Dixie Chicks

[BriardChickens]

Good luck with the possum catch.. Are they as hard to trap as a fox?

 

[Mahen100]

Good luck with the possum catch.. Are they as hard to trap as a fox?

Thanks, Briard, Possums are nasty looking marsupials and they are pretty dumb....some suggest making "guides" for them that narrows into the live trap entrance. I don't know if the one I saw in the grow out pen has been back...but I set a live trap (two actually) and have bait gone, but I have had no luck so far.

I have caught two in live traps and actually opened my nest box to collect eggs one May day and there was a BIG possum IN my henhouse, in a nest box. (That one got shot!...with a little help from my friends.) I've never had to catch a fox...the resident fox here respects wooden privacy fences...knock on wood.

I would think possums wouldn't be as difficult as a clever fox! They are not the sharpest animal crayon in the box.

My mama hen had definite plans that did not include being caught by me, or getting into the cat carrier to return to my back room. I tried to catch Mama Hen to take her and her two week old babies into the house at dusk. She was incredibly strong and would NOT stop struggling, so I let her go. Chicks ran through neighbor's chain link fence and stayed there a while, Mama on our side, the two babies not. Then she ignored the cat carrier I placed nearby and walked a round-about path and took her babies to the COOP! I was really worried because some of the Wyandotte and now one White Rock is sort ofmean. There was much going in and calling to her babies...the little ones could fly fine and get in the coop (which is raised on stilts with a long skinny entrance ladder...but they kept crying and coming back out....ma would wait a LONG time...then come and they would hop on her back and she'd take them in....and one or the other would flutter back out. This went on...finally everyone was IN and I shut the door with the rope with a weight on the end...without ever having to get near the door.

Am I right to worry....none of the other hens seemed to be anywhere near the babies when I looked in...Ma hen was in the nest where she hatched them. It seemed like the whole hen house was ok on them coming home with their mama. I sure hope so. So, do I just let her be the good mom she is and raise them in the hen house and free range with them? I had them all day in the grow out pen, it will keep them in, but will apparently NOT keep predators out. Wish us luck!

 

[Ravynscroft]

@Mahen100 put the trap inside something or put blocks all around it except the opening... they can get bait out through the wire without going in it otherwise... I use canned cat food for possums, works perfectly...

 

[Mahen100]

I will try cat food. I set a bunch of rat and mouse traps in case it was not the possum stealing bait...I did catch one mouse. I bumped into someone who said he was a "trapper" and would take care of the possum for me...with the little ones outside...I am tempted to let him try his skills here.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Can't wait to see what colors these Araucanas turn out to be...

 

[Mahen100]

Awww so cute! Blue...and cream colors?

 

[Ravynscroft]

I will try cat food. I set a bunch of rat and mouse traps in case it was not the possum stealing bait...I did catch one mouse. I bumped into someone who said he was a "trapper" and would take care of the possum for me...with the little ones outside...I am tempted to let him try his skills here.

I'd go for it... let him deal with the body, lol...

 

[Mahen100]

I need to call him.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Awww so cute! Blue...and cream colors?

No flockin' clue... the roo looks kinda like a birchen color/pattern and the hen is either a white one or a black with silver around her head and chest... not sure who is laying these eggs, lol...

 

[Mahen100]

Got it. Not many eggs being laid here of any breed.