Possum in the hen house this evening.....3 dead total....2 missing

[Notachicken]

But Mr Possum died a quick death from lead poisoning. But more will return. We have them running out of our ears. Is there any way to construct a henhouse that is at least partially possum resistant short of enclosing the whole thing??? If I keep chickens, they gotta run free to some extent. Thanks in advance.

 

[hinkjc]

We open our chickens every morning and close them up tight every night. That is the only sure way to keep predators out of the coop at night. I'm so sorry for your losses.

 

[turney31]

Not trying to be rude but ------- NO! You will need to enclose and safely house them at night. You can free range in the daytime.

 

[Opa]

Close them up at night is the only sure way.

 

[cw]

we do the same

 

[Notachicken]

Years ago my grandfather had a coop where he had a front on the coop aboput 3 ft high or so. He seemed to have pretty good luck with that design. He also had his big coop which had a small door that he opened and shut via a 100 ft long piece of wire attached to his back door. Possums are my main problem. Wierd thing is the possum walked right by a guinea nest with 5 eggs to get to the chickens. Thanks

 

[ctychix]

I had a fox take one of my hens off the back lawn in the middle of the day in the middle of the city just last week
Lesson learned the hard way, I'd be sure my hens were secure at all times, unless I was outside with them. Foxes can go over the fence just like a cat. Especially this time of year the male is hunting whenever he can. He is feeding the kits and mother fox that are in the den.

 

[TexasVet]

I just moved my run to a new location, and although I have a coop I can lock up at night, it's a pain to have to do it. So I've decided to hotwire the run... one wire about 4" above the ground and another 6" from the top. In theory, the bottom wire repels dogs and snakes and the top one catches possums and raccoons.

BTW, buying the charger, fence wire, and standoffs was cheaper than buying an automatic pop door opener. And you can get everything you need at Lowe's or at Tractor Supply.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

 

[Opa]

I have a hot wire around my coops and runs plus I have the electric door open/closer and I still go out to check my birds each nite. Several times I have found birds that didn't get inside before it closed and I lost a beautiful buff orpington to subzero temperatures when she got locked out. So now I check every night and can sleep better knowing for a fact that they are secure.

 

[IVEBEENAWAYTOOLONG]

yeah - i learned the hard way today too - lost 6 to a possum. came home at 11:30pm and 3 with heads missing and another 3 missing completely. had the pleasure of scattering her over a half-acre though. will be enclosing my henhouse with wire tomorrow. hard for me because i work an evening shift. may just enclose the whole thing. i have an 8x8 shed with chicken wire wrapped cattle panels for the run and a tarp over the run for rain. apparantly ms. possum climbed the wire and got in. she even posed for me before i introduced her to that new rap singer - 9 Shot. i HAD 10 8 week old pullets and 10 3 week old banties (straight run). possum only got the banties.

lesson learned.