Do possums eat the chickens or the eggs or both?

[angie3881]

Quote:
It will when it figures it out. Pretty certain.

 

[ChickiKat]

They are opportunistic and will eat what ever they need to.. We had a group of three that was dispatched quite nicely with a 12 gauge....

 

[Gypsi]

I feed the feral cats. I trap them and get them fixed (down to 2, the coyotes have dispatched the rest and I have cut birth rate to zero) In one night on my front porch I trapped 3 different possums while trying to catch a cat. I have seen them at the top of my back fence. I have poked one with a stick because it was actually growling at my rottweiler - then it finally left. I have not too much problem shooting them, but I was raised not to waste anything. My grandfather shot squirrels in the corn and we had squirrels for dinner. So, is possum good to eat? Has anyone got a recipe. Because I have a LOT of possums.

Gypsi

Oh the feral cats do not go where my chickens are, my dogs are a deterrent, I put the coop in the middle of the yard for good dog patrol The cats do a NICE job of getting the rats that get in my garden. I feed them dog chow.

 

[Pitchfork]

When I was young we ate a lot of wild game. The only thing I can remember the whole family refusing to ever try again, after our first try, was a 'possum.
Now some may say, "you have to cook it the correct way", and perhaps that is true, but we ate coons and rabbits and squirrels and quail, they were all cooked, "the right way" but that 'possum was just plain nasty tasting. We kept a lot of chickens and I can never remember anything bothering the chickens except 'possums. If we found a hen ripped open and guts eaten, Dad would set up with his shotgun and wait for the chickens to start squawking in the night and then go down and dispatch the 'possum. These days it is rare to find one around our place, I mostly see them in their natural habitat, the middle of the road.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:
Good for you.
I probably wouldn't be that kind. After all they're an invasive species.

 

[angie3881]

I will eat pretty much anything and I am not kidding. I would not eat possum. Tried it once and hated it! To each their own, but I would not classify feeding the dead possum to the coyotes as wasteful.

 

[ProudNewChickenMommy86]

Ok I Had A Guilty Conscious, I Made My Husband Kill A Opossum The Other Night... I Felt Horrible! But, I Didn't Want It Spreading Disease To My Chickens. So He Shot Him With An Arrow. I Gave Him A Proper Burial And Named Him Darryl Lol. I Don't Feel So Bad Anymore. I Didn't Know They Ate Them!!! So, Now I'm Ok With My Decision. Whew! That's A Load Off My Chest!

 

[Hunter0704]

Did you know that possums will eat dog poop? If you have an enclosed yard where your dogs poop and you don't keep it picked up on a regular basis, it will draw possums to your yard. I had a possum a few times in my back yard where my dogs poop and after it happened a few times I mentioned it to a farmer and he told me that. Sooooo, we keep the poop picked up a minimum of four times a week. No more possums!!!!

 

[Attila the Hen]

Quote:
Good for you.
I probably wouldn't be that kind. After all they're an invasive species.

I'm no sure what you mean by invasive species. Invasive to your state? Possums have been here a very long time. They are the ONLY marsupial on this continent suggesting they got separated from other marsupials living in Australia etc. Marsupials are the animals whose young develop in their pouch like kangaroos. They are not related to rats and they do not carry rabies as their body temperature is too high to support rabies. They are one of the more interesting animals around. Lots of people kill them mostly because they are afraid of them--an unfortunate human tendancy.

 

[LN2008]

Opossums are crazy, I don't know what a possum is though....