Okay, here goes the story...
Some of you may have seen my "What Predator Killed my Chicken" thread about a week ago...We determined it was an opossum. Since then, my neighbor scared it away one night and haven't lost any since then until last night.
I was in bed reading (the chicken coop is located on the outside wall of my bedroom) and heard a noise. I jumped up, slipped my shoes on, grabbed the flashlight and was outside in probably 30-45 seconds. I shined the flashlight on the coop before I could even see it and heard the opossum, scrabble up and over the fence.
Earlier in the evening my husband and son had closed up the chickens and ducks, but somehow the nest box door hadn't been closed properly. Somehow this opossum had got the nest box door open and snagged a 13 week old araucana (who had decided the nest box was a better roosting place than the roosting pole).
When I got out there, she was lying on the ground. My first thought was she was dead, then I noticed she was breathing. She had blood dripping down her beak (not too much) and I figured she was dying. As I sat there for a few seconds contemplating what to do, I put my hand on the coop to steady myself and made a noise. Much to my surprise, she jumped up and ran to the corner of the yard. I immediately picked her up and brought her in the house.
She doesn't seem to have anything broken, but both her eyes were injured and are swollen and pussy. I've cleaned them the best I can without hurting her, but she obviously still can't see out them right now. I could tell that she had gotten water last night (due to blood on the water bottle), but I haven't been able to get her to drink at all today, other than a few drops I managed to get down her with a syringe. She also hasn't eaten anything, although I offered her both yogurt and an egg.
I am hoping someone has some suggestions on how to encourage her to eat and drink. She has been mostly lying in her tub (clear rubbermaid type), but will stand for short periods too. I believe she's still pretty strong, but am afraid she will weaken rapidly if I can't get her to at least drink. I did mix a bit of sugar in with the water to try and give her some energy, but don't know how much good it did, since she didn't drink very much at all.
We are taking steps to prevent any more attacks...I'm putting up some lights tomorrow and adding a latch to the nest box and putting better latches on the existing doors.
Thanks in advance and sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to be sure and include as much pertinent info as possible. (Her poop is still normal, although less since she hasn't eaten)
Oh, one more thing...when we went to close them up tonight, we discovered that somehow, even though I got out there in such a short time, that darn opossum managed to get another one last night (in addition to the injured one).
I don't know how he did it! I'm still hoping maybe she was hiding somewhere and we'll find her tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic.
Some of you may have seen my "What Predator Killed my Chicken" thread about a week ago...We determined it was an opossum. Since then, my neighbor scared it away one night and haven't lost any since then until last night.
I was in bed reading (the chicken coop is located on the outside wall of my bedroom) and heard a noise. I jumped up, slipped my shoes on, grabbed the flashlight and was outside in probably 30-45 seconds. I shined the flashlight on the coop before I could even see it and heard the opossum, scrabble up and over the fence.
Earlier in the evening my husband and son had closed up the chickens and ducks, but somehow the nest box door hadn't been closed properly. Somehow this opossum had got the nest box door open and snagged a 13 week old araucana (who had decided the nest box was a better roosting place than the roosting pole).
When I got out there, she was lying on the ground. My first thought was she was dead, then I noticed she was breathing. She had blood dripping down her beak (not too much) and I figured she was dying. As I sat there for a few seconds contemplating what to do, I put my hand on the coop to steady myself and made a noise. Much to my surprise, she jumped up and ran to the corner of the yard. I immediately picked her up and brought her in the house.
She doesn't seem to have anything broken, but both her eyes were injured and are swollen and pussy. I've cleaned them the best I can without hurting her, but she obviously still can't see out them right now. I could tell that she had gotten water last night (due to blood on the water bottle), but I haven't been able to get her to drink at all today, other than a few drops I managed to get down her with a syringe. She also hasn't eaten anything, although I offered her both yogurt and an egg.
I am hoping someone has some suggestions on how to encourage her to eat and drink. She has been mostly lying in her tub (clear rubbermaid type), but will stand for short periods too. I believe she's still pretty strong, but am afraid she will weaken rapidly if I can't get her to at least drink. I did mix a bit of sugar in with the water to try and give her some energy, but don't know how much good it did, since she didn't drink very much at all.
We are taking steps to prevent any more attacks...I'm putting up some lights tomorrow and adding a latch to the nest box and putting better latches on the existing doors.
Thanks in advance and sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to be sure and include as much pertinent info as possible. (Her poop is still normal, although less since she hasn't eaten)
Oh, one more thing...when we went to close them up tonight, we discovered that somehow, even though I got out there in such a short time, that darn opossum managed to get another one last night (in addition to the injured one).
Last edited:
