I have him on camera. Bastard Mink. It is not much of a shot but I think there are two of them.
If you flip back and forth you will see them. They literally ate a hole in the door. And killed two more chooks.
So after I had milked the cow, fed the animals, done the baking and made the custard for the ice-cream, put a pound of butter in the freezer and thanked the farmer for planting 8 rows of sunflowers for this years feed. Watered the pots, let the big animals into the fields and filled the water troughs:
I ignored everything else and set to work to finish The Tank myself.
It did take hours and I admit freely to not being very good when working with wire but I had a lot of help from my sleepy support team. Yesterday I abandoned the chook house altogether. No more chickens in there now. Earlier than planned but enough is enough. 
Later in the afternoon I called the nice man at the pub and asked him if he could make John’s dinner for me, and throw in a few extra pieces of chicken for the traps.
While I waited for the birds to go to bed so I could catch them, we did some fencing. I think Marcel is getting a bit too big to play the Boo games anymore. 
Then I milked the cow, cleaned up, dragged out every box and cage I had and set to work; catching every single chicken. There are two cages of birds on the verandah and The Tank is full. I will repair the next chicken tractor tomorrow for the caged birds.
We will keep loading the traps until we trap them, there is nothing else to do.
But for the meantime the chickens are in the front yard where they are well within the territory of the dogs. In fact they are only a few feet from the verandah where the dogs lie.
Last night I slept.
Oh and Daisy’s milk is still healthy. No problems there for the moment. Wonderful.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm
celi
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
66 responses to “My enemy”
I am so sorry you’ve lost more chooks, and hope the tractor and traps do their jobs effectively. That Marcel is amazing – mind you, he’s not very bright about gender spotting!
Have a successful day.
Love,
ViV
He is actually lying on Boo as Boo walks along.. old pals.. c
Maybe by winter you’ll have a nice mink scarf to keep your neck warm. xoxo
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an extra set of hands C!
Have a wonderful weekend and here’s hoping you have time to put your feet up for a while.
🙂 Mandy xo
Darn. Creepy things even in pictures. Two is not good news as that probably means a breeding pair and little minks to come. If you catch them I really hope you can bring yourself to exact retribution for their crimes against chickens. I once heard minks described as oil with teeth and fur, the darn things seems to ooze instead of move. Tima needs to grow so that she is too big for them to mess with. It will be interesting (at least to me lol) to see if Daisy’s mastitis returns with the rainy weather we are to get this coming week. If it does, I would think that would indicate that her’s is an environmentally caused type and that chances are good she is one of those cows that the muscles of the tip of her teat do not contract quickly enough after milking.
You definitely earned a good night’s sleep!
Wow – what a day! You had no choice but to move the chickens out early. I’m glad you slept. What is your plan for Marcel?
Boo is very patient with Marcel! Don’t they grow fast!!
Darn Mink. I hope you get him soon. He needs to leave my anipals alone there. Have a great weekend my friend. XOXO – Bacon
Soon I hope, soon. It weighs so heavy on the mind when things aren’t right. Little Marcel is so darn cute! Love seeing him. Thanks
You now have solid evidence. Once caught, the jury will most certainly find them guilty and they will meet their demise.
After such a long harsh winter, it appears the wildlife are willing to do what it takes to find a good meal. Just wish they would have found that meal elsewhere.
Love the pictures of Marcel and Boo 🙂 And that calf photo is awesome!!!
Arghh! Your enemy is our enemy. Hang in there. I hope you find some joy today.
Oh boy, oh boy, what a predicament. A couple of years ago I saw the most wonderful British documentary called The Halcyon River Diaries. Made by two people, a TV presenter and her wildlife photographer husband, they moved to an old mill house to chronicle the reintroduction of river otters to their river. Anyway, long-short, they trapped a mink inadvertently and were forced to kill it because mink are such a problem decimating other species, such as river otter and water voles, that it’s the law to kill them if trapped. Shame really, everyone has to eat and survive, but not at the cost of river otters and your chickens. Darn it anyway…huh?
I bet you did sleep with no rocking last night! I hope you get the Bu%%er real soon! Please excuse my French, I was feeling annoyed for you!
You don’t need problems like that. Somehow you will catch those bastards.
Bloody Hell -this must be real frustrating for you! I love all animals and like you hate to see harm come to anything, but there is only so much one will put up with. Those buggers just have to go.