The Fur During the Summer Is Very Poor, and Not So Dark as It Is During the Winter.
An Excited Mink Trying to Climb.
Minks require little room, and thousands can be raised each year on a farm of ten acres. The larger the farm, however, the better chances they will have to procure food for themselves, as birds will enter a large farm more freely than a small one.
For this reason, in building a mink farm the first and most important requirement is a good location. A small island consisting of low land covered with trees and grasses, with the opposite shore at least three-quarters of a mile distant, would make an excellent farm, provided the surrounding water supplies an abundance of small fishes. Such an island would, of course, preclude the necessity of using material for holding the minks in captivity. If a suitable island cannot be found, a good farm can be made with five or more acres of low swampy land having a natural growth of trees, grasses and underbrush, such as can be found in Southern Louisiana. But the piece of land selected for a farm must inclose a large pond, or several small ponds, containing a good quantity of small fishes, especially crayfish. The trees and grasses will attract birds, which, in addition to fish and rabbits, form a large part of food for the minks.
Feeding minks is pretty costly, and is hardly to be considered by one entering the business of breeding them for their fur.
The walls surrounding a mink farm can be made either with bricks or with sheets of corrugated, galvanized iron. The latter material makes an excellent wall, and costs less than a brick wall. It should be used in sheets measuring twelve feet in length by about twenty-six inches in width. These sheets should be used in an upright position, and at least five feet should be underground and seven feet aboveground. They should be allowed to lap two inches, and the dirt should be firmly packed against them. Two rows of wooden strips nailed on the outside of the wall, one about two feet above the ground, and the other along the top edge of the sheets, will greatly strengthen the wall and also prevent the wind from shaking it.