I had just gotten asleep good when....

My wife gets out of bed and leaves the bedroom. The opening of the french doors tends to wake me up because the latch makes a noise. 

So she goes to the back door..... and turns on the yard lights. I asked her what was wrong. She says, "I think something's wrong with the chickens....one of them is raising a ruckus"..... oh yeah... it's about 1am or so..... and raining. 


.... this can only mean one thing......

I am expected to get up and go out there and see what the problem is with that dumb chicken.  So I rise, put on my moccasins and step into the dark rainy night to investigate. I get to the pen and sure enough.... the chicken, the one that usually stays in the hen house is standing in the rain..... clucking like the world is ending. Knowing it is not Dec 21st yet.... something else must be wrong.  The other smarter chicken is up on the roost looking at the ground like it's looking for something......

Snake...... that's the next thought in my still sleep fogged brain. So I shine a light into the hen house...... nope, no snake.... relief.  But under the hen house, something moved and it caught my eye..... all I could see from where I was standing was a white, hairless tail..... 

next thought.... that is the biggest freaking rat tail I've ever seen.....and it's in the chicken pen. I bend down a bit..... for a better look....and nope, not a rat.... a possum. This could get interesting...and take longer than I really wanted to stand outside at night in the rain.

There's a freaking possum in the pen with the chickens. About the time I see the possum..... it sees me and really freaks. Being dumb, as possums are.... it starts to run from one end of the pen to the other, where the chickens are now both standing in the rain. They see it coming and go berserk. The chickens freaking out causes the possum to freak and reverse course. The possum runs back towards me and then sees me and reverses....again freaking the buzzards.... this repeats several times. 

I open the pen door and step inside with a rake.... the possum runs for the other end and climbs the pen wire.... trying to escape out the top...... but the top is covered... because chickens can fly to some degree, so I covered the pen.....and the possum proceeds to get caught and tangled in the wire mesh.....  I try to use the rake to "assist" in freeing it. The possum obviously does not appreciate my help and bites the rake handle. 

A thought crosses my mind..... be careful of those teeth. I'll bet it would hurt to get bit by that thing..... But on the other hand..... the good thing is, according to a lady who used to live down the street, they are not carriers of rabies. (her husband helped me get a possum out from under my house one night at about 10pm when my wife saw it looking up at her from the dining room floor vent.... it had gotten into the ducts... but that's another story....

so.... back to the possum in the pen....

I back out and let the possum free itself and again run back and forth a few times. I finally get it cornered and slowly try to herd it out of the pen and towards the open door. When it finally gets tired trying to run and decides to go where I'm pushing it (with a rake) it bolts out the door and straight for the flower bed behind the house..... I'm thinking...Man I sure hope my wife didn't see it run towards the flower bed.....

I checked to see that the crawlspace door was closed and went back in side....and tried to get back to sleep. 

This morning..... no sign of the possum, and the chickens were all back to normal.

+1

Awesome story, Herb!

space_cowboy


i had to rescue my dogs from a opossum that was attacking them.  They are vile unpleasant animals.  

Gee, I didn't know they'd actually dare facing a dog. I've seen people treating them as pets - not that I'd condone that anyway, I prefer wild life to be free. 

Herb,
Here's a little something that can be useful next time you have an opossum run-in.

It's a 9 min video but PLEASE watch the whole thing. It's well worth it. 
I do this often and it's very effective.

HTH
Mike

Herb. Would it not