Possum!

[tara_374]

I have dispatched some in the past, but with the electric wire up around my coops and pens, I haven't had a problem with them and do see them now and then on one of the cameras.

Can you please confirm that possums do or don’t kill chickens. I have one under my wood pile which is right beside my chickens. Also is it a guarantee if there is one there is more??

 

[Compost King]

Can you please confirm that possums do or don’t kill chickens. I have one under my wood pile which is right beside my chickens. Also is it a guarantee if there is one there is more??

I am unable to comply with that request due to honesty. They will kill chickens if they feel the need to however they will take eggs and feed first (usually) and fight a chicken last. All the ones that Possums killed of mine were birds who climbed under a coop on a muddy night and I was not going to lay down in the mud to retrieve them. Possums eat those. I use a game cam and confirmed this.

 

[Folly's place]

I've had opossums kill chickens too, at night, before my coop was as secure as it is now. Also long ago, when the flock roosted outside of the coop. We learned!!!
As a horse owner who's had one mare with EPM, twice, I have zero tolerance for possums at the barn!!!
Mary

 

[Emaline]

They WILL kill chickens. I lost 2 hens to possums over the years -- heard the ruckus and ran out to find them attacking my chickens (2 separate occasions). One got in through a small hole in the top of the coop (it had pushed the chicken wire to the side and gotten in) and another time one got in early one evening right at dusk before I had shut the coop and killed one of my hens before I could get to her to save her. Both times, I SAW the possums on my hens, ripping them at their throats. I KNOW the possums killed them. Another dug a hole into the coop and was on top of and attacking one of my hens, but I got there in time to get it off of her. Sorry, but they definitely will kill your hens if they can get into the coop. Be sure your coop is airtight, because they will get in however they can to steal eggs or kill chickens. I recently got a guardian dog for my farm and she's awesome at alerting me if a possum is out there at night trying to mess around my coop.

 

[cmom]

Many years ago I had a possum dig under a fence and kill a bird. I put a trap out using the dead bird as bait inside the pen the possum had killed it the night before and the possum came back and I caught it.