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FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
INTERESTING FACTS CONCERNING MR. H. 
RESSEGUE’S MINXERY. 
BY JAMES S. BAILEY, M.D. 
Among the novel features of the Albany County Fair is 
the Minkery exhibited by Mr. H. Resseque, of Yerona, 
Oneida County, New York. Seven years ago he came in 
possession of a wild Mink, and through her progeny his 
stock, at some periods during this time, has numbered ninety 
individuals, besides many specimens disposed of throughout 
the different States of the Union. 
Mr. Resseque’s home yards contain twelve stalls, each 
twelve feet square; the soil is stale, and around the outside 
of the yard a trench is dug fifteen inches deep, and a plank 
fifteen inches wide is laid on the bottom, close to an upright 
plank nailed upon the fence-posts as a base. The dirt is then 
filled in, and the fence is composed of upright rough boards 
six feet in height, with a cab projecting over the yard, in order 
to prevent the mink from climbing outside. In each stall 
is placed a dry-goods box, which is inhabited by a female. 
This box has two openings opposite each other for ingress 
and egress, with a door on the top to allow inspection and 
cleanliness. 
Minks are not burrowing animals when in a state of na- 
ture, but freely avail themselves of the burrows of the musk- 
rat or some other vermin. They cannot climb a smooth 
surface, but when there is enough roughness for nail-hold 
ascend easily. In the Minkery the male and female are not 
allowed to run together, excepting during the month of 
March, which is considered the running season for wild 
Minks. If allowed together for a longer period the male 
annoys the female by teasing her. The female remains in 
heat about four days, and all of the females in his yard are 
ready for the male within a period of ten days' time. One 
male will serve six females. The females carry their young- 
six weeks, and in kittening they do not vary twelve hours 
from this time. They average from three to ten kittens at 
a litter, which, when born, are blind, and remain so for five 
weeks. They are quite destitute of hair, and are as white 
as a piece of paper, and devoid of animal shape. Mr. Res- 
seque informs me that they resemble the shape of a finger, 
and are about the size of his little finger. By the time their 
eyes are open they are covered with a coat of beautiful, 
glossy hair. The young females develop sooner than the 
males ; the former obtain their growth in ten months, while 
the males do not until eighteen months of age. The females 
are capable of bearing young when one year old. 
In his yards they are fed exclusively on sound fresh meat. 
They do not relish tainted flesh. He feeds them once each 
day in the summer, but in cold weather the food is thrown 
to them in quantities, and allowed to freeze, so that they 
can help themselves at pleasure. During the month of Feb- 
ruary a short allowance of food is given them, to get them 
in condition for breeding. When running wild, food at 
this season is scarce with them. Mr. Resseque, in manag- 
ing them, attempts as near as possible to imitate nature, and 
he says that this comparative fasting makes them much 
more lively and playful. 
In a littec of mink kittens one sex or the other is apt to 
predominate, that is, they do not usually come half males 
and half females, but are either all males or all females. A 
grown male Mink will weigh about two pounds ; the female 
is heavier than she seems to be, and will weigh from one 
and a half to one and three-quarter pounds. 
They are readily tamed when taken in hand when their 
eyes are beginning to open ; they should then not he allowed 
the society of their mother or the rest of the litter. By 
constant petting and handling they become like domestic 
kittens, and exhibit all of the playful antics of the feline 
tribe. They can then be handled without fear of being 
bitten by them, but they are represented as being exceed- 
ingly mischievous, their exceedingly sharp scent will enable 
them to find food which was not intended for them to eat. 
Their fondness for water and bathing will prompt them to 
go into an open tea-kettle, or any open vessel filled with 
water, and while wet will roll and dry themselves in a 
clothes-basket of freshly ironed clothes, or on a lady’s dress. 
In this way they are troublesome pets. 
Mr. Resseque, at several fairs, has been in the habit of 
exhibiting two female tame minks to the bystanders throng- 
ing his cage, which he hands to the promiscuous crowd to 
be caressed and petted. They would allow themselves to be 
handed from person to person, but it was a noticeable fact 
that their eyes were constantly on their keeper, and when 
they came within reach would extend their paws to him like 
a child wishing to return. 
Tame Minks make excellent ratters, and hunt with vigor, 
and speedily exterminate these troublesome pests. The rats 
will immediately flee from them when first they scent them, 
and they are so bewildered in flight that they never give 
battle, but yield at once, and so swift does the Mink cut the 
main arteries of the rat’s neck an observer would scarcely 
think the deed was done. 
During the running season the males fight desperately, 
and if several are allowed together one always assumes the 
mastery. About the first of November the young males 
should be separated from the females. Minks only have one 
litter a year, and never breed at unseasonable times. 
When tame and wild Minks are confined together the 
tame ones always prove victorious, being much stronger 
than the wild ones. Too much confinement will make their 
fur look dead and rusty. They require a dark place to roam 
and exercise. If fish is given them during September and 
October their fur is much improved ; soft water for bathing 
purposes also improves it much. 
Mr. Resseque tells an amusing story of a stray cat that 
invaded his Minkery, no doubt in quest of game, but the 
Minks proved too much. At last the cat gained the outside 
of the inclosure, the yard was strewn with locks of cat-hair, 
and for a hundred feet or more in the track of her exit were 
found tufts of cat-hair ; but notwithstanding this a strange 
person can go in the Minkery with impunity, and observe 
these shy creatures playing like kittens around him. 
Mr. Resseque finds ready sale for all the Minks he can 
spare at $30 per pair. His prices are, for a female, $20 ; for 
an impregnated female, $25; for a male, $10. He informs 
me he cannot now supply the demand. 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
THE STANDARD. 
Editor Fanciers’ Journal : 
In a recent number Mr. Albert Goeble very wisely recom- 
mends a place in the Standard for pigeons, rabbits, fish, and 
song birds. I do not see how they get along without a 
Standard for these things, pigeons especially ; but here is 
the point that I wish to call attention to. All societies offer 
a premium for “ Wild Geese,” and what are they ? I have 
three varieties, as distinct as possible, and described by natu- 
