Possum in the hen house and bit bird!!!

[samie]

HELP!

(i posted this elsewhere but wanted to get BWH's opinion on this)

A possum today has taken over the hen house

i got my 2 chickens out and put them in a cage in the basement.

my poor little one has a bite on her foot

(i didnt touch the hens wore work gloves and a sweatshirt to move them)

is it ok if they are together in the cage

what should i do for her foot?

(i read here chickens cant get rabies-true?)

and how do i get that possum OUT of the house? I tried throwing some water at it and it hissed at me, now it is curled up in the corner-he doesnt want to move!

mostly i am worried about my bit hen tho

[DM]

Take a 22 out there and shoot the darn thing! We have so many problems with coons and opossums i trap them year around just to get rid of them.

DM

[CountryKitty]

Only mammals can get rabies, so your bird won't. As for the possum, a .22 works well, but the bloody things are harder than the devil to kill! If you are not proficient with a firearm, find a neighbor or friend who is, or borrow a livetrap and bait it with a tin of soft catfood.

[Anon001]

CountryKitty is right... Even when you get them between the eyes, they may take awhile to die.. they are worse than the Eveready Bunny! LOL
PaulNKS

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Possums are actually very easy to dispose of. When you corner them, they go into their "dead" act. Just pick it up by the tail, and drop it into a cage then relocate it. Once they are "dead" they don't resurrect when you pick them up by the tail. Once you put them into the cage, they will come back, so you would have to be careful when you release it.
Our old country church had a possum explosion several years ago. We cornered a bunch of them, watched them go "dead", then picked them up by the tail and took care of them. The men there didn't exactly relocate them, but another lady and I did fling a couple of them back out into the hayfield, away from the building. We didn't have the heart to explore a more permanent solution like one of the older men preferred using.

[Anon001]

If you have chickens, you're better off killing them. If you don't, they WILL be back.... I think possums are ugly, destructive, and better off not being around. My old dog kills them when he sees them.... or did.. he's blind now. But he would kill them without ever making a mark or drawing blood.. I don't know he did it. I've heard that dogs break either their necks or their backs.... But, I never give a possum or a coon a chance to come back again and haunt me or my chickens.
PaulNKS

[samie]

thanks everyone-we relocated one and the other just disappeared

(i am sure it's around)

we covered the top of the coop with chicken wire and now they cant climb over the top and the hen is just fine

;D