-It was a Possum! graphic possum pictures page 2 post #11

[cackle]

A little over a week ago one of our dogs was attacked by a raccoon and almost lost one of his eyes. a big vet bill later (well worth it I might say) he is doing well. Last night we went out and left the chickens free ranging and came back and locked them up. I feel so bad. They love their free range time but some nights we can't be here to lock them up at dark.

Anyway I am getting off track. When I got home from work and let the chicken out for tonights outing I started looking for the 3 silkie hens. Well I noticed Puffy the gray silkie was broody and was trying to move her. I saw a pile of feathers and then the body of the other silkie

it had been plucked almost clean. We are not sure if the raccoon got in between dark and when we got home or climbed the fence. Tonight we put chicken wire over the top of the cage just in case. I just feel so bad.. I ordered an electric fence for the meat chickens today I just wish I had ordered a second one to go around the layers and silkies.

Susan

 

[Cetawin]

aaaawwww I am so sorry. I think it is time for a trap to dispose of the coon(s)

 

[Attack Chicken]

If you don't want them to climb over your fence your going to have to get better wire. Chicken wire only keeps chickens in. Raccoons can rip through chicken wire like you can rip a piece of paper. It's money but well worth it. Sorry about your silkie hen

You said there were 3 missing but you found the broody and one body, did you ever find the other?

 

[cackle]

Sorry attack Chicken I meant the 3rd silkie hen. They are in a kennel with chicken wire on the outside and we now used cable ties to secure chicken wire over the top. DH really thinks it was our fault because we can't resist their desire to free range and left them out for over 3 hours while we were gone. They had gone in but the kennel door was open. We left around 6 and returned after dark around 9:30. When we got home we locked them up but did not take roll call. Our mistake. But it hurts to have caused the cruel death of an innocent animal.

 

[wanda047]

Quote:
I think it's time to get out your gun. I'm just not into relocating critters like coons.

 

[patyrdz]

Did you call animal control about the racoon that attasked you dog? I would report it, because if it will attack a dog, who's to say it won't attack you. Plus it might have rabies. I would check and see if they will trap it, it needs to be tested. If you trap or kill it I think it still needs testing because it was so aggressive by attacking your dog. That is so scary. I hope the ones here stay far away!!!

 

[cackle]

Quote:
I think it's time to get out your gun. I'm just not into relocating critters like coons.

Believe me if we trapped one it would not be re-homed. raccoons and possums are nobodies friend. It is funny we have had chickens over a year and they have just started to attacking animals. But we have also seen 3 large black snakes in the last week. Maybe it is because we went from 19 chickens to 97.

 

[cackle]

Quote:
I don;t think they have animal control out here. Both attacks have been at night so the vet said the raccoons were more likely to be looking for food than be rabid. We saw 8 young raccoons crossing the road about a mile from here about 2 months ago. Our dogs are all up to date on their shots and Gizmo (dog) got a rabies booster after he was bitten. We use to let the dogs stay out after dark but now will get everyone gets locked up/

 

[TN.MamaHen]

Raccoons are soooo bad!!!We had one attacked our dog before. Sorry about the hen.

 

[cackle]

Last night everything got locked up like Ft Knox or so we thought. I went out at 5 to open the pop door of the layer pen and Joe the Silkie roo was pacing and when I shined the flashlight the 6 young birds hatched by and living with the silkies came running. They were all trying to get out of the pen. Well I saw Puffy on the nest and did not see the other silkie hen. So I went to their night pen and looked no hen. When I looked under their pen their was a very big possum staring back at me. I came inside and woke my husband. He grabbed a rifle and a flashlight and we went back out and he shot the thing.

The only way we can imagine it got in was over the top of the door. The rest of the pen is secure but there is about a 6 inch opening over the kennel door.

John says he thinks the possum weighed between 15 and 20 pounds.