Opossums

[girls and guineas]

I have a wire cage under our deck inside a fenced in area. Last fall I had chickens in it. One night something pulled the wing out from between the wire bars and ate the wing down to the bone--killed the little chicken!! It had to be something that climbed over the fence. I was just sick!!!
It is a good place to have chickens there, but I don't know what to do to keep the chickens safe. I can't wrap the cage sides w/plastic or tarp, because it has wooden roosts sticking out. I'm trying to use the cage again tonight and hope my little chicken will be safe.
I have enclosed plastic dog kennels that I could use, but I think some animal could still reach in thru the openings and grab whatever part of my chickens body .Will leaving a light on at night keep predators away??
I was having trouble w/opossums coming in the chicken house before I had gone out and closed the door at night. Several months ago I found one little silkie dead and it's head was gone--no bloody mess! "Wonder if that was an opossum??? Seems to help keep them away by having a light on in the hen house.

 

[dekel18042]

That sounds like something a raccoon would do. Can you cover your cage with hardware cloth?

 

[girls and guineas]

Try to wrap it over the roosts that stick out on the sides? That is the problem with wrapping it

 

[mountainbass]

i don't know if anybody ever mentioned anything about solar lights but I have 4 decent solar powered automatic lights around the coop and it seems that it doesn't keep any nocturnal predators away but what it does is it gives your birds a chance to see the predators from a distance and be alarmed before the attack
My dogs hear the chickens calling and I let them out to check
They catch a scent of whatever was lurking around and get very exited about it so they keep paying attention on what's going on with the chickens
The predators in that territory soon learn that dogs are guarding that yard
They may keep coming around but try not to disturb the noisy chickens