help birds being killed but by what i dont know

pj1

Well-Known Member
Evening all. Through my job I control rats in a bird santuary but over the last week or so they had had ten chicken / geese killed. These birds have had their heads / necks removed and most of them have had the inside eaten at. These birds are in a pen which has a 6 foot chain link fence and chicken mesh around the bottom. There are a few holes in the chicken fence but no hair to be seen on broken wires. The pen is next to another pen which only has a 2 foot 6 fence and no birds have been taken from here. I have had cage traps in there baited with day old chicks but only caught a chicken. I found a dropping yesterday which was dark brown about 6 mm in diameter and 8 cm long if straight. Smells preety strong and was on freshly dug pile of soil. Which looks like from a near rat burrow. Helps please. I think the girl who looks after the birds can't take much more. Regards pj
 
Ditto Mink. They really will kill 'to store' not so 'to eat'. Your Mink is not going to go away.
Can't resist a piece of rabbit, if you can get one. Also, try leaving a small transistor radio in there on a speaking, not music, channel - this can deter.
Do you ahve any water pipes nearby? Mink like conduit and are creatures of habit.
Sorry to hear of your losses. Can you get a shooter in there?

My experiecne is having killed 59+ Mink over a few years at game shoot. Trapping every time, with the occassional lucky shoot opportunity.

Pine Marten is protected....but also sizeable compared to a Mink.
 
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Hi guys thanks for your advice. I have tried on prevous occasions to persuade the owner to let me sit in a tree to shoot a problem fox but being a sanctury / rescue centre they are a bit pro animal and anti killing if you know what I mean.

Can I trouble you with another question
What is the best design of tunnel trap. Bearing in mind there are geese around that love sticking their heads in my bait boxs. If the fenn trap is not approved of what cage trap would you suggest. On the opposite side of the penn to where I found the dropping is a lake. The most birds seem to be killed nearer this so would you suggest setting it alond the fence nearer the lake or nearer the dropping. Regards pj
 
like has been suggested, make a 20" tunnel trap or use a mink cage, when using the tunnel trap setup you can dig a trench in the ground, place the tunnel in it then cover with soil making sure there is an entrance ramp either end.

Mink love poking about in holes, curiosity killed the Mink! :D
 
go on the pro trapper web site,youll get all the info you need for trapping and snaring mink,rats etc
 
Use a mink cage and pop it with an air rifle. Bait it with Pilchards fannies, the strongest smell in the world!
 
As has been said, go with a cage trap down near the water, fish heads or similar as bait and pop the bugger with an airrifle. If they wont let you take one on site then look at a magnum bodygrip or fenn 6 set in a tunnel. You could also look at building a mink raft as a permament fixture, that way you can spot future problems hopefully before they do to much damage and trap accordingly.

The WCS tube works well for mink but its a hefty investment if you only use it the once.

http://www.protrapper.co.uk/index.php

This is the best online document re mink imo

http://www.gwct.org.uk/documents/gct_mink_raft_guidelineslr.pdf

I know Ian at Protrapper (we are both members of the UKPCO) he will bust a gut to get stuff out quickly.
 
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Place a handfull of light feathers at the entrance of your tunnel, this acts as a sight attracter,mink as stated are Very curious...
DSC00194.jpg

A tunnel sinilar to this will do the trick..
 
thanks for all your help.

red dot im a bit scared to ask but what on earth are pilchards fannies

nell is that a push me pull you rat or two in one trap

i know that i would like to use a fen trap as used them before for rats but what size entrance would you have on the tunnel entrance. it needs to keep duck chicken and geese out or would burying it get past this problem
 
Had the same problem a few years back and it was mink, what l did was got a couple of long tunnels baited the middle and set a no 6 fen either side of the bait, worked a treat.
 
tunnel must be big enough for trap to spring, wide and high enough had one on my brook this am still alive humm not for long !
 
dont put your finger in to test lol about 2'' a four will kill em a six will really do em in if you catch in the middle
 
thanks norma. i know we have some no4s in the office so i will give these a go tomorrow. is it worth using 2 traps and putting bait between the two
 
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