Opossum in the Run

[jthornton]

So I woke up this morning at 4:30 and wandered down to the Beer Cave with my cup of coffee and was looking at the run camera and an opossum was eating out of the feeder! Just when you thought you had the run secure it showed me a spot I missed. I'll fix that this morning. The pullets woke up to gun fire a bit before they were supposed to get up but they didn't seem too bothered by it.

I have 100' of chain link fence around the chicken yard mainly to keep dogs out but after watching the opossum trying to squeeze through the chain link I'm thinking of some additional 1" x 2" fastened to the chain link with a skirt attached to that as well. I wonder how high to go with the 1" x 2" fencing? Would 4' tall and bent in the middle be a possibility or am I better off getting 2' and joining them with J clips?

JT

 

[jthornton]

Is the beer cave the chicken coop/run?

The Beer Cave is the walk out basement where I keep all my beer and wine making stuff and other stuff. It's my morning hangout.

JT

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Is the beer cave the chicken coop/run?

 

[moniquem]

Badness......I have something digging under my new fence right next to where I've been leveling for the new coop. I know someone who will stand there all night with an axe waiting for its head to come through that hole.....no joke!

 

[SueT]

Oh no!
I go to the trouble to bring all feed into the house each night to prevent varmints being attracted by it...including mice....

 

[Smuvers Farm]

We took out 2 opossums over winter, of course after they got at least 5 of my chickens. Varmints!!! Had to shoot both at least 4 times to get the to drop...... nasty little creatures.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

We took out 2 opossums over winter, of course after they got at least 5 of my chickens. Varmints!!! Had to shoot both at least 4 times to get the to drop...... nasty little creatures.

So sorry to hear that. One got my 4 year old daughter's very special cochin bantam years ago. I've hated them since. My fault for not securing things better of course, but I still hate them.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

We took out 2 opossums over winter, of course after they got at least 5 of my chickens. Varmints!!! Had to shoot both at least 4 times to get the to drop...... nasty little creatures.

4 times??? Yeah, I'd upgrade to using a .44 Save on bullets.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I use to get $2 for each live possum I could catch.

When dealing with possums in a fetal manner I always make them sull up before I roll out the heavy artillery. At a range of 2 inches I have never failed to make a one shot kill on possums. A fly swatter when employed with determination will sull up even the baddest possum in the state of Missouri. As boys my uncles trapped possums for their fur as well as for their flesh. A good possum hide brought 10¢ from Sears & Roebuck and were used to cover the frames or sounding boxes of banjos. I know so much about banjos because I am the banjo picker in the movie DELIVERANCE. Okay, not really.

 

[jthornton]

Another possibility is to buy a roll of galvanized fencing wire at Tractor Supply and run strands horizontally through the chain link diamonds (eg, every 10 or so). You can get 1/4 mile of the stuff for less than $30.

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I just went and looked at the chain link fence and that will work great and solve my lower hot wire problem of the chickens sticking their head through the fence. I'll run a wire in the first 4 rows and use some of my J clips every so often to make sure a rat can't move them up. I just looked at my stash of fence stuff and found 5 partial rolls of high tensile fence wire. I normally don't use the funny yellow things but this is an eggselent idea.

I also found my fence charger and a bunch of electric fence wire.

JT