North Carolina

[dutchbunny83]

Think I may have found my predator....
Though I've seen 2 dead opossums in the street over the past week so it could easily be another.
Checked on my chickens in the coop, they are all fine (at least now). I built the roost pretty high (like close to 3ft with no steps of anything so I think it may be having a hard time getting up it? I've never lost a chicken from the roost, just the nesting box/coop floor.

I heard my turkeys make some noise so looked out my bedroom window and saw his eyes. He won't mess with the turkeys I guess because they are so much bigger at this point than he is? I also have my 2 rabbits running around the yard right by him and they haven't been affected. Maybe because they're quicker? They definitely don't have any other defense. I'm afraid of my cats getting hurt by it. My husband is on Skype and told me to go after it with a baseball bat, but I'm honestly pretty scared of it and the dark out there!

This is the photo from my bedroom window. It climbed the fence and is sitting there between me and my neighbors yard on the fence. Now it's starting to climb into that massively overgrown tree that belongs to my neighbor. Turkey pen is right there next to it, my chicken pen is on the far corner of my yard on the other side.

Tips on getting rid of this thing??? I don't know that it would go into a trap if it had live food instead????

 

[Matt A NC]

Over the past 3 years we have got rid of 20+ possums. Don't know why, but they seemed to have a population boom around here at that time.

The bait they went after was chicken feed(laying pellets and cracked corn). Possums are lazy opportunistic eaters.

Matt

 

[dutchbunny83]

He was just in the turkey pen eating their food.
He didn't bother them (I guess because they're huge).
But then why go through all the trouble of eating my chickens when they had an abundance of food out.
I figured out how it's getting in, apparently my pens are no where near as secure as I thought, and I don't even know how to fix it.

My husband told me I needed to grab the bat. Threw on my boots unlocked the garage & couldn't find it so I grabbed my big cast iron skillet and went in the turkey pen. The opossum didn't even flinch, just sat there eating. Let me come right up to it. The thing looked like it would just let me pick it up (not that I would ever do that). But I just couldn't hit the thing. I don't know I can't kill things, that's my husband's job. Going to TSC in the morning, praying he doesn't go after my chickens tonight.

 

[Matt A NC]

All it takes is a .22 to the head of the possum and it will all be over.

 

[dutchbunny83]

True, but I've never touched gun (nor have I ever been trained anything about them) and we live in the city limits so it would probably be frowned upon

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

Good morning folks

We all have our ways of dealing with predators and
what works best for our flocks.........I prefer to attempt
to live catch and relocate if possible but will eliminate
if all else fails. We also build pens that deter the predators
or at least slow them down but you can't really stop every
predator that exists.........I find learning to live with nature
is best for me.......and good wire around the pens
We don't bother with chicken wire.........it's mostly a waste
of time and money

hope everyone has a good day

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

The possums, while they will eat both chickens and eggs, won't hurt your cat (My barn cat appears to invite them to share her cat food. She'll sit next to them while they eat!) and they won't hurt your adult rabbits. The rabbits are not nearly as defenseless as you might think, either. They've been known to drive adult raccoons from their nests! A couple weeks ago, one of mine disemboweled a snake that was in her nest box.

If you've got an empty five gallon bucket, you can pop it over the possum, slide the lid under and then flip it over. Then decide what to do with it. They aren't territorial. I'll kill one if I catch it killing chickens, but I won't kill it for eating cat food. I just take it to the nearest park land, away from farms. If you want it killed, then it will be contained until you find someone to shoot it for you.

I think I may get my mealworms started up over winter break. Just two more weeks in this semester, more or less. Then five whole weeks off. I do have a lot of prep to do over the break, but that's evening stuff. Mealworms would be a good thing to set up, as would a sprouting system.

Yeah. We'll see how much I actually get done!

 

[dutchbunny83]

Ok thanks for the advice.
I have that galvanized steel fencing (my husband calls it goat fencing?) around my pens and the bird netting all along the top ziptied tight to it. The opossums are climbing right up the fence then tearing the bird netting a little and squeezing right through. I don't even know how I could fix that without completely closing in the top of the run with like a roof? Which I don't have the time, money or means for. I'm building a more secure door for the actual coop so if something comes in the run it can't get in there.
I have no problem with him eating my animal food as long as he's not eating my animals! But in the past month I've lost A LOT of money on chickens!!!!
I don't know what I'm going to do next week, I have to take my oldest to Maryland for Thanksgiving. I'm driving up Wednesday and home Friday, but neighbors will be gone as well so planned on leaving out 2 days worth of food/water for the animals. I hope they'll be okay!

Pretty chilly this morning, hope everyone has a great day!!!

PS- I tried vermicomposting in the spring with some kind of mail order worm, I think red worms? Mine all escaped haha. My chickens go crazy over the freeze dried meal worms, but I don't know if I could do live. They're a lot grosser to me than the average worm. Let me know how it works, maybe something I will try in the Spring.

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

Good morning folks

so DH comes in last night grumbling.........asks have I
seen the weather forecast............of course I hadn't yet
and he starts grumbling about how cold it's going to get
.......all the way down to the low 20's he says........I reminded
him that it is late Nov. and we do get a bit cold in winter.
He knows all this but the winters have been so mild that last
few years that he is now spoiled. Sounds like it's going to be
a bit colder next week......just in time to get folks into the
Christmas mood.

Dutch.....try a hot wire around the top of the run.....a few inches
from the top edge to deter the possum from climbing the fence

hope everyone has a good day

 

[tammyfarms]

Hi Everyone! After reading the posts, I am re-evaluating my meal worm position... they are a great source of protein.

I think the link to the instructions said to start with 400. Is that about right? Where is the best place to buy them? They can't be as bad as the horn worms that infest my tomatoes in the summer. I manage to pick those off and squish them.

Hope everyone is having a great day!