and unlike us, they cannot go to the shops to buy meat! I would love a hand reared baby mink as a pet.
@@anythingoldmechanical they are not doing just what they need to do to survive. They kill as a sport for literal fun. They only need about 40% of their body weight. Most minks and weasels hardly way a pound. So he should need only 1 not the entire flock right? Have you become that soft and weak Gary? If we humans lived in the wild you would have been taken out by a pack of prairie dogs with how weak your survival skills are.
Возможно, если бы было освещение в курятнике, то курочки бы видели откуда исходит опасность, а петух попытался бы прогнать хищника. Гуси бы тоже атаковали хищника.
Thank you. I tried several different color lights and found a red light best for the task and it allows for the poultry to better avoid trouble in the coop at night. Improved security on the coop has prevented further predator attacks.
I put two electric fences 1 foot and 1.5 ft outside of my coop. Never saw any predators. If you tie some supermarket chicken meat to different locations in the yard and connect them to 48V after the dark, you can also get quite a few animals.
@@panpeter2969 I tried out using the electric fence charger around the coop. I found it caused interference with the wifi signal I use for the automation (pop door, cooling fan, interior and exterior lights, etc.) and it also made noise in the audio portion of the coop camera.
We leave one our dogs free roaming the property at night and have never had a problem with predators since. It also has kept the deer from munching up our tomatoes we grow each year
We are considering a dog. It is a difficult thing for us to consider since free roaming dogs have killed so many of our chickens over the years. Deer are a problem here too. Two Lips, that deer ate all our tulip blooms, Mimosa ate all the branches and leaves off our mimosa trees the first night we planted them.... and Peaches - yeah, she ate all the peaches off our trees.
Yes , the Jack Russell is the job for the Mink. They are a real curse if they get into the chickens , ducks or birds. I shed no tears when they are done in.
i love all the comments getting mad at the person who uploaded this. minks are insanely hard to protect against. you can do everything right and they'll ruin it. thank you to the uploader for this. i'm using it for research on how minks kill because my ducks keep getting killed every year no matter what we do. i'm at a loss on how to protect them anymore 😞
I understand. I had no idea we even had minks in our area. It seems they have a territory close to a steam or water. We are close to Bull Shoals Lake, and apparently close enough for the minks. We secured the coop with hardware cloth and other means and have had no incidents with minks since. The mink attacks were all at night. Our flock free ranges during the day, but to my knowledge we have never had a loss to a mink outside during the day. I hope you find a solution.
Figs, Pigs and Feathers same here! for years we dealt with every other predator, but then we come across an animal that killed so stealthily, i genuinely thought a demon came through our farm. wiped us clean of 25 chickens (didn't even eat them and didn't leave any blood behind???? just killed them for fun???) and decapitated 4 out of 6 ducks. we live on 12 acres of wooded area with a creek sooo basically the perfect spot for minks! but still, we never dealt with them until now. never even heard any locals talking about them.
Although I'm against having to take a course in order to own chickens, in some cases it may help to prevent loss. Someone commented, "live and learn," but do people have to see this happen to understand that it will happen, therefore causing them to build safe homes for their birds? I hope this video drives home that message.
Yes, and that is the intent of my posting the video. What was secure for us for a few years turned out not to be secure enough. We had no idea minks were even in our area, much less how destructive they are. By sharing our experience hopefully others will understand the predator issue, research their local area, and take measures to achieve good coop security for their chickens or other animals. It is a heartbreaking loss.
The night time and dark place was like Mink’s favourite time to attack, and the two goose, including a rooster, was looking really worried, as it seem that it was too dark for them to save others from that tiny terror.
Spreading their wings like that is intended to intimidate the attacker by making them appear much larger. Works great when they are chasing the delivery drivers, but not so much the mink.
In fact we did respond. Just took too long to travel the distance and get there before the mink left. It took several attempts, but that mink will not be back. It leaked body fluid all over the chicken yard.
Remember this, ALWAYS keep a light ON in your chicken coop, minks dont like light rooms when the chickens can see it and run all over the place, with a light on mink cannot catch any of the chickens plus rooster will attack mink, PUT A LIGHT BULB INSIDE AND NEVER TURN IT OFF BY NIGHT !
just need to make chicken house strong with no openings......also put some metal sheets under ground around the house cos minks can dig under normal wire fence.
First day killed 32 pigeons Second day killed 14 chicken Third day killed 4 large chicken and 2 rabbits Finished up all my birds and pets Fourth day went into my next door neighbor cope killed 18 chicken and 14 pigeons He basically whipped out every bird we had for 7 years
Foxes will do this too. They can only carry a limited amount, but if they kill them all in one go, chances are the rest will still be there, when they come back....
This happend to us..we lost 9🥺...the mink was captured and executed with extreme prejudice...his family was "removed" from this world as well....before you get mad he didn't even eat all the chickens...he would just kill them and leave them....pure evil
@@gthemanwazu That's totally natural and extinctive for any confident predator. It's also not a natural scenario. I don't think you find birds naturally locked up in the wild, that are unathletic, can't fly and don't naturally flee from danger, not hard to imagine the mink took the opportunity to have food for a whole month without having to use energy. Felines do that all the time, capture prey even if they are very well fed.
Owner had the money install a camera with audio. But couldn't install a better fence to keep the birds safe. R atleast keep the area well lit. If the chickens can see the enemy they can save themselves. They have a poor vision.
The coop is now much more secure, using hardware cloth over the chicken wire that wasn't substantial enough. Motion lights are on outside the coop, sensors down near ground level, red lights inside. No inside the coop attacks since the improvements to security.
