wanted / tame mink to breed with ferret
Anyone know anywhere id locate a tame or caught mink . Going to try breed it with a ferret just to see what offspring work be like for rabbiting
pheasantman
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
I think you will end up with a dead ferret.
paddycrawford
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
I totally agree with Paddy on this.
Desy
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
the lads are right,the mink will kill everything around it,an you will probably lose a couple of fingers!
the only good mink is a dead mink! tame or wild.
who in their right mind would try to tame a mink???
pearl
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
Ladd wat if they break out they might even worse than the mink and cause more problems
Dkspurebreedpoultry
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
england is d only place u wil get a tame mink they do hunt them over ther ther is actually videos off mink hunting on youtube they r great
eddie brennan
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
agree with paddy fer a change lol
gem
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
Ferret x with a stoat is a good cross nice handy kits for hunting there is a lad done it over this side and got great hunting stock from them he was telling me a few years ago
Jer
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
What do you mean for a change gem,do you mean to tell me that you dont believe every thing I say??
Would mink not be very big and kill rabbits in the burrow.
paddycrawford
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
Besides all of the above, it is highly unlikely you would get very far with your plan, as they are not even of the same genus classification, and they carry different numbers of chromosomes. They probably won't produce offspring, even if they didn't kill each other.
Susan Mc
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
Mink can indeed be tamed but helps if there got a young age my neighbour had one years ago and was super friendly !. Iv read that mink and ferret have been bred with but all young are sterile while ferret crossed with stoat breeds young that can reproduce
pheasantman
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
I think a stoat x ferret would be a better idea too. They're amazing hunters and have endless stamina (have you seen the BBC footage of one hunting and killing a rabbit? It just ran it into the ground, never slowed down), plus the smaller size. My friend hand reared a litter of stoats and said they were demented lively.
Wyandotte
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
"and they carry different numbers of chromosomes. They probably won't produce offspring,"
They may still produce offspring - but the offspring would be infertile.
For example Mules - donkey + horse. Different numbers of chromosome sets = infertiile offspring/mules.
Mammals need an even number of chromosomes to reproduce (horses have 64 and donkeys have 62 = 126 : 2 - 63 for the mule).
Bea
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
That's true Bea, I forgot about those examples. But I think there is still a lower chance of producing an offspring at all when crossing species.
Ferret/Polecat has 40 chromosomes
European Mink has 38, but I don't think their range includes Ireland
American Mink has 30
I would think that you might successfully cross a ferret with a european mink, but not sure a ferret x american mink would succeed.
Susan Mc
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
I don't think you'd get much that's fertile out of different chromosomes even if it worked in the first place.
Chromosomes need similar size and shape to pair up, if you have any single ones left at the end, they can't replicate for the following generation.
Gene placements have to be similar too.
Tigers and lions have the same number of chromosomes but males of the cross are still sterile (females are not). It is supposed that this is due to a gross difference in the size of the Y chromosome in the two species, they are incompatible and so the result is sterility. The X chromosomes are of similar size.
gentian
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
If mammals need even numbers of chromosomes to reproduce why then is it possible for a (horse x donkey) mule (indeed the same is also true of canary x native finch mules) to reproduce, rare and all as that is?
That said I don't see any merit to crossing mink with ferrets, perhaps it would be better to source better working ferrets?
tarka
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
The working ferrets I have a perfect in out no messing about iv just always wanted to try breed with a stoat or something but tame stoats are far harder to find
pheasantman
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
Why do you what to introduce something else if the ferrets you have are perfect?!
tarka
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
Dont get me wrong I don't play on breeding loads of hybrids just a few kits to see what hybrids would be like at rabbiting , because stoats are much quicker than ferrets iv always wanted to see if a cross bred kit would get through warrens faster but lacking the same killer instinct
pheasantman
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
Tarka sometimes a mule will have a foal as there's a mish mash of the chromosomes, saw it on some programme once but it's only 1 in a few thousand chance.
Matt K
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
tarka,
"If mammals need even numbers of chromosomes to reproduce why then is it possible for a (horse x donkey) mule (indeed the same is also true of canary x native finch mules) to reproduce, rare and all as that is?"
Genetic Mutations.
There is an equal chance of genetic mutations in odd numbered chromosome mammals as in even numbered ones.
Bea
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
Bea,
So are you now saying that it is possible for mammals with uneven numbered chromosomes to reproduce?
tarka
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
Mulard (or mule) ducks are Muscovy x Pekin cross, ie across genera and are sterile.
You can get 3 versions of a chromosome happening. It's rare but is known in humans. eg instead of the usual XY or XX a 3rd sex chromosome can be present and you can get XYY or XXY. There are specific syndromes attached to them, not sure if fertility is affected.
