Possums are Chicken Killers

[msnelson]

Hi to everyone. New to this love of chickens. Had a few hens when I was about 8 but now Im almost 50 and I jumped into "Chickens" again. Too fast this time. Got four hens and my family fell for them. Built a nice "house" for them. Backyard was fenced in and they seemed very happy. Have not seen a coon for many years. No one warned me and never read about it but I lost them to a possum. Blamed my dog and wife initially. Got three more hens thinking it was my dog and lost two more during the night. Caught the possum the next night. He is gone. My lone survivor goes to bed about 7 and is locked in every night. Hope others can learn from my mistake.

 

[tx_dane_mom]

Thanks for posting that! Makes me feel a bit better. I just shot a one in my backyard night before last and I felt guilty but my husband said it would kill my chickens, so he had to go.
Kristi

 

[buffy-chickchick]

Just as a heads up, opossums will eat ANYthing left outside including dogfood and catfood. So do not tempt them. Also they can get into anything, chicken wire ALONE does not stop them. S Georgia opossums get HUGE, over 30 lbs for some older ones, our 85lb dog just looks at them and says no-way am i gonna mess wid dat!!

 

[equine chick]

I get rid of possums whenever I see them. They not only are chicken killers but their manure spreads disease to horses called epm so whenever I see them I freak and have dh get rid of them.

 

[Bi0sC0mp]

glad i dont have that issues here in fla we live out in the country but what helps me is we have serval neghbors that have deer dogs that run lose all day and all night chasing whatever they can find..they never bother my chickens just anything else they can chase..

 

[chicknmania]

We had a possum killing our chickens once. We trapped him in the barn one evening, turned all the bright lights on , and the radio on full blast. He dug his way OUT of the barn; we blocked the hole, he never came back !

 

[rooster-red]

My purpose in posting this is to let you know that it is possible for chickens and possums to coexist without loss, and in no way do I want to debate the issue, but rather to tell you what has worked for me, just so you know there are options.

Possums are opportunist, they are looking for the easiest meal they can get.
Here they come up and eat cat food we leave out on the porch for the cats, they visit my porch instead of bothering my chickens, they stay happy and healthy, and even keep a cleaner coat.

I will catch them bare handed sometimes just to remind them that they aren't the biggest predator here.
They are wild, and after I catch them it takes a week or two before they get brave enough to come back.

I understand that this won't work for everyone, and I'm not sugguesting that you go out and catch a possum this way, and we all do what we feel we need to do to protect our birds, I have no problem with that and if I were to find a possum trying to get into my coops I'm quite sure it would be dispatched, but if your coops and runs are as secure as they should be then you'll find that you don't have to kill every single predator you see.

We have all kinds of predators here including possums, coons, coyote, hawks, owls and feral cats & dogs.

To date I have never lost a bird to any predator, and have owned chickens for over 2 years now.

 

[d.k]

* Yeah, That's Florida for ya-- getting as bad as -- well, other places. Don't tell 'em I used a stout stick to do away with the one that tried to kill Miss Chook, will ya???

 

[ChickenMatt]

I woke up early this morning to hear my chickens in terror. In my boxer shorts and tank top, I went outside and saw 3 huge possums trying to get my chickens so I grabbed my trusty spade shovel and started whacking away. I felt somewhat like the guy from slingblade or a zombie film survivor. Possums 0, Me 3.

After killing them all, i noticed one had movement in its stomach's sac - there were 9 more babies, which i abruptly gave a post birth abortion. Not proud of it, but its them or my chickens and nothing will get to them if i have anything to do about it.

 

[Redfeathers]

We've killed four this week. We set out ham and they come around about every third night and my 20 yr old son sits out in the barn and kills them. It's a litter that was born under the barn so they are jeuvies. I haven't seen the mom or dad yet. My laying hens are safe, my meat birds are vulnerable, but they haven't come near them yet. Knock on wood. I think they are more interested in the easy meal of ham...cheese, peanutbutter, whatever we "bait" them with.