~~~SSA Hatching Thread 2011~~~

[JenEric Farms]

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

 

[aceschix]

Waiting on my first pips of this hatch....

 

[1mommahen]

Quote:

 

[tazcat70]

Quote:
They do not run like mammals because they do not have an gaited run like a horse. With a possum, because they are so primitive, each leg moves independently of the other so they just kind of hunch along but can do it pretty darn fast for short distances.

Possums are actually fairly defenceless animals. They gape when they are frightened, and of course play possum. They have soft little hands not suited for anything but grasping, they don't see well but their sense of smell is exquisite.

For self defence they can only back up into a corner and hide all their soft tasty bits and hope their big mouths gaping with lots of teeth will scare any attacker away. Usually they get eaten if the attacker wants dinner. I think about the only predator intimidated by a possum gape is a human.

They are nomads and do not maintain territories, so when they find a food source they will hang around as long as food is available and move on when it is not. Chickens are pretty much sitting ducks, at night, for a big male possum. Their sense of small can tell them exactly where the biggest draft from a hen house is coming from, so finding a point of entry isn't too hard for them, if there is one. They can squeeze through really small spaces. It does annoy me when people blame the possum for eating a chicken in their hen house when what they should have is a predator proof coop.

They eat roaches, rats, mice and other assorted vermin as well as carrion, so they are sort of nature's janitors.

When we had Golem, one morning early John woke me up to say Golem had gotten out of her cage and was on the fence. I walked out and picked her up off the fence and took her back to her locked cage that still had Golem inside. Uh-oh. I put the unfamiliar young lady down and she ran off. Never tried to bite - she just gaped a little, turned out her lips and started drooling. Very scared.

We had a big possum come strolling in the training field parking lot. People were going eek eek a big mean possum. I went and (carefully) picked it up with a proper hold and took it around a wooden fence line to another field so the dogs wouldn't get it. It was starving and thirsty so I gave it my dog treats and a bowl of water.

I really do like possums. Once you get to know them you can appreiciate the different coat textures and color phases. They can also have very different head shapes - some can have very blunt muzzles. Genetically they are very diverse.

I have no problem with people killing them because they are eating their chickens, because I have done the same. But it does bother me that everybody dislikes them so much without knowin anything about them.

SO - more than you ever wanted to know about possums. Your natural history lesson for the day!

Good information to have.

 

[seminolewind]

Do you think this will become the new fashion statement?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=374147

It could be used to carry some real nice New Hampshire chicken eggs!

 

[chicken stalker]

lol sluurrrd lol hheeheheh...morning all

 

[featherz]

Morning! where is everyone? Hey momma, my OE's are old enough to figure out now, supposedly.. LOL. I think I have it down.. we'll see if I am right.. There's some obvious boys like this one:

(thumbnails)


And I think the ones with three large rows in a pea comb are also boys?



This one is probably a girl



Or am I off my rocker? There are two OBVIOUS boys with red combs and wattles, the rest are still a tossup. I'll be doing a massive rehoming in about two weeks so I am hoping I can tell by then.

I think I have seven girls and six boys. Only two of the boys are 100% so far.

 

[Muggsmagee]

 

[acid_chipmunk]