A Possum Got in the Hen House and Killed 3 Chickens

Showing a quick video of what happens, unfortunately, to chicken owners. Animal attacks are all to common with chickens. Chickens will put a fight if they can see, but at night they're basically blind.
An Opossum squeezed under some wood to get into an empty pen. Right next to that empty pen I had a pen of chickens. The opossum grabbed a chicken leg and tried to pull it through a hole and couldn't get it through. This happened twice and both of those chickens died. On the third day the opossum was able to squeeze a chicken through a board and the ground. That's when I noticed a pile of feathers and a chicken missing. I put up some traps and caught him the next day.
Time to shore up these pens.
Here is a list of the most common predators to my chickens in order.
Dogs
Racoons
Opossum
Hawks
Coyotes
Fox
Skunks
Snakes
Thanks for watching!
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nicholscounty.com

[@minn_aa_x1]

We have 3 chickens (gave 5 to my grandma, and 3 to my moms cousin) and today an opposum came to attack. Thankfully I was just outside and was able to shoo it away. One rooster on the tail area, the feathers were pulled. Thankfully they are all okay, but it was so scary to hear all three start squaking and screaming and I had a mini heart attack. I will be more cautious and try to cover the "small" patches on the chicken coop, and if it's back, I will take action. Due to seeing it a couple times, it never attacked till today.

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah they can break into a coop.

[@GPS.GhostPirateSloan]

You “shoo” it? I think you left out the “T”… it will be back and it will be your fault if a chicken is killed.

[@Here_This]

But You can't blame the intruders , You need to secure the sides into the ground with a fence . Foxes can dig under it , raccoons grab through it and pull chicken out . Possums mostly follow raccoons and eat the remains . The key is , better security .

[@NicholsCounty]

I can blame them and I did. These coops are secure. The room next to it wasn't, that's where I keep my feed. It dug under from that room. Problem has been fixed since.

[@steveconnor5388]

Guy you need to make a better predator proof coop there's huge space of gaps that raccoons and opossums can reach in and grab and pull a chicken apart

[@NicholsCounty]

Great tip!

[@annlaborte7881]

I had the same problem! Lost 4 chickens in a week! I believe 3 of them were attacked by the hawk and the one was attacked at night where it was missing the bottom and no injury to the head unlike the other 3. We then set up a trap and got a huge possum! I live in Tennessee.

[@NicholsCounty]

Possum or raccoon. They're both terrible to chickens.

[@dedikfarm1128]

thank you sis... the knowledge from you is very useful for me as a beginner chicken breeder... greetings breeders from Indonesia

[@NicholsCounty]

Thanks for watching.

[@dedikfarm1128]

nice to meet you sir....greetings of friendship from Indonesia...sharing knowledge and experiences sir

[@cali4yall756]

2 of my chickens just disappeared without a trace they are small size chickens. We have possums around where I live. I suspect that the opposums did it, but not sure

[@NicholsCounty]

Could be anything.

[@aarondriver1931]

Had a similar issue, and the culprit ended up being an opossum as well.

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah they suck.

[@NicholsCounty]

​@@BlackBird7474XDokay.

[@Tsbikes-18181]

I think a fox killed the ducks 😢

[@NicholsCounty]

Possible.

[@beckyrodriguez4999]

I have what appears to be a very young possum that has set up camp in my barn cat stall for the last two weeks. We made a pretty decent size wooden enclosure with a lid to be able to change out straw, etc., for the cats in these Midwest winters. I also use a horse barn for my chickens and other fowl. The possum made a "nest" in the cat box. It even spread out straw on the floor and uses it as a bathroom. I didn't realize that the possum that I saw in the barn just before the last blizzard was even still here. My barn cats never poop on the floor, but I thought maybe it was due to somewhat frozen litter boxes. It wasn't until I saw a pile of broken eggs that I started searching for the possum. Now I have to trap it. I'm tempted to just pick it up because it's no bigger than a cat, but they do have a lot of teeth should it not just play dead. I really didn't know that they killed chickens until my farmer friends advised me to dispatch it immediately. I suck at this part as I don't have the heart to do it, but I understand why it has to be removed at the very least. Thank you for your video.

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah some people swear they don't harm chickens, but I actually seen one eating a chicken myself. If you want to pick it up do it by its tail, it won't be able to bite or scratch you if you hold it far enough away from you. I catch about 2 to 3 possums a month here. Raccoons are much worse though.

[@Here_This]

Never kill a Possum . They are so important for the environment . Ask a rehabber to relocate it .

[@aguilar82082]

We had one attacked our pet chicken today. It didn't kill her, but did hurt her.

[@NicholsCounty]

I find that they eat the heads and leave the rest. I'm glad it didn't get yours. Good luck with the injury. Hope it's not too bad.

[@Here_This]

@@NicholsCounty But from what I know that are raccoons ?

[@bryanjones14]

I kill every possum i catch near my chickens

[@NicholsCounty]

I don't blame you.

[@Here_This]

😥 Why don't You make a safer fence ?

[@jtunedproductions4818]

Because humans love to kill

[@journeyfree8206]

Yep. Same here.

[@BonnieHalas]

I had an opossum kill one of my birds long while back too! Just found some fresh tracks recently

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah they're brutal.

[@ckfamilyhomestead]

sorry that happened. darn possum

[@NicholsCounty]

It's a part of life. Chicken life.

[@emlo9103]

thank you for that info one of my favourite hen was attacked about a week ago by one and i have had to nurse back to health where im at i cant just go a to and but a trap. One day we had an absolute slaughter the possum killed five of my chickens . I do have a small game pellet gun i just dont know they come out its like 98 degrees outside so during the day it would be imposible

[@NicholsCounty]

You can get those traps on amazon. You can also use a dog proof trap, they're much smaller. A pellet gun isn't going to do anything to a possum. Maybe scare it away for a day.

[@Here_This]

Are You sure it wasn't a fox or raccoon ? They carry away my big 10 lbs Koi . Usually it is raccoons that do feasts .

[@yonii5694]

Opossum kiil chiken

[@NicholsCounty]

Yes I know.

[@wirebarn]

I doubt it was an opossum. They rarely attack chickens, especially full grown ones. Chicks and eggs possibly, but not adult chickens. Most likely was either a racoon or a weasel (or other animal in the weasel family).

[@NicholsCounty]

Caught an opossum the next day in the same spot. I've seen them attack chickens more than once on trail cams.

[@autumndean3268]

Sadly, this myth has been spread around via facebook and its dead ass WRONG. Possums will kill your chickens. I've seen a big possum drag a chicken off into the thicket and I caught it red handed... if they can find an easy food source and they are hungry they will eat .... and not just eggs.