What is this predator?

[chicknmania]

We had a possum once trap a rooster and a pullet in one of our pens. He ate everything....feet, feathers, beak, everything. On both birds. He was so full he couldn't move. We found him asleep in a plastic trash can that had straw in it. My daughter flung him and the can as far as she could out the door. The can rolled down a hill and spun him out. He staggered away and never came back.....although it may have been that eating that much simply killed him.

 

[boskelli1571]

that's funny! I've got a visual running through my head! Unfortunately for the possum here, he came back and the Beagles cornered him, so I really had no choice but to shoot him.

such a shame! I know I really didn't have a choice, but I have a heavy heart today.

 

[chicknmania]

that's funny! I've got a visual running through my head! Unfortunately for the possum here, he came back and the Beagles cornered him, so I really had no choice but to shoot him.

such a shame! I know I really didn't have a choice, but I have a heavy heart today.

Well at least you gave him every chance.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

.... Unfortunately for the possum... he came back and the Beagles cornered him, so I really had no choice but to shoot him.

such a shame! I know I really didn't have a choice, but I have a heavy heart today.

I'll bet that your chickens see the possum's demise in an entirely different light.

All you would be possum hunters out there, there is an activity called "Playing Possum." When a possum plays possum he falls down and sort of, kind of rolls up in a ball and for all outward appearances the possum appears dead. Don't be fooled, the possum is playing you for a fool. His hope is that you'll loose interest in or forget about him and go on to bigger and better things.

Once the coast looks clear the possum will awaken like Snow White and be on his merry chicken killing way. When the possum sulls up or plays possum all you need to do is reach down and pick him up by the end of his or her prehensile tail and walk away. Since a possum's tail is prehensile this doesn't even cause him any discomfort because possums often hang by their own tail to sleep. Just be sure to hold the possum away from your body.

 

[Farmer Brian]

I too believe the culprit may be an opossum. Good luck.

edited by staff

 

[smarsh]

where there is one fisher..........

there is something to the coment about making it someone's elses problem by taking it somewhere else. i don't want every trapped animal let out in my backyard. you have the right, and i understand not wanting to kill it, but if you aren't going to kill it, then don't trap it. make your run fisher proof.

 

[chicknmania]

I'll bet that your chickens see the possum's demise in an entirely different light.

All you would be possum hunters out there, there is an activity called "Playing Possum." When a possum plays possum he falls down and sort of, kind of rolls up in a ball and for all outward appearances the possum appears dead. Don't be fooled, the possum is playing you for a fool. His hope is that you'll loose interest in or forget about him and go on to bigger and better things.

Once the coast looks clear the possum will awaken like Snow White and be on his merry chicken killing way. When the possum sulls up or plays possum all you need to do is reach down and pick him up by the end of his or her prehensile tail and walk away. Since a possum's tail is prehensile this doesn't even cause him any discomfort because possums often hang by their own tail to sleep. Just be sure to hold the possum away from your body.

Actually, not to argue, but they don't hang by their tails. Young ones might for a few minutes, but the weight of an adult is too much for him to hang for long by his tail. They use their tails for gripping tree branches, etc. And I'd be careful about picking one up. They have fifty teeth, more than any other land mammal, and know how to use them, I'm sure.

 

[DaveOmak]

Ok so now I only have 9 hens and 5 roos because after I caught and released the fisher (I took it a good 10 miles away) something that is NOT a fisher took out some of my roos. Hardly any feathers and the heads are missing and the bodies are kind of hollowed (the meat inside missing) and bites are on the stomach and I have no clue what is going on. I am an animal rights activist and I rescue so this deeply troubles me.

I would do the same if one of those cute creatures attacked my granddaughter.... Humanely put it down.....

 

[davedavey]

Catch the poor animal in the cage again. I love animals also, take it out into the country, put a shotgun barrel in there and blow it to a thousand pieces. Then feed the pretty birds with it.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Actually, not to argue, but they don't hang by their tails. Young ones might for a few minutes, but the weight of an adult is too much for him to hang for long by his tail. ... They use their tails for gripping tree branches, etc. And I'd be careful about picking one up. They have fifty teeth, more than any other land mammal, and know how to use them, I'm sure.

Do say? I found one in the old garage hanging from a ceiling joist along with a litter of young possums clinging to her belly and back. And I found a young one hanging from my grape arbor and it had fresh grape juice on its snout.

If you rough up a possum even with a rolled up news paper it will sull just as I pointed out before. I appreciate all your experience dealing with, live trapping, selling for human consumption, and hunting for possums with hounds. Tell me, what was your record possum catch in one night, and what type of hound did you use to accomplish it?

As for fifty teeth in a possum's mouth being a danger to man and beast, the Rev Jamie Coots late of Chattanooga, Tennessee recently died

and he was only bitten by an animal with only two teeth.

Does that make the poor old possum 2,500% more dangerous than a rattle snake? I think not.