Return of the Egg Thief

Well, our little egg thief has returned. In fact, he's returned every day since we first caught him in the coop, each time helping himself to 3 or 4 eggs, upsetting all the chickens, and then curling up for a snooze amidst the hay in the corner of the coop. On top of that, I'm pretty sure he does not realize how close he is to losing his tail, if you know what I mean. There are a lot of neighbors and farmers who are ready to come and shoot him for us, since we "seem unable" to do it.....

For now, we've decided to put out a live trap, and hopefully that will nab him, and then we can take him to an area of the forest a few miles away and release him. Now, I fully understand that a raccoon that gets into the coop is usually killed- he will kill as many chickens as he can get his nimble little hands on in one night. But our little possum friend has not really done much damage, other than stealing a few eggs, so I just don't think he deserves to die just yet. We need a little more compassion in our world, especially out here- it seems everyone is constantly trying to kill every bit of wildlife that comes around. But the thing is, we moved out here to get closer to nature, and, well, it looks like that's what's happened. It wouldn't make sense to go killing the very nature that we're trying to connect with, now would it? On the other hand, we work very hard to raise our animals, and we do feel obligated to protect them. So we're in a bit of a bind.

So, anyway, I've learned how to pick a possum up by the tail. I can't officially recommend this- I don't want anyone to go and get bitten and then blame me. But this little guy sure is easy to scoop up. (It turns out he wasn't nearly as scary as I thought. In fact, he even curls his scaly little tail around my hand to hold on!)

I hope this ends well. If I don't write about it again, that probably means it didn't. If he starts to get aggressive and attacks any of the chickens, I'm not sure I will still be able to convince my husband that a live trap is in order. So keep your fingers crossed!

Comments

[kim]

He's kinda cute!

[Leon]

Pray tell - how did it end? (I'm kinda guessing but may be you were just too busy to write?)

It's an interesting story ... on more than one level, too. Also, very recognizable - the old timers ready to shoot anything that moves, the newcomers trying to find a balance ... I'm on both sides of the fence here (long story), so I really enjoyed reading it ... :)

On a technical point - how did it get inside the coop anyway? Do you use electronet around the coop?

[Joanna]

Thanks for the comments, Leon! Our possum situation ended as such: after 3 days of showing up multiple times each day, the possum has suddenly never returned.... my husband and all my neighbors insist that no one harmed the little guy, but I have my suspicions that a well-meaning someone "took care of" the possum. I pressed but not too hard. I'm not sure I want to know... I am certain that he should have kept coming back, since it was so easy for him to get in... all we have now is a short fence around the coop, which we leave open during the day so the chickens can get some small bit of fresh air and sunshine during these short winter days. Even if the fence was closed, the possum could easily climb the fence, now that we took our sunshade off of the top of it (it was stretching and about to rip from the weight of all the snow.) So I expect that either he will still return, or someone has broken their promise to me....

[Leon]

Actually, there are many many creatures (besides your neighbors) out there that would be more than happy to kill a possum for one reason or the other. Plus, the accidents - rotten tree limb, speeding car ... So he may never return and no one has broken their promise.

As for the prevention - electronet won't work in deep snow but otherwise it's one of the best (and non-lethal) ways to keep away possums, raccoons, cats and some even say coyotes (not our coyotes though). You could make a big ring around your coop, so the chickens have all the grass they need + protection. It's impossible to climb on and it's portable, so you can move it every week if you need to. One of these probably would be my first choice: http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?species_id=6

If you don't own a good energizer yet, the start up cost is a bit painful. On the other hand, because of their portability and ability to keep in or out all kind of creatures, these nets are so universally useful, you may later find yourself wondering how you ever lived without them.