I shot another egg-eating possum this week. We've noticed our egg count has been fluctuating each day, but attributed it to the cold weather and short days. It's too bad that it was MY chicken coop where the little critter decided to feast...
Noah is the one who gets the brunt of the possum problem. Poor Noah, who goes to get the eggs every day, came rushing in the house and said that a possum was in the coop. He excitedly declared that it's "mouth was opened a foot wide and was trying to bite his boot off!" Good thing for those thick winter boots, eh? He said that it was in a nesting box and Lady, our cattle dog (whom he ALWAYS takes in with him after the last possum incident), drug the possum out onto the floor and that's when it was going to "attack" him. Possums would much rather play dead than attack a person. When they're being attacked, they generally sit still with their mouths wide open and hiss or growl. Not wanting to deal with a possum, I told Seth to go out with Noah and encourage Lady to take care of it (I really thought it had run away by this time). They came in a few minutes later and said that I needed to kill it because it was trying to bite Lady...
So, I grabbed our possum killer (our "James Bond" gun which is kept under lock and key, of course), and went out to get rid of the nasty thing. It was wedged between the back of the bookcase that we use for nesting boxes and the wall of the henhouse. I had a 2 inch slot to look through and try to hit it in the dark. After 4 shots, it still wasn't dead (we could tell because it was still growling). It was too dark to see anything but part of a furry outline so I was obviously missing it. I couldn't get a better view unless I climbed on top of the bookcase and looked down at it with a flashlight, which I didn't care to do. The 4 foot high bookcase has chickens that walk all over the top of it, and it has an inch layer of chicken manure packed on it. Yuck! I went back inside and changed into my snow pants and thought, "too bad the show Dirty Jobs isn't here right now. I think this would qualify." The next two shots took care of it.
Seth has gotten much braver since last time and asked to drag it out by the tail right away. After insisting that he make sure it was dead, he pulled it out and we took a couple photos. Yay, Seth!! I don't mind shooting it, but I certainly DON'T want to touch it!!! Into the trash can it went because, after all, tomorrow is garbage day :) Hope the garbage man doesn't mind...
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