“We had three hens taken by a fox last week, so I brushed around the pen and extended the electric fence
to encompass the pen and bog filter as well as the garden and bees.
That night, I heard a suspicious “yelp” in the back of the pen.”
I had a similar problem one cold Fall, and lost 4 hens myself, but to an opposum.
Since we had power to the barn where the hens wintered, we had already left a brooder lamp near the roosts for heat,
but after 9:00PM usually, we manually turned the lights off.
Due to the hen loss, we left the light on overnight, and put a ‘baby monitor’(sound) in the barn.
About midnight, I was awakened by the sound of fluttering wings, and all the hens were squawking furiously.
I went to the house back door along with my 12 gauge, and saw the possum atop the steel milk can next to the hen pen.
I steadied my stance, the possum was about 60-70 yards away, and fired, and ended up hitting the steel milk can (5 inches low), and the possum ran away thru a small hole in the barn door.
I returned to bed, and then was reawakened at 2:00A.M. by the same fluttering wings, and furious cackling by the hens.
I went out the back door with the shotgun and saw the possum had returned.
I braced my stance to the back of the house, took aim, and fired - solidly hitting the possum; but since possum are known to play ‘possum’,
I waited and checked the following morning to retrieve the celestiallized possum, and dispose of it.
About 4 days later, the hens began to lay eggs again.
Prior to this incident, I had no knowledge that possum ate chickens; at no point did the rooster attempt to defend the flock.
Learning lesson : any critter who covets your flock will try to find another avenue to get in, especially a fox (dig, jump, etc.).
Lights left on, even a nite light, helps the hens to see.
The ‘baby monitor’ alerted me to a potential catastrophe.
A 12 gauge allows you to reach out, when you care enough to ‘send the very best’(Hallmark cards motto).
P.S.: Also, skunks and porcupines will try to get into your hives; frequently defeated by a roll of hardwire fence in front of the landing board.
Good luck with “the birds and the bees” ! Lol !!
Life is all a ‘learning experience’, and a journey to be enjoyed each and every day.
T I K
Thanks for the tale. Our chickens are moving to a new home this weekend. My wife has developed an egg allergy, so it is pointless to keep chickens. The duck however, are delightful and we will keep them.
Some 25 years ago, I learned about possums the hard way.
Because of coons, I had a solid 2X12 border around the bottom of the chicken yard, sunk 6-8” deep, that anchored the wire; and a complete poultry wire ‘lid’ over it.
No more problems with coons!
Then one morning, I heard a commotion, and was shocked at what I found. A family of possums, mother and several half grown young, had used those nasty looking teeth to actually chew a large hole through the poultry wire to get into the chicken yard. The poultry wire looked like wire cutters had been used on it.
Knowing I was going to find trouble, I had my .22 revolver & extra hollow points with me, They had already killed several chickens, and a couple of Muscovy ducks. It was a blood spree, as there was no way they could possibly eat what they had already killed, but were still trying to attack the remnants of the flock. Fortunately, I ran out of live possums before I ran out of ammunition.
Afterward, I added a layer of 4’ 2” X 4” “dog fencing” around the perimeter, inside the chicken wire.
Thanks for the story. I enjoyed reading it.