Dead chicken near my coops, but it isn't mine!

[minnehaha]

Wow! Who needs to watch Wild Kingdom? You have it all right in your backyard! Nice pics from the camera! While I kind of envy you your diverse wildlife, I really don't, either....

Since I'm not accustomed to most of your wildlife, I'm not going to speculate on which critter it could have been.

Yes, who knows? I never will!

 

[yardbird88]

I worry about predators too but i live a block form the city limits so some of them are just scared off by people. Recently though I spotted a possum in my backyard. I always suspected some kind of animal in a tree by the coop by the poop in one of my bird feeders. I also had my dog kill one of my hens so i bought a sprinkler with a motion detector on it, i guess it give me some piece of mind that I'm trying to keep my chickens safe. I does not really bother my dog but it squirts me pretty good

. I haven't seen the possum ever since I also have a motion light set up in the back yard.

 

[minnehaha]

I like the sprinkler idea! Of course, it would only work in the summer here. I'll bet it feels good to be hit with your sprinkler around August in Texas huh? It's like a win win situation!

I have motion lights pointed at my coops, so if anything goes near them they get spotlighted. I hope it has been helpful, but i do not actually know.

I wonder what damage a possum would do? I am sure they kill and steal eggs, but are they as troublesome as the nasty raccoon?

 

[yardbird88]

From what i read possums will do as much damage as a coon but they aren't as smart or aggressive as a coon they will usually go after whatever is easier like my bird feeder or dog food. It does feel good to be hit by the sprinkler in the summer and its still in the 70's and 80's here.

 

[minnehaha]

From what i read possums will do as much damage as a coon but they aren't as smart or aggressive as a coon they will usually go after whatever is easier like my bird feeder or dog food. It does feel good to be hit by the sprinkler in the summer and its still in the 70's and 80's here.

I can see that, the possum I saw down south seemed slower moving then the crazy coon! We moved back to Spokane last year from Bulverde, TX (North of San Antone) and had raccoons attack our rabbits there. It looked like a murder crime scene!!! And those coons actually tried to pull a 50 pound barrell of deer corn off of our porch....we watched to see how far they would get! I only saw one possum and it moved slow, didn't seem very smart or agile, but I wasn't sure if it was injured or what??

I do not not miss the heat of summer, but I miss those Texas winters!

We didn't have chickens there, so we enjoyed feeding the fox food scraps, I'm ashamed now of course, but I was so fascinated with those Texas gray fox. I couldn't believe how tiny they were and how they climbed trees! Now i realize that their climbing skills would reek havoc on chickens!!!

Let's just hope a Chupracabre never gets your chickens!