Mink and livestock ? in my garage !

What is there to know about Mink, and ones livestock like the more typical ones such as poultry or similar ? I caught one in a tool bag this morning, after waiting him out, he went in, I closed the bag, gotcha ! He was after my pets, right in front of me, kept trying to find a way into the cage, which is glass with a hardware cloth top, while I was standing there, he even climbed up onto my shoe, I just had to wait him out to either grab him or what, thankfully that tool bag was right there, since a kid I've had the ability to catch critters when I needed to, had thick gloves on and just waited to strike LOL.

I keep some meadow mice mostly to make compost with from the guano, it works great for this, a 5 gallon pail/week for my smaller garden by the back door. I've done it for years with no trouble, me thinks I may have to discontinue, if something like a Mink will come in after them.

FYI The mice are well kept, cage cleaned 2x day, sanitized 1x per week, they eat rich hay grasses, fresh greens and oats, manure collected and piled well away from the house and aerated for compost, it makes dark/black compost, I use black cherry sawdust for bedding. Its odd, but works, and I don't believe these carry anything, and they are healthy, well looked after, not like the guy on hoarders, with 2000+ rats, the house is always kept clean, we do get those white footed mice and or deer mice, my traps are always set, have not seen or heard any in a long time.

I don't handle them much, always wear gloves, and wash up thoroughly, they knew this mink was around, they could easily smell him boy were they on edge.

Not sure how to edit, correction, its white, must be a weasel, not a mink, too small and white.

We had a weasel in our parts bins for a couple of years when we were in business. It became quite tame . My wife ran the parts department, and sometimes it would startle her when she reached for a part, but the little critter took care of our other critter promlems. It really liked peices of hotdog, that the wifey would set out for it.
Loren, the Acg.

Never seen a white weasel- at least the ones around here are brown, with a very distinctive orangish-brown underside of the neck and belly. Maybe they turn white in snow country, don't know about that.

When you mentioned it crawled on your boot, I was thinking domestic mink, escaped from a mink farm- do you have any of those around?

If you do a little checking, weasels turn white in the winter. We caught a small one in a basement of a home we were building.

Smaller than mink and white sounds like a ferret which would explaine it's lack of fear for you. Ferrets are popular pets and mink are next to impossiable to tame.
Many times a kid's mother makes him get rid of his ferret when it reachs maturity and starts stinking.

Shorttail weasel...brown in summer white in winter;
He should have a black tip on his tail year round.
He is actually called an ermine when he is white in the winter. Ladies' coats made from ermine are quite beautiful and expensive.

Thats funny, he was not that scared when loose, but reserved, probably would do the same thing, but he was not losing sight of his objective, penned up he's not happy, offered him a drink of water from a dropper grrr.... thinks its a threat. I'll bring him down along the far shore of the 20 acre pond and see what I can do to close up that gap, had to be where he got in. Interesting, but has to be a real pest if you have chickens, my friend had ferret a long time ago, reminds me of that, I cannot imagine trying to tame one of these, he's probably scared like heck, when possible I'm always fair with the critters, just hope he don't come back, they must have a keen sense of smell to pick up on that cage, might have been fresh manure that brought him up the hill from the pond, but to get in the garage and immediately target that cage, got to hand it to him, he knows what he's doing for sure LOL!

Exactly what he looks like, I'd post a photo, short on time, white with black tip.

No, he was just set on getting at that cage, he was crawling on everything, all the time, you would not know where he'd come out next, he almost climbed into my hand, new gloves, scent was off, if they were old or ones I've used to handle the mice, their scent would have been on them, no doubt he'd have mistakenly climbed into my hand, fortunately he was within reach when he went into that tool bag, I knew I could catch him, just had to wait him out, he was gaining confidence, I walked to another room where my supplies are and he was right on top of the cage when I came back and did not really scamper, I'll bet he'd be a good mouser, maybe thats why I have not seen many LOL !

I'd load him up & drive about 10 miles to somewhere he can 't cause harm & dump him out. Of course if you've got someone who's a pita & raises chickens...

