How To Keep Mink Away From Chickens

Minks can cause trouble for chicken owners as poultry is a common target of these furry animals.

Let us face the truth – it can be frustrating when minks go after your chickens. Minks will kill one or two chickens and are more likely to kill the entire flock in a single night due to their killing instinct.

This killing instinct prompts the minks to continue killing till all of the chickens are dead – or – until the minks get distracted. You might even find your chickens lined up, rather morbidly in a row – roughly lined out.

Here are some ways to protect your chickens from minks:

This article states some of the best ways to keep mink away from chickens, such as integrating a good defense system, fixing fence holes & gaps, and don’t rely on the chicken coop wire.

Integrate a Good Defense System

To begin, you should become acquainted with the mink’s footprint to determine when the chicken coop has been visited.

You must integrate a good defense system when protecting your chickens from minks. You will want to ensure that your chickens are properly locked at night. Doing so will get the chickens out of the mink’s sight.

Subsequently, you will want to clear out all the bushes, trash, weeds, and branches – all these things around the chicken coop that can potentially provide cover for the minks to get in. Also, ensure that all the fences are fixed and that there are no holes or gaps.

Fix Fence Holes & Gaps

In case of holes or gaps, you will want to repair them all – including holes in the walls and floors. Any potential gap you see from where a mink could get through – you will want to fix and seal those gaps as soon as possible.

The thing is that minks can fit into the tiniest places – their fur makes them look bigger than they are. Another interesting fact about minks is that they love to follow other animals’ holes. Minsk won’t hold back but crawl into rodent holes, tunnels, and caves.

You get the point – minks will crawl through anything they can find to get underneath the fencing of your chicken coop.

So, it would be a great idea to fix that fencing at least 18 inches underground and build the fence a little bit away from the chicken coop. This way, it will get hard for any animal to dig their way into the chicken coop from underneath the fence.

Don’t Rely on the Chicken Coop Wire

It is important to mention that you should refrain from using chicken coop wire to protect your chickens. The chicken wire won’t do it! Apart from minks, other animals will have an easy time ripping through that wire as if it isn’t there at all.

Animals like minks have sharp claws and can get easily inside the chicken coop. That said, the only good that a chicken wire might render some benefit is that it helps your chicken get confined to a specific area.

Rest assured – the chicken wire doesn’t protect the chickens at all. So, your best option would be to use hardware cloth as it is not only thick but also sturdy, and it won’t rip, so it will protect your chickens from getting attacked by minks and other predators.

Lift the Chicken Coop From the Ground

You might already know that minks are exceptionally good at digging. They not only follow other animals’ holes but can also dig very well. So, another thing that you can do to protect your chickens is to lift the chicken coop from the ground.

A few options to lift the chicken scoop from the ground would be to provide them with a false floor several inches above the bottom of the coop. You might as well place a floor and attach it to the chicken coop above the ground.

You might as well come up with a different flooring idea to give the chickens an additional barrier and prevent the minks from crawling in and killing the chickens.

Conclusion

You might as well use technology, such as motion-activated sprinklers or lights specifically created for small animals. Ensure that you have the right defense system to protect your chickens and scare the minks away.

In the end, you can always rely on a good electric fence set at a low enough wattage.