A very interesting subject.
gentian
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
tarka, in general no, not without something very rare happening, but very occasionally the highly improbable happens.
gentian
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
gentian,
I don't understand what your message addressed to me means!
Is it very occasionally or highly improbable? And to what are you referring?
Perhaps this tread is gone a little off the subject?
tarka
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
also the mink could run off what would you have then more minks around the place listen to paddy dont bother doing it
irishwaterfowlsoicety
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
tarka,
"Bea,
So are you now saying that it is possible for mammals with uneven numbered chromosomes to reproduce?"
I am not "now" saying that it is possible; I am saying that mutations occur and different mutations result in different outcomes suchs a minimal chance for unevenly chromosomed mammals to produce offspring. Friends of mine breed mules for the German Army, have been doing this for 50+ years and they have heard of 1 case but never produced one animal where a mule male had sucessfully mated.
Genetic mutations are responsible for other traits, often visual ones, which may negatively impact on the (health of the) subject but are appreciated otherwise.
Take for example the merle factor in dogs or the mutation which causes dogs to have blue eyes or differently coloured eyes.
There are excellent articles published on the internet about genetic mutations and free to access to anyone. Why not reed them up?
Bea
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
What do the German army use mules for Bea.
paddycrawford
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
Bea,
Perhaps it's just me but you appear to have contradicted yourself a few times!
tarka
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
you can also get zonkeys donkey/zebra cross
irishwaterfowlsoicety
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
Yes, even pony x zebra, but again generally sterile. Zebra are notoriously wild, very difficult to tame (which is different to domesticated btw, by a lot of generations). The crosses were popular circus attractions in the late 19C and early 20C, but have no real use such as mules have (product of 2 domesticated species).
gentian
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
I seen a zebra down in limerick years ago trained and yolked up but no speed you'd walk faster than him.
paddycrawford
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
There was a gelding on donedeal years ago, wonder how much he was? Anyone know any other breeders on here of zebra?
Matt K
Friday, May 16th, 2014
@paddycrawford
"What do the German army use mules for Bea."
They use them for army units in the alps as carrier animals.
If you google "Gebirgsjäger Maultier" you get good images and information on this.
@tarka
"Perhaps it's just me but you appear to have contradicted yourself a few times!"
Yes, perhaps it is ... :-)
Bea
Friday, May 16th, 2014
Yes paddy, it has been done, like African elephants, but it's fairly rare. Seen pictures of a zebra under saddle, but the paces on the average mule would be more comfortable, lol.
gentian
Friday, May 16th, 2014
i know a lad that had tried to breed a mink to a ferret, he stopped trying after the 2nd year, the jill would go into full blown pregnancy and the kits all died early on, he had a weasel and a stoat the weasel you could handle but the stoat not a chance, he tried to cross a ferret to the stoat but the few times he tried the ferret tried to kill it, he also had european polecats and they were class even though they were handled they still had that wildness about them i was over buying some polecats for myself, and now have my own line of workers, 1st cross was the pure polecat to a polecat coloured ferret, it produced very dark coloured polecats but unless handled from 6weeks they would have the wildness in them, 2nd cross for me is the best you get a nice dark coloured polecat ferret that is easy handled and very quick in the burrows, these are kits that i bred last year these are 3/4 polecat /4 ferret [URL=http://s1235.photobucket.com/user/goshawker2009/media/poleca...][IMG]http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff423/goshawker2009/pole...[/IMG][/URL]
midge
Saturday, May 17th, 2014
midge where you from as would be interested in some young ones of you
eddie
Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
There a nice ferret alright midget do u have any left or are u breeding this year
pheasantman
Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
im in Armagh lads, i have just bred my jills just a waiting game at the min
midge
Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
i agree with pearl. only good mink is a dead one, along with the fox, greycrow, magpie,and a few more
FERRET
Saturday, July 5th, 2014
I know ferret but offspring would be super workers iv tried looking for tame stoat instead as there easier find seeminly and maybe people are right about the mink
pheasantman
Saturday, July 5th, 2014
Well that was a great read :)
carrick
Saturday, July 5th, 2014
i'd say they'd be a complete disaster unless you want to be digging all the time
i lost a jill one season in a big old spot she went off the old 8ft collar and i spent days trying to find her, she was a great ferret very rarely killed and was fast through a warren she was found a few months later and i got her back as a working ferret she was a disaster she would kill everything she met it was 10 xs worse than working a big old buck cos she'd kill then just move on to the next one .
meles
Saturday, July 5th, 2014
You must be registered with an email address to comment.
