Can Opposum Blood give Hens a Disease? Strange Dilemma...

[buildingmyark]

Okay, so I may have shot without asking questions and I've gotten myself into a little mess. There was an opposum inside my girls' COVERED run tonight. They were locked up in the coop and were none the wiser. Anyway, as I shined my spotlight on him and adjusted the scope on my gun, it somehow got on top of the wire over the run (guess I need to do a little patching). Anyway, I didn't want it to get away, so I shot it while it was on top of the run and now it's dripping blood down into the run. I still have to figure out how I'm going to get the dang thing down. Should I not let my girls into the run tomorrow? I scared that they may get a disease from the blood.

 

[AngelzFyre]

Unless it was rabid, probably not. Be sure when removing it you don't get blood or saliva on you, just as precaution.
I would definitely remove it ASAP, and then try to either hose the blood out or put kitty litter to absorb the blood and then dig that out of there.
You can always disinfect the ground to be sure.
They do carry fleas,mites and their poop can carry leptospirosis or salmonella, but that's usually not common.

 

[buildingmyark]

Thank you so much for helping. What should I use to dissinfect the ground?

 

[AngelzFyre]

I use clorox or oxine w/o the activator crystals. I really think if you go in and isolate where the blood was and dig that out, you would be fine.
I've used them both with no problem after letting it dry so they don't ingest it.

 

[inohio]

Hydrogen peroxide actually reacts with the blood cells themselves, then turns to water + O2. Not as cheap as clorox, but no clorox / amonia fear of gassing your pent up chickens with it.

you may be thinking of EPM a disease that horses get because possums are the host of the bacteria(?). Don't know if EPM affects any other species, but it is horrible in horses.

 

[AngelzFyre]

EPM is strictly equine.
Opposum, skunk, raccoons, armadillos and sea otters host the parasites that cause EPM.

Peroxide will dissipate the blood but not disinfect like the others, since it's in the run and not in the coop itself...it would air dry in short time.

Hope this helps!

 

[buildingmyark]

Thank yall so much. I made a temporary fence around the fig tree where the blood dripped. I can't exactly dig up that area since it's roots and trunk. I will keep the area isolated for a week or so and spray with oxine.

Thanks again for all of the help!

 

[AngelzFyre]

Anytime!

Luckily my coops are right next to my dog pen so the rascally opposums don't get closer but we see them all the time in the woods and down by the bigger pond. I'm glad I have been spared them on top of my runs! LOL

Take care and have a great week!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

There's no real need to do anything since the blood won't hurt them at all, and will be gone in a day anyway

 

[geoff40]

quote:
"Unless it was rabid, probably not."

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Birds don't get rabies. And probably due to the possum's low internal body temperature, rabies occurring in a possum is almost unheard of, an extremely rare event.