I'm just not a killer....so should we have poultry? rant and ramble

I'm devastated by the loss of my australian spotted duck flock. We lost all but three of our australorps too, all over three days. The ducks were the worst though as the mink got them in their coop. Some members here may be a member of our local club that I sent a group email to pleading for help to re-home the rest of the healthy birds as the mink would obviously return that day/night. I am so grateful for all the responses and to the woman who took the remaining chickens permanently.
Our speckled sussex and saxony drake were unscathed. One duck has head punctures but will heal find and the other would not walk for three days but now seems to be very well. They are locked up tight (or so I think) in my brooder pen under heat.

I caught the dratted mink, maybe Wed or Thurs. By Sat it was dead. I did give it water and whole oats, I couldn't let it starve to death. Maybe it was sick anyway.

I guess my point is...if you catch a predator...best option is to kill it. I can't. If you hatch and have a sick or unwell chick/duckling you should kill it so it doesn't suffer. I can't. I have only had a few and haven't had the guts to do it. Injured or sick birds that are unrecoverable should be put down to end suffering. I can't. Thank god hubby mustered up and ended it for my spotted drake.

So while I'm mulling the idea if I should even let my birds out again (either they go back down with a few modifications or we sell out and give up), am I just traumatized and overreacting? To have birds do you have to suck it up and be able to kill/cull? Birds that weren't "standard" I sold clearly as pet stock. They were still cute and able to lay.

So what to do? We live on a waterway but haven't had a mink attack in 6 years. Our pen is 8ft high of 1/2 inch hardware cloth. One side has 2x4 diamond mesh. We run three strands of electric wire (2 down 1 up) around the outside, cemented the wire in (except for doorways) and have fishing line with hanging twine overtop (it's a large run). The coop would have been sound, hardware cloth everywhere, except I had grown lax over an old rathole. He dug under and climbed in.

Sorry for the ramble but I'm truly upset, can't get the image out of my head and actually have anxiety reactions going down near the coop.

Figured you guys would have been through this, interested to hear thoughts.

Learn from your mistakes and continue with your passion. Living near a waterway, you will certainly have predator issues. Especially mink.

So sorry for your losses.

.

I got the email and called you it is nice that you found homes for your birds I talked to about 20 people when I built my first coop and mink proofed it be for it was a problem bold eagles that was another story had to re do my pen three times be for I got it if I did not change each time I would not have a flock at all

Giddyup wrote:

Sorry for the ramble but I'm truly upset, can't get the image out of my head and actually have anxiety reactions going down near the coop.

Figured you guys would have been through this, interested to hear thoughts.

To be a breeder of anything is hard on the heart. It is hard to lose that beautiful pup because it got laid on. Or a nest full of kits because the first time mom didn't know what to do.Or a bird to a predator. I give the animals in my care the best life i can. It is hard to lose an animal you are attached to. But you must remember everything has an end wether it be by accident or by design. My breeder rabbits have names and I talk and pet them and they know me. I feel awful if I lose one. The young that are going for meat do not get personal/pet attention. They are wild when time comes to catch them, I have the scars to prove it. I care for them well until it is time to take them in. Even food animals should be treated with respect. After all they are helping to sustain you. So as hard as it may sound if you breed/raise anything you are going to have loss of some kind. It never gets easy (unless your a cylon), easier yes because you realize that some times you have to do the humane thing but you have the pleasure of having them and the challenge of breeding better than you have and if for food they help feed you. Hope this helps
Geri

You say:

"I caught the dratted mink, maybe Wed or Thurs. By Sat it was dead. I did give it water and whole oats, I couldn't let it starve to death. Maybe it was sick anyway."

To be blunt, you may have let it starve to death. Mink don't eat oats. At the very least it suffered. I understand you didn't know what to do with it, but next time if you set a trap you must have a plan for what to do with your prey otherwise you are treating a life cruelly. Fish and wildlife may be able to help you out. Maybe call them now for suggestions so you are not caught unawares the next time.

