friendly farm opossum makes rounds around coop

[staceyj]

I used to walk quite a bit and once found a dead opossum mama by the side of the road. Then saw several scattered tiny babies - dead. Just gruesome but, they looked so raw and tiny, I thought maybe being hit by a car - they were flung out of her by the impact.

I've seen several opossum around here- they squeeze through openings in the old chain link fence, and leave poo around (ugh). I have seen them during daylight hours in summer and wondered if that meant they had rabies. They make my skin crawl

Fun factPossums have a naturally low body temperature which prohibits the support of the rabies virus! It's actually a very rare occurrence for one to be found to have rabies.
-still don't want one around my coop though!

 

[Kusanar]

I used to walk quite a bit and once found a dead opossum mama by the side of the road. Then saw several scattered tiny babies - dead. Just gruesome but, they looked so raw and tiny, I thought maybe being hit by a car - they were flung out of her by the impact.

I've seen several opossum around here- they squeeze through openings in the old chain link fence, and leave poo around (ugh). I have seen them during daylight hours in summer and wondered if that meant they had rabies. They make my skin crawl

Being marsupials, the babies are carried in a pouch on mama's belly, so finding babies with dead mama's is actually kind of common.. In fact, babies have been rescued from their mothers pouch and rehabbed after their mother was hit by a car.

We had a large dead possum show up at the barn, no sign of what killed it... I checked to make sure it didn't have babies with it before leaving it to rot, turns out it was a male.

 

[RollTideChicken]

Chickens come with those same benefits...and I actually want them on my property.

 

[Chickassan]

I have to agree with you, a big ole dead cow would be perfect bait probably catch every possum for five miles,have a heck of a time getting one of those in a trap though.

The best possum bait going is a month old dead cow. My coon dogs treed numerous possums hiding in the bloated body cavity of dead livestock. When my family ran a one horse chicken processing plant back in the 50s & 60s a 55 gallon steel drum half full of chicken guts and some 1x6 boards for the possum to walk to the top of the drum before jumping in would supply a trapped possum or two almost every day.

 

[Bonniebooboo]

I used to walk quite a bit and once found a dead opossum mama by the side of the road. Then saw several scattered tiny babies - dead. Just gruesome but, they looked so raw and tiny, I thought maybe being hit by a car - they were flung out of her by the impact.

I've seen several opossum around here- they squeeze through openings in the old chain link fence, and leave poo around (ugh). I have seen them during daylight hours in summer and wondered if that meant they had rabies. They make my skin crawl

Being hit by a car will often knock the young out of her pouch, but some times they release the nipple as her body cools and crawl out, and of course chill and die. Often times when seeing a opossum in the day, they are old/sickly or young and looking for an easy meal. I have seen old, skinny ones in the yard, tick infested, missing hair/fur, broken teeth, during the day. otherwise, it is closer to dusk and nighttime. We use can cat food and catch in live trap. works pretty good. those in the daylight, well they are shot immediately. All opossums are destroyed if caught in yard/barn. They do look for openings and they sure can go through if their head will go through the fence or opening. Most of the ones we have caught have been in the barn, trying to eat my cats food or climbing into the grain room and deficating in the grain is a big NO NO. My dogs have killed several opossums, I found them the next morning, and on several of those occasions there were multiple young scattered about and even some still in the pouch, as many as 9 young from the females. Not sure why they decided to take on a German shepherd, as they had to get into the dogs pen to be killed, and there is no food left out at night in the dogs pens.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

just reading some of these posts about possums really glad i don't have any around where i live.

 

[lazy gardener]

a 55 gallon steel drum half full of chicken guts and some 1x6 boards for the possum to walk to the top of the drum before jumping in would supply a trapped possum or two almost every day.

George, thanks for such an informative post. Timing is everything. I WAS very hungry. I am thankful that I ate my lunch prior to being educated about the best way to trap a possum. Cause, I seem to have lost my appetite. Your graphic word picture was... memorable.

Even this far north, I have seen a possum. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. But, it was undeniable. So, I asked a few hunters, and they assured me that possums do reside in our woods.

 

[Folly's place]

Michigan has been the northern edge of their territory, and they tend to have a hard time in winter here. They are often under bird feeders at night, along with the raccoons. I'm happy to trap and shoot!!!
There have been rabies positive opossums in the USA, not often, but they do occur. Be safe when handling dead wildlife!
I have horses, and have one mare who has had EPM episodes twice. I am NOT fond of possums!
Mary

 

[sbhkma]

I used to live in northern Minnesota and it was not at all uncommon to see possums in the woods. Mary, EPM scares the crap out of me. Your mare recover ok?

 

[ShiftyShickens]

the grand opossum in question has finally been apprehended! after waiting for the snow to stop this morning i marched out to the coop set on finding something in the traps, but while Mr. Snaggles wasn't in said devises, he did give me a clue with a fine set of tracks. i'd tread along his path out to the field and back around the smaller buildings seeing little indents where he had taken refuge from the inclement weather but soon found myself at a drainage culvert down the road a little still on the edge of my land with both tracks of him coming and going. ran back to the house to grab two of my smaller live traps plus a flashlight and with a little persuasion managed to stuff a trap in both ends of that drain tubing, setting them took a ridiculous amount of time and lots of cold fingers but was finally able to achieve the goal. he's in there i can see him and it's only a matter of time before that frozen bacon strip starts to his name