Preadator small opossum

[emarble]

So Its dark and I go out to my what I think is a Fort Knox house and run complete with 3 strands of hot wire 3 inches 6 inches and 12inches off the ground and an 8 foot by 8 foot mini barn 16 inches off the ground with opening to the run only except for 2x4 welded wire openings on 2 sides and and 2x8 to the ground! Leading up to what I found. I walk in thru the locked door and turn on the light only to find my hens and rooster on the roost and an small opossum on the floor of the coop looking up at me (He was small about the size of a large rat at first glance is what I thought he was! So the moral of my story is i guess no matter how safe you think your house is you need to look for other avenues of possible entry! We will now run hot wire around the outside of the chicken house too to make sure that he did not climp thru the welded wire. I guess mr opussum did not think he was hurting anything but in the interest of protecting my flock I dispatched the little varmit in order with a shovel and a hoe and removed the carcass! I am an animal lover but put the safety of my flock first

 

[chkn]

Sounds like a baby and that means there's a mommy around.

 

[Kat's Silly Chickens]

I had to triple check and double reinforce my run and coop, I saw an opossum (the size of a adult cat) walking away from our storage barn/coop about a week ago. I threw pine-cones at it to shoe

it away til I could remove them (my 4 chickens) for the night. They are totally secured now and I haven't seen the opossum since. But I check on chickens every 2 hrs til I go to bed at midnight.

 

[Tiss]

My kids saw a coon by the coop a few evenings back so I set the trap. I ended up with a possum this morning. Maybe I'll get the coon tomorrow.

 

[Dogfish]

Time for some 1/2" hardware cloth.

 

[emarble]

Yep timne to reinforce the reinforcement not takin any chances with the Boss and MY (HIS) Girls!!! Where there are babies there are mommies!!!!

 

[Causin Chaos]

I have a question about the hardware cloth. If you use it would it have to be your total pen top and all? I had put it at the bottom of my pen but now that Im reading some on opossums can't the climb over it then go through the wire? My wire is 2 x4 wire with hardware cloth about 2 feet up from the ground with a net on top. Should I do something else? Thanks Teresa

 

[emarble]

I dont worry too much about climbers as I have electric fence around my yard and am now putting it around the house as the raised house has 2 x 4 wire keeping access from the outside! I never thought about a small possum getting thru the wire! Now on the other hand if you have Trees around your run You might consider the drop in effect but IM not sure that to be a Problem! Due to the expence of hardware cloth you might overlay 1 inch poultry netting over the top of the welded wire! The electric fence is probely the best investment made since it is effective on cats dogs ferrets weasels raccoons possums wolves foxes and anything that digs or tries to go thru the wire! Here is my placement of wire as I did it

3 inches off of ground 3 inches from fence prevents diggers
Next Row is 6 inches off the ground this prevents small critters from getting under or over the hot wire
Next rows are 12 inches and 18 inches off the ground this will stop almost all dogs
Go with a good charger since you want something with a good kick to it (Remember that FIRST IMPRESSIONS are everything when dealing with preadators) If it REALLY hurts you your going to come back

I also suggest a Pulsing charger since it delivers a (Red Snapper is a brand name here) preferrably with a pulsing light to let you know the charger is working! I will try to post some pics of my setup so that all can see

Note this is my uptake on it! I have been around farming all my life raising horses and all but this is my second year with my little cluckers and love them dearly and want assure their safety!

Go to your local farm supply store they can show you and recommend some different ones . But dont let them talk you into over Kill a good charger cost about $40 dollars. You dont need the $200 solar powered that will charge 100 miles of #9 wire to keep angola cattle and buffalo in! You only need that if your trying to keep out bears!

 

[Causin Chaos]

I was afraid of that. With my chicken pen its a litle different because it is in my dog pen. I have a good size backyard fenced and the chickens free range (sorta) inside the dog pen during the day. The dogs have a dog door and can go in and out. I guess if I got a eletric fence maybe I could place it on the outside of my dogpen. Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

[emarble]

I probably go overkill but most electric fence comes in spools or rolls of 1/2 mile so I would go around the dog pen and that will keep predators out of the whole area! sounds like your dogs free range around the pen and coop so depending on what type of dogs you may not need to worry about an electric fence. It all depends on the location inside dogs yard and if dogs are loose while chickens are out! My coup and run are outside my yard and do have trees but i do not worry about access thru the top. Trees next to pen and are Thorny Locust and have Large Thorns all around base and up trunk so this disuades climbers a lot, SO you may not need fence