How to keep possum away

[McChooky]

Trapping is the most humain way to deal with them. I cant argue that,

Thank you! Considering a quiet gun as well at this point.

 

[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

 

[Folly's place]

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

 

[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.

 

[McChooky]

After doing some research on possums we've decided to connect our catios to one our sheds instead of trapping them which requires a permit (we don't let our outside cats run loose)

 

[Debbie292d]

A local group of farmers here feed them cheap catfood. They said as long as the opossums were fed, they left everything alone. They put a dish of it far from the coop and fill it daily. I guess as long as it's cheap cat food, that's fine, but what happens if you go on vacation for a week or two?

 

[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

 

[BigBlueHen53]

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

Thanks, Mary, I will. Good to know if I ever have horses again. Possums generally don't carry rabies though.

 

[Folly's place]

True, seldom rabies, but not impossible.
Mary