Are possums a problem in the run?

[chkn]

They do kill chickens, no question about it.

 

[Nonny]

Thanks 5Leepy - it's definitely the eggs I need to worry about (as well as them scavenging for my girls food).

For those that didn't realise, the Australian possum is very different to the "opossum" you probably have come across and are not carrion eaters at all. Here they both are:

Australian possum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possum
Opossum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum

I actually reckon your one is cuter, but ours are pretty friendly and I often get them in the yard, scampering across my roof in the night, and scalping my parsley plants (which are now protected by a cage of chicken wire LOL). When we find injured ones we take them to the vet, and if one gets in the roof cavity we have to call the professionals to remove it and re-home it because they're a protected species. Ours don't play "possum" when startled either, they just scarper up the nearest tree.

Now that I feel more educated on them in relation to chooks and eggs I'll be keeping the coop itself locked up tight at night to stop them getting the eggs (although most of our eggs seem to be laid during daylight hours when no possums are around and I collect them daily so they're not left in the nest), but I'm not going to worry about the run itself since my girls are all tucked up in bed long before the possums emerge from the treetops and there's generally more scraps freely available in the compost heap than in the chook run so I doubt they'll make a habit of going there to look for food. The little possum in there the other night was just a baby and I think he was lost rather than deliberately went in there.

 

[benjoycei]

Quote:
Only if they can get in the run...you got work to do