Identification | Biology | Damage ID | Management | Handling

Mink may occasionally kill domestic poultry around farms. They typically kill their prey by biting them through the skull or neck. Closely spaced pairs of canine tooth marks are sign of a mink kill. 

Mink will attack animals up to the size of a chicken, duck, rabbit, or muskrat. While eating muskrats, a mink will often make an opening in the back or side of the neck and skin the animal by pulling the head and body through the hole as it feeds. Like some other members of the weasel family, mink occasionally exhibit “surplus killing” behavior (killing much more than they can possibly eat) when presented with an abundance of food, such as in a poultry house full of chickens. Mink may place many dead chickens neatly in a pile. Mink can eat significant numbers of upland nesting waterfowl or game bird young, particularly in areas where nesting habitat is limited. 

Damage to Structures 

Mink do not damage structures.  

Damage to Plants, Lawns, and Livestock 

Mink do not damage plants or turf. Mink, however, are exceptional predators capable of killing animals larger than them. Mink can be devastating to chicken ranchers.  

Health and Safety Concerns

Mink are not considered to pose disease threats to humans.