first predator tonight...opossum...

[Wendy'sChicksRock]

Hubby got him.... I feel kinda bad...my girls were all freaked out that he was in the coop.. was he just after the food or do they eat the chickens too????

 

[bwhite28]

At least you took care of the little bugger! And yes they will go after chicken and eat them too.

 

[GarlicEater]

They're dopy buggers and go for whatever's easy.

Get a hav-a-hart trap and trap 'em with cat food. I'm a real believer in hav-a-harts, if you put out poison, a harmful trap, or even do a stake-out, you have too much chance of harming a cat, or something. OK so skunks are pests, but if I catch one near here I'm just gonna chuck a rock at it and it will go away.

I then take Mr/Mrs Marsupial and "dose" it with a little lead using my marlin bolt-action dispenser. Then bury under a fruit/nut tree. You can also just stick the bugger in the car and drive a ways off and release.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

You can also just stick the bugger in the car and drive a ways off and release.

That's illegal in most places, and a bad idea everywhere.
It's just dumping the predator on someone else​

 

[chickened]

Only if you stop the car first.
Quote:
That's illegal in most places, and a bad idea everywhere.
It's just dumping the predator on someone else

 

[GarlicEater]

Quote:
That's illegal in most places, and a bad idea everywhere.
It's just dumping the predator on someone else

This is what the land owner did before I came.
This is what the land owner SAID he did before I came.

Actually, he just put up with 'em, I've had young ones run across my FEET while sitting in his living room talking with him.

I didn't know it's illegal but I sure see it as passing the buck. Or possum, for that matter.

I got my stupid little .22 rifle thinking I'd shoot it once in a while, but instead it's become a real tool. There's little stuff I use a pellet gun for, like rats. I poison, trap, and sometimes just out and out shoot. A neighbor uses a beautiful, as in collector's item, S&W K-22 for critter dispatch. A guy up the street uses a shotgun (he hates feral roosters). I mean, gee whiz. I'd not call where I live country-country, but it's pretty country and the taboo against killing gets questioned quite a lot out here.

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

It's glad that he/she's out of the way. Possums will eat eggs, chicks, bantams, and sometimes standard breed hens

 

[chkn]

They will definitely kill your full grown hens. Many here have caught them in the act. I've had problems with them myself and always do a lockdown at night.

 

[woodmort]

Possums are kind of opportunist rather than out and out predators--they don't stalk birds like, say, a fox or even a coon. They will take whatever life offers them, beginning with chicken food, moving on to eggs and then, if they can catch them, the birds starting with chicks. Fortunately they aren't very wary and they're easy to catch in a live trap.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Fortunately they aren't very wary and they're easy to catch in a live trap.

I caught one just last night.

He's in Possum Heaven​