I am not trying to be nasty to you, Giddyup, but I believe all lives, even the lives of predators are important and no animals should suffer. If you chose to interfere with or end their lives you need to be humane.

Sue

Schipperkesue wrote:You say:

"I caught the dratted mink, maybe Wed or Thurs. By Sat it was dead. I did give it water and whole oats, I couldn't let it starve to death. Maybe it was sick anyway."

To be blunt, you may have let it starve to death. Mink don't eat oats. At the very least it suffered. I understand you didn't know what to do with it, but next time if you set a trap you must have a plan for what to do with your prey otherwise you are treating a life cruelly. Fish and wildlife may be able to help you out. Maybe call them now for suggestions so you are not caught unawares the next time.

I am not trying to be nasty to you, Giddyup, but I believe all lives, even the lives of predators are important and no animals should suffer. If you chose to interfere with or end their lives you need to be humane.

Sue

I doubt that it could have starved that quickly. I'm thinking more of stress. Years ago, I worked on a project live trapping small mammals. Live traps. Very humane. Catch and release. But some would always be dead. They just couldn't stand being contained, even for a couple of hours. Weasels were one of them.

I think we've got a plan worked out.

I would be wary of trying to freeze waterfowl to euthanize it. I just think of down and how great waterfowl is at enduring extreme temperatures.

EVerything here is good advice, if sometimes hard to hear.

Having animals means stepping up and ending a life when you can't fix it or stop the pain. There is no excuse for delaying the inevitable when all reasonable measures have been tried and failed. Allowing an animal to suffer because we are too upset to end it's life is inexcusable.

I agree with Sue that all animals, no matter how we feel about them, deserve a quick, humane and stress free end. Even predators do not deserve to die slowly and painfully. As for culling/killing/euthanizing sick or injured young animals, I could not personally put them in a freezer. When you consider that the natural instinct of many young is to cuddle into their mother for that comfort and warmth, death by solitary coldness is a special kind of hell, to my way of thinking. Nope, the method must be instant. Awareness must end immediately. That is how I feel about it anyway.

Losses by predation or disease do not get eaiser to take, but you learn to accept it as part of the whole picture of keeping animals. The good with the bad. A balance. It's tough to take sometimes though.

I’m really sorry Giddyup. I know how much you loved your birds. No, I don’t think your overreacting, but I do think you’ve been through something horrible and traumatic and may need more time to come to terms with what happened. Healing is a process and cannot be rushed. So please, don’t be so hard on yourself. And since when did having a soft heart become a bad thing? Finding a humane way to dispatch the sick/injured (as well as predators) is never a nice thing to have to do, but it is a necessary part of keeping livestock, (as much as I wish it was not some days.) I struggle alot with this part myself. It is never easy, ever!…though it does get easier to handle with time. I really wish I had the answers, but I do not. One thing I do know is this: if the day ever comes that I don’t have a hard time putting something down anymore, that’s when I’ll start to worry… and take a good, long look in the mirror.

Again, I’m so sorry for your losses.

.

Thanks all. Jon that must have been you that was a bit hard to hear on the phone, but thank you.
The hard thing is continuing on knowing that another mink may come or a coon during the day and another life or lives to be lost. Both from an emotional and financial point of view. We've decided to stick with the larger ducks as they have a better chance at least.
I had no intentions of starving the mink and I am suspect that that happened and think Fowler may have a good point. But oats is what I had on hand. I wasn't about to make a homemade meal to this animal that's for sure but suffering is not in my books, hence this post.

Now another side topic, I'll start a new thread re a seemingly paralyzed duck that survived and will likely need a home.

My geese do a fine job of keeping mink away from my ducks. Just a thought.

I would LOVE to have a goose...or two...wondered how they would do as "guardians", but the poultry share a fenceline with the neighbours and didn't want to push my luck.

however...now that we no longer have a rooster....hmmmmmmm