How to keep possum away

[Quail_]

I had a possum come inside my coop tonight. Me and my brother chased it out the first time then we sprayed it to get it out the second time. No lives were lost but food was stolen. Thankfully it was a baby.

But i dont want these little bastards back. We already plan on upgrading the door to make it more difficult to get inside. But besides that how can i keep them away?

If anyone has any suggestions on how to keep other predators away aswell please share them!

 

[Capstone118]

In my introduction I said my dog Buddy watches over his chickens and has brought possums inside the house but doesn’t kill them. Two so far. A few days ago I thought I saw a tail walking around the corner of the front room. This morning I saw it. Buddy was just lying below it as if to say “ what more do you want? It’s not eating the chickens.” Easier than tending to a live trap I guess. Definitely better than before I got Buddy and had daily chicken slaughters by possums and raccoons. He doesn’t bring raccoons in the house. He comes and gets me to go out

 

[wrathsfarm]

Trap it, kill it, bury it.

Rinse and repeat... Reinforce your coop to prevent outside access to anything other than you.

 

[Quail_]

Trap it, kill it, bury it.

Rinse and repeat... Reinforce your coop to prevent outside access to anything other than you.

My dog took care of it. I will be continuing to reinforce my coop though!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We have horses too, and so trap and shoot any opossums found at the coop or in the barn. Can't have possum poo anywhere near the horses or their hay!
Having a safe coop, especially at night, manages poultry/ possum issues very well.
In Michigan, such critters can be released on the same owner's property, or on private land within the same county with landowner permission. Only.
Mary

Mary, what happens to horses if they are exposed to possum poop? I've had horses before but never heard that.

We had a possum get in our hen house a few weeks ago. Our coop is quite predator proof at night after the chickens are closed up, but this one got in before dark a couple of times when the man-door was wide open. The first two times he was just curled up in a corner on the floor like he planned to sleep there and we ran him off. We placed a live trap with no lucķ. The final time he came, he accidentally got shut in with the chickens at bedtime. This time they put up a fuss. When we went out there, he was lying in the poop tray. We don't know if he was aiming to have chicken dinner but the birds were terrified and wanted him out. Now! Not owning a firearm at the time, I called my BIL and asked him to come take care of it.

Trapping and relocating may not be legal, check your local laws. You don't want to make him someone else's problem. Also, you may be consigning him to a slow and miserable or very violent death, as wherever you put him may already be occupied by another opossum who won't take kindly to an interloper. Far more humane, if you live-trap him, to shoot him immediately.

 

[cassie]

If a possum or a skunk can get in your chicken pen you have a problem. If a possum can get in, a raccoon certainly can and a raccoon can kill a coop full of chickens in one night.

 

[Folly's place]

Opossums carry a very serious/ deadly parasite in their poop, Sarcosistist neurona (sp?) which doesn't harm the opossum, but causes a severe neurological disease in horses, EPM. One of our mares had it twice, was treated both times, and lived on as a pasture pet. We have neighbors who have had horses die. It's nasty, look it up.
Mary
Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis

 

[Brooks_]

Hardware cloth to secure the coop. But it will be back now that it's found the coop. Trap and release per local laws and common sense - out in the forest. I would kill it at the next chance.

 

[McChooky]

The only way to keep predators out is covering all openings of your coop with hardware cloth and leaving no gaps bigger than 1/2". I recommend moving your chickens to a safer location until you can make improvements in their housing.Good luck!

 

[Quail_]

My dogs are inside pets so I discourage them from killing small predators .Not only do I not want to see any harm come to either one of my dogs I don't want a bloody mess to clean up afterwards .They're trained to sound alerts only(I have to drag them away sometimes) My chickens are locked up tight at night in a predator proof coop and run (we have coyotes, bob cats, coons, bear,etc )I have a whole family of possums I'm going to have to dispose of soon because my dogs bark non stop when they come around after dark

I completely understand! We seem to have the same setup or mindset atleast! Although my dogs just dont protect or are trained to do what your dogs can! Unfortunately one of my dogs did find the possum and i wasnt able to do anything.

I wanted to trap it and realse it far away in a new location where it was safe and had food and water. Unfortunately its now in a better place and is safe. Im not happy with the circumstances and will be updating my coop