posems at night

[choopes]

I've had a time with possums. Over a period of months they wiped out my flock. Only the lone goose is left. She's pretty big. I got a new flock I raised from babies. They're 8-9 weeks, getting almost pullet size. Because of size limitations I decided to move a few to the big pen, where the goose lives to see how they would do. I moved 5. The next morning, one was alive. One was dead, but not eaten at all. The other 3 were just gone. No feather piles. I found a possible place they might have gained entry and sealed it up. Now I am scared to put any more down there, although, unless I build something else, I will eventually have too. Now they are in a box open on the grass on the bottom, Chicken wire on top. and kept real close to my house. Predators rarely come up here.. But they are getting too big for it.
Opinions?

THANKS

 

[teach1rusl]

I would definitely build a secure pen before adding any more geese, if you're losing that many. Do you have pics of your set-up so that others can help find the weaknesses in your defenses?

And I would be very skeptical about the culprit being possums...

 

[choopes]

I would definitely build a secure pen before adding any more geese, if you're losing that many. Do you have pics of your set-up so that others can help find the weaknesses in your defenses?

And I would be very skeptical about the culprit being possums...

I have no plans to add any more geese. The reason I mentioned the goose is because whatever it is doing the killing, it's not big enough to mess with the goose. I have seen and killed quite a few possums over the years. They are nocturnal. They can climb. So if they can get the hens off the nesting boxes and down on the ground during the night they have a huge advantage. I wonder about simply leaving a light on during the night.? This last attack the one chick was just dead. Possum usually leaves the head and feet and eat most of whats in between. I sealed up the small hole with bricks and the great stuff spray foam.
Right now i have 19 half grown chicks I need to put somewhere as they are all getting too big for the box. These are Bramah and coo coo moran. Sorry if I was misunderstood.

 

[teach1rusl]

I suppose I was suggesting that I think something else was attacking, such as a fox, raccoon, etc. While I certainly think a possum could easily kill a small chick, I can't see one going after larger ones...especially multiple ones.

However, great stuff wouldn't take any time to dig out/through - like digging through insulation. And if a fox, then loose bricks would be pretty easy to move too. If you're putting the pullets back there, I'm suggesting that you actually use solid boards and strong wire to predator proof what is already there...so no amount of digging or burrowing will allow access to your birds.

Again, a picture would be helpful to advise you on shoring things up.

 

[bobbi-j]

It may or may not be possums. It doesn't really matter - the thing is, your coop is (or was) not secure. The box sitting on the grass with chicken wire over the top is even less secure than a coop - something could dig under or even possibly wedge itself under that box, or just go right through the chicken wire. A raccoon could just reach in through the wire and pull chicken pieces out (from your live chickens) bit by bit, too. I'd probably consider taking my chances with the coop again, if it were my flock - go through it with a fine-tooth comb, block off any openings that may let something in and replace any chicken wire with something sturdier.