friendly farm opossum makes rounds around coop

[Kusanar]

bacon is stinky enough right?

I would think so... But... I'm not a possum...

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I have possum problems in the city, have caught one with a hen in it's mouth in the middle of the night and saw one walking towards my chicken coop at 3 in the afternoon (changed it's mind when it saw me). Yes you will have to continue to trap them regularly, as someone said new possums will move in after the others are removed. They are often full of worms which are harmful to your chickens. While they will keep the rodent population down, you can do that yourself without putting your chickens in danger. And yes, they are like rats, if they can get their head in a space, they can get into the area. They are not you or your chickens friend! Also as ominvors you can use any table scrapes as bait to trap them (they often go through garbage looking for food). They climb and will look for any place in which to get into your coop, so just taking care of the lower portion of your chickens area is not enough. I can tell you from expirence it is horrible to find a dear hen with her middle eaten out. IMO Get rid of them.

 

[lazy gardener]

He and his co-workers caught opossums on more than one occassion with a cat that they had killed, eating their stomachs out. Just nasty disgusting creatures. I would get rid of it immediately, either by killing it or catching and moving it far away from human dwellings. They are NOT friendly!

Please, please, please DO NOT relocate trapped animals. By moving them, you are simply dumping them into some one else's neighborhood to become someone else's problem. Any where there is a road, there are dwellings. Maybe not close. But, the road most likely wouldn't be there if there weren't land owners there. The animal you have trapped has ALREADY become habituated to human areas, and has already taken leave of their normal place in the animal food chain. In most areas, it is illegal to relocate trapped animals.

 

[casportpony]

Are you sure of the vocalizations ? All that I have ever heard them do is hiss.

OP, given the opportunity they will eat your birds.

They also growl.

 

[Chickassan]

Go get the cheapest canned fish flavor cat food,bait your trap and enjoy your possum. Bacon might be a little highbrow to catch a possum.

bacon is stinky enough right?

 

[ShiftyShickens]

was just thinking that if i were a opossum bacon would be at the top of my list. heck if the trap was bigger i'd probably get caught up in it myself.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

We have not had luck in the past with bacon, canned cat food or canned tuna. We trap regularly with table scraps with luck catching them. Good luck, hope you catch it quickly, cause it is definitely looking for a way in. Also continue to set your trap regularly every couple of weeks.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Go get the cheapest canned fish flavor cat food,bait your trap and enjoy your possum. Bacon might be a little highbrow to catch a possum.

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.

 

[ShiftyShickens]

yeah Mr. Snaggles wasn't interested in BLT night apparently but i know he's lurking around and sooner or later he will fall victim to such a delicious trap. hopefully.

 

[drumstick diva]

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