Look at what was hanging around

[Chihuahuamom444]

WOW someone else that released a possum.......Get ready cause youre gonna get a lot of people telling you how you should have killed it and how you dont like your chickens blah blah blah......I let mine go 10 miles away in the woods and what do you know?, he DIDNT come back !

 

[bockbock2008]

Quote:
I did that for the first 2 years I had the chickens then it just became rediculous. I have actually went out to close them up and found an opposum that had went into thier run and then into their coop. He was easy

 

[bluere11e]

In Florida, there's a law that you can't relocate wild animals.. Spreading rabies and all that stuff.. A long time ago. We had a problem with a coon (this was before I got tired of them regularly ripping heads off of ALL my flock still being an all around animal lover) We got a humane trap and relocated many in that time frame..usually about 5 miles away. someone told me... Oh, no matter where you take them, they will always come back to their home territory. So, we used survey spray paint and covered the next one in orange.. sure enough, within weeks that durn coon was back. That's when we stopped relocating them.. They always end up drowning or dying of lead poisoning...

 

[GarlicEater]

OK do NOT read this if you are sensitive:























OK. Sigh. My neighbor and I ended up, in our attempts to put down our first trapped possum, effectively doing some testing that PETA would *not* approve of. Our conclusions are that pellets do NOT do it. CB shorts/longs, a type of very low-powered .22 ammunition, do NOT do it. The best round, in terms of effectiveness with least noise, is called the Remington Subsonic, it's actually a "standard" velocity, such as is used in target shooting, with a hollow-point bullet. Shoot this out of a rifle, NOT a pistol since pistols with their short barrels are just loud. You can use a head shot, but a possum skull is not like a persons. Their actual skull is long, narrow, and it's easy for a bullet to glance off. To me the most effective way is to aim for what the deer hunters call the "boiler room", the heart/lung area. For a deer, side on, you're aiming for the spot right behind the point of the shoulder. On a possum, it's the corresponding place. Get an idea of anatomy and visualize how the angles work out. The gun will go bang and you will see some blood. The possum will be in shock pretty much instantly, and die pretty quick. It is about the most humane way to put one down that's available to the average person.

It would be nice if you could just chuck rocks at them and make them go/stay away, or play Barry Manilow music to repel them (although then you'd probably get no eggs, either). But Mother Nature doesn't work that way.

The way I think about it is this: Every time I neat chicken, every time I eat beef, every time I eat lamb or fish, I'm responsible for a killing. Eating meat but not at least mentally taking responsibility for the killing, is the worst way to deal with this issue, yet it's what probably 90% of Americans do. I was telling a friend of ours, a big ol' bruiser of a guy too, how I killed and we ate one of our roosters, and he was amazed. Mr. Macho had never done it (although he's kept chickens for years, apparently his dogs kill enough of 'em that it's all he can do to keep some alive) and wants me to teach him. He was asking me questions, aghast. I think he was beginning to wonder if I was some kind of a monster, and I said, "Look, I've eaten chicken about a million times or so, and loved it every time. If I am going to eat chicken, then I have to take responsibility for what it takes to eat chicken".

This is also why we don't have names for the sheep, the geese, or our chickens. You don't name your food. Human beings have the ability to bond with animals and make them part of our family, or tribe. You don't eat your friends. So, you have to make a distinction between friend-animals, and animals that are pests, or food animals, that you maintain a "professional distance" from.

 

[wpalmisano]

Don't look if you are sensitive. Photo

I take no pleasure in killing. If I killed every wild critter who showed up around my pens, I would need a dumpster. Part of the reason I live in a rural area is BECAUSE of the natural beauty, of which animals, like the fox above are a part. Also the hawk, owl, opossum, raccoon, deer, bear, bobcat, etc... He had been hanging around for a month, I had seen him, and let him be. He had probably been eating his weight in rodents all winter from around the barn. We have had a rough one, and snow has been being measured in feet. Fox season here is on, but there was no point in killing a fox, for being a fox.. I took great care when I built the pens, with night lighting, buried fencing, heavy gauge backing fence, cables, etc.. to repel predators, but they are predators. This fox eventually managed to get his head through a winter weakened door and drag out one of my prize drake mallards. The whole story was plain to see in the snow. Once he learned he could get one, he would never stop trying. With a few days left in fox season, I decided to drop him. Nothing personal, I felt a twinge of shame and guilt, but it had to be done. Once an animal learns he can get food, he will never stop trying. I will kill for food, protection, and occasionally, when an animal becomes a problem. Never for sport. There is no personal issue in it. I hate it, I have seen enough death. I rather spend a few extra dollars to repel them. Nothing is predator proof, only resistant.

 

[dianaross77]

Well, I've personally handled possums twice now. I don't find them to be scary. I had to take a little one away from my dogs. They were playing tug of war with it. I put it over the fence into the front yard and let me assure you, it hasn't been back since!

 

[babalubird]

So well put, wpalmisano. I'm an animal enthusiast too, but I know when we finally install our poultry, our relationship with the coyotes will no doubt change. I hate it, but I will also do what I have to do to keep from losing farm income and animals.

Connie

 

[chikkinlittlesc]

I killed seven oppossums this winter. They are clever little creatures. They found their way into my barn and killed three of my show chickens and attacked a young rooster and hen. We have also trapped 2 coons and relocated them. So far, they haven't returned. My husband took them about 30 miles away and turned them loose. They were young and he didn't want to kill them. We caught the oppossums in the act of killing twice. We randomly would go out to the barn, flip on the lights and there they would be, in the rafters just staring back at us. I am an animal lover and don't like killing animals, but when it comes to my flock, I have to do what I can to protect them.

 

[dewey]

Wow, what a photo...glad your birds were ok.