Opossum in the Run

[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.

 

[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!

 

[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.

 

[jthornton]

So back to the original question or sorta, is it worth my time to try and fortify the chicken yard chain link fence?

JT

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Everyone got distracted by the tree rats general grossness.

For me here I'd have mink up and over 4' quickly. Daytime doesn't slow them down either. 4' plus hot wire maybe? To avoid $ hardware cloth run roofs I'm going to add electric.

 

[jthornton]

I may have to look into hot wire, I have 3 gates so that is a challenge as well.

JT

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I attach insulators right to the gates and stop the wire at the opening edge. If posts are high enough I'll run back then over. Hate digging under if avoidable but with several gates it might not be.

 

[jthornton]

Doing a little searching I found some chain link fence insulators... I'm thinking electric fence now. I saw one post from 2011 where the OP also attached the ground to the fence so if the animal touches the fence and a hot wire they get a shock.

JT

 

[MINDANAO DAVE]

Make it simple just put a electric wire around the fence. One at 4 inches off the ground the other at 12 inches. Good Luck

 

[jthornton]

It's a 5' chain link fence and I have a bunch of wire and stuff left from the garden.

JT