Funny story about a weasel.
I was hunting deer with my B.I.L. back in the 60s and we both had 12 Ga. shotguns with slugs.
We met up at a pre-planned spot at about noon right next to a stone wall.
As we're standing there, an ermine popped his head out of the wall a few times here and there. Sort of comical, in a way. We kept lookin' to see where he would "pop" out again and when I saw him, I hollered there he is; my B.I.L. wheeled around and shot his head off as clean as if you had cut it off with a knife. Lucky shot, that's for sure! He wasn't really all that good. LOL
I took him home to skin out but I never did.
He stunk pretty good; musky smell.

Escaped pet ferret maybe?

Minks are pretty brave, although any I've dealt with are usually a little more timid than THAT - don't handle him and don't risk getting bit!

You could be in for rabies shots if you do - and NOT getting rabies shots when you need them = death.

Minks can catch and kill big rats - it's pretty impressive to watch. So they're good for that. but once they clear the rats out - your chickens will be next.

Hard to keep them out - best to catch him and relocate him far, far away (just know it's probably against state law to do that - so don't be too obvious about it)

I'll look into that- I don't believe they do around here, where it snows very seldom.

Sisters and I happened to see weasels darting in and out of a rock pile on some land with a lot of Scotch broom (like sage brush, only taller). We thought it would be neat to make a "fort" in the broom, so we could watch the weasels frolic. Borrowed dad's shingling hatchet to cut the broom, and managed to lose it. He made us look for it for several hours, can't imagine why we didn't find it- but it kind of took the fun out of the "fort"- I don't think we ever went back to it.

(quoted from post at 11:35:40 03/19/13) I'd load him up & drive about 10 miles to somewhere he can 't cause harm & dump him out. Of course if you've got someone who's a pita & raises chickens...

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I know a kid paying toward his education at University Of Arkansas traping nusance animals and relocating them to Southern Mo. on his way home ever couple of weeks. Gets lots of possums,coons and skunks. He transported 14 skunks to Mo so far this month. Fayettville animal control will loan traps but most people would rather hire the kid than handle the animals. Can't say as I blame them. :shock:

Funny-I was working in the office at my farm and had the feeling I was being watched and this booger was watching me type. I chased him for 30 min and got these 3 videos. Sorry about the socks with sandals.

http://youtu.be/Z5fuDA3w2zI
http://youtu.be/VoOExMcsVbA
http://youtu.be/Urg1C1qY-v0

That was and is my first consideration, always use thick gloves, like my welders gloves or similar, absolutely don't want to take any chances, I've done that all my life, I used to be real good at flanking wood chucks and getting between them and the hole to catch them, only time I had to catch a critter bare handed was when I spotted the muskrat that was undermining my culvert pipe, I had him surrounded in a flowing creek between the pipe and the pond, he made a run for it and I caught him with one hand right through the water from the back near the shoulder/neck, no way he could reach around, my grip on him was so strong it killed him.

Its a good point to bring up, you don't take chances with wildlife, be prepared and know what you are doing or leave em well enough alone.

The weasel, was so focused on the cage and climbing on any and everything, relentless, in an attempt to find the best angle, while I stood right there, he made one mistake, going into that old black and decker tool bag, close it like a venuse fly trap, then placed in a steel garbage can, removed bag. While fiddling with the lid, he jumped up and got the front paws over the edge, but I had the lid on him instantly and clamped down, suffocating him briefly, it would not take much, he showed those sharp little teeth, not like a rodents either. I was able to grab him and toss some bedding in, put the lid back on, let him calm and recover, a while later I offered him some water, he finally took some but felt threatened. In the snow, I walked down with him to the edge of the 20 acre pond, he jumped out and it was funny he wanted to get past me, came out on the left, I move left he goes right, the can was between us, did this a couple times, then tunneled in the snow and was gone, probably very happy, interesting little guy probably a lot of fun if raised from young. I did get some photos and one video to remember him, just hope he don't come back.