Pesky Possums

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prophtch44

prophtch44

In the Brooder
Dec 15, 2016
17
6
14
45 miles South East of Macon Ga
I live in Middle Georgia. I have found that the most persistent pest that I have to contend with in my chicken yard are possums. They seem to forage mostly at night, and one of their favorite stop-off's is my chicken house. I Have lights on. I have fortified my chicken house with extra wire. I even have an electric fence around the yard. Last night I caught one that managed to weasel his way through the front door. Will be fortifying that tonight. There seems to be no end to their ability to get into my chicken house and relieve me of at least one bird. My solution... Glock 30. I have terminated 3 in as many nights. I will be out hunting again. Are there any of you that have had success keeping these critters away from your chickens... short of rebuilding a new chicken house made of concrete and steel?
 
Welcome! Predator protection upgrades are a way of life for a while, until you finally have Ft. Knox, or close to it! One thing that also helped here is feeding ONLY in the coop and safe run, never outside, so critters aren't attracted by free feed out there at night. Then there's the coop, at least, and also the run if you can do both. Dig-proof, no openings larger than 1/2" diameter anywhere. Built to keep out those two 100 lb. hungry dogs that might appear someday, and the weasels that love to kill whole flocks. Actual locks to keep out raccoons. Right now the possums need to be trapped and shot that have found your bonanza, and fortify everything. My coop/ run rebuild last summer;

Mary
 
Awesome... am trying to fortify as well. Good advice. I am refortifying the front fence of the yard with cattle panels and chicken wire. Will dig a trench for the panels and string the wire under ground level as well. I am also going to wire the door and put a concrete overlapping floor joint a the door so critters can't dig under the door. Around the foundation I am going to line the lower walls with wire and cinder blocks to keep critters from digging under the walls. Thought I was being clever by making the house out of pallets but never again. If I ever make another house it will have a poured concrete foundation. But I am just a poor high school teacher.. Can't afford much.
 
One other query... I read that putting ammonia soaked cloths in containers the had air holes in it would keep possums from coming around. Has anyone tried that? What about these animal repellents that you see in hardware stores?
 
Our run is 1/2" hardware cloth that goes 12" underground, then flanges out and is reinforced with rebar. That is covered with stone, backfilled with soil and then topped with cement block. The roof if fiberglass panels over chicken wire. The door sits within a frame so there is no gap on the top or sides. The doorsill is a stone-filled ditch backfilled with soil and topped with cement blocks and the door has a doorsweep so there is no gap at the bottom.

The good part is hubby bartered labor to help a neighbor take down a carport for the roofing panels. The wood frame and door/doorframe is from untreated pallets we got for hauling them away.
 
Vickie 51 said:
Our run is 1/2" hardware cloth that goes 12" underground, then flanges out and is reinforced with rebar. That is covered with stone, backfilled with soil and then topped with cement block. The roof if fiberglass panels over chicken wire. The door sits within a frame so there is no gap on the top or sides. The doorsill is a stone-filled ditch backfilled with soil and topped with cement blocks and the door has a doorsweep so there is no gap at the bottom.

The good part is hubby bartered labor to help a neighbor take down a carport for the roofing panels. The wood frame and door/doorframe is from untreated pallets we got for hauling them away.
Click to expand...
What? No alligator filled moat? Snipers on the roof?
gig.gif
 
Well the problem with the moat was in the cold we're having it kept freezing over and the alligators we're too pleased. Frankly it made me nervous to have the alligators so close to the chickens anyhow. The snipers came in to sit by the fire once the temps dropped below 20 degrees (men of steel - I don't think so). So we were left to our own devices. Oh yes....I forgot to mention we also put meat out in the run before we got our birds in there to make sure nothing could get in. We did have a hawk try and extrude itself through the chicken wire roof but that only happened once. LOL
 

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