Possum advice please.

[cindyandjoe]

I have an open compost bin in the backyard and possums have been visiting it. I have 4 chickens securely locked in a coop at night and I feel confident in the strength of the coop. But the possum makes me nervous. Is it better to get rid of the compost OR is it better to provide the possum with a free salad bar? My theory is that if it has open access to the compost buffet, maybe it will leave the chickens alone?? Any advice about this would be helpful please. Thanks so much.

 

[Trefoil]

If your chickens are securely locked up at night, relax.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have an open compost bin in the backyard and possums have been visiting it. I have 4 chickens securely locked in a coop at night and I feel confident in the strength of the coop. But the possum makes me nervous. Is it better to get rid of the compost OR is it better to provide the possum with a free salad bar? My theory is that if it has open access to the compost buffet, maybe it will leave the chickens alone?? Any advice about this would be helpful please. Thanks so much.

Quote:

A possum may invade your coop and set up house keeping there, remaining out of sight until such time that the possum gets curious about what chicken tastes like.

Not to mention the fact that if you tolerate a possum living and dining in your compost pile, you have reduced your margin of error to basically zero.

This means that you are tied to the coop and can not trust others to shepherd or close up your coop for you if you let your birds have the run of your property.

But by all means remember that your chickens belong to you and to no one else, so use them for possum bait if that suits you.

 

[luvmychixandducks]

Don't give the possum any reason to set up housekeeping in your area.
If they look at the compost pile as a buffet and for some reason are not happy with the available choices then chicken might become option one for supper.
As an aside.....
I had a possum family living under my garden shed one summer and since I had no birds, there was no threat so we ignored them. My brother and his daughter camped out in the back yard and he put a giant candle (three wicks) outside the tent - about five feet from the tent - to act as a nightlight.
During the night a possum walked between the tent and the candle thus projecting an enhanced shadow of a possum onto the tent material.
From inside it looked like A HUGE MONSTER CREATURE WAS LURKING OUTSIDE THE TENT.
We can laugh about it now but it put an end to the camping out at least for that night.


possums are just predators waiting for an opportunity to dine. Keep them moving along to some other place to live.