Opossum Update & More Chicken News
Thanks to Sapna's comment I just realized that I never told the end to the opossum saga. Animal control called back the next morning and said that they do not pick up opossums, but the guy was super nice and gave me a lot of helpful hings and suggestions. Namely, that opossums, unlike raccoons, only stray about 1/2 mile or so, so I wouldn't need to take him/her far to get rid of it. Also, it is legal to drop of a possum onto public land, or on private property with the owner's consent. He suggested the Arboretum, which was also my first choice since it's close by and also a large space. The night of the opossum intrusion I posted a help email to the Mad City chicken chat email line. I got one phone call and a handful of emails back with advice. Most people (not surprisingly) told me to relocate the possum instead of killing it, although one person expressed concern about relocating the possum when it could just go and bother other city chickens.
Paul and I decided to relocate the opossum to the Arboretum the next morning, and I took the caller's advice and used a bucket to transport the little bugger. First we wanted to experiment with how the opossum got into the coop. I was almost positive that it could wriggle through the 2" welded wire, but Paul was not so sure. We enticed it to leave the cage by opening the door and putting it up against the wire with the bucket on the other side. Eventually it did wriggle through, confirming my suspicions. Unfortunately this means that our coop is not completely predator-proof, but only little opossums can fit through. Hopefully they will only want to eat the feed and do not attempt to hurt the chickens.
We drove to the Arboretum. We parked at the vistor's center, which is about 1/2 mile from the nearest houses, and felt good about releasing him/her near there. Paul and I walked down a trail, admiring the flock of wild turkeys along the way, and then released the opossum. Done.
Unfortunately a few days later, going out in the dark and snow to check on the chickens as I returned home from work I spotted another baby opossum sitting by the coop. This time I flashed light it it's eyes until it ran off and hoped it would never come back. That was a week ago and I haven't seen it since....let's hope it stays that way.
Thanks to Sapna's comment I just realized that I never told the end to the opossum saga. Animal control called back the next morning and said that they do not pick up opossums, but the guy was super nice and gave me a lot of helpful hings and suggestions. Namely, that opossums, unlike raccoons, only stray about 1/2 mile or so, so I wouldn't need to take him/her far to get rid of it. Also, it is legal to drop of a possum onto public land, or on private property with the owner's consent. He suggested the Arboretum, which was also my first choice since it's close by and also a large space. The night of the opossum intrusion I posted a help email to the Mad City chicken chat email line. I got one phone call and a handful of emails back with advice. Most people (not surprisingly) told me to relocate the possum instead of killing it, although one person expressed concern about relocating the possum when it could just go and bother other city chickens.
Paul and I decided to relocate the opossum to the Arboretum the next morning, and I took the caller's advice and used a bucket to transport the little bugger. First we wanted to experiment with how the opossum got into the coop. I was almost positive that it could wriggle through the 2" welded wire, but Paul was not so sure. We enticed it to leave the cage by opening the door and putting it up against the wire with the bucket on the other side. Eventually it did wriggle through, confirming my suspicions. Unfortunately this means that our coop is not completely predator-proof, but only little opossums can fit through. Hopefully they will only want to eat the feed and do not attempt to hurt the chickens.
We drove to the Arboretum. We parked at the vistor's center, which is about 1/2 mile from the nearest houses, and felt good about releasing him/her near there. Paul and I walked down a trail, admiring the flock of wild turkeys along the way, and then released the opossum. Done.
Unfortunately a few days later, going out in the dark and snow to check on the chickens as I returned home from work I spotted another baby opossum sitting by the coop. This time I flashed light it it's eyes until it ran off and hoped it would never come back. That was a week ago and I haven't seen it since....let's hope it stays that way.
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