Opossum in chicken coop

Danny188

Songster
Jul 22, 2019
364
304
151
Iowa
There was a football game tonight so I was getting home late about 10:00. And when I went out to close up the chickens there was a small opssum running out of our coop which is made inside our barn. It then climbed over my 4 foot square chicken fence and went into a thorn bush. I went and got an air rifle so I could dispatch it and it was still in the bush when i got beck out then i shook the bush so i could get a better shot and it ran. Could a small possum kill 17 week old hens while they are roosting and will it come back again in daylight or in the evening?
 
Opossums are my current predator. I've lost some of my flock to them. I've caught 4 so far with my live trap. I've only seen them at night though and boy do they run fast. Before I caught one in the act I was finding larger chickens without heads and my bantams half eaten.
 
Opossums are my current predator. I've lost some of my flock to them. I've caught 4 so far with my live trap. I've only seen them at night though and boy do they run fast. Before I caught one in the act I was finding larger chickens without heads and my bantams half eaten.
Im sorry to hear about your flock I went out later last night to set a box trap and shot it it was alittle bigger than i had thought and looked capable of killing of my roosted chickens I think my roosts bought them some time becuse they are off the ground four feet and it would have had to jump up to the nest boxes then to the roost just like my chickens do.
 
I just got rid of 3 possums recently, I have a field cam and they will show up from Dusk to Dawn. Although they are far more likely to go for eggs and feed they can and will eat a chicken if it's easy for them to do it.

Im sorry to hear about your flock I went out later last night to set a box trap and shot it it was alittle bigger than i had thought and looked capable of killing of my roosted chickens I think my roosts bought them some time becuse they are off the ground four feet and it would have had to jump up to the nest boxes then to the roost just like my chickens do.
that might have been the mother and her kids are will still be stalking the coop. Keep setting the trap until you have none left.
 
Im sorry to hear about your flock I went out later last night to set a box trap and shot it it was alittle bigger than i had thought and looked capable of killing of my roosted chickens I think my roosts bought them some time becuse they are off the ground four feet and it would have had to jump up to the nest boxes then to the roost just like my chickens do.

Unfortunately I live in town and have neighbors so I can't discharge a firearm. After the 4 I caught in the live trap I thought that was it . Then one night I did a random check and sure enough there was another one but got away. I have since installed an electrified wire. It's been 3 days so I'm due to do a random check to see if anything is sneaking in.
 
Unfortunately I live in town and have neighbors so I can't discharge a firearm.
I have the same issue, I relocated certain animals to places ideal for them and their new habitat. Others I just drop my cage trap in deep water because there is no ideal place to release them. I would rather shoot them but the law took away that option. Not that drowning them is legal but it is stealth. I doubt I would get charged with it if I was caught anyways.
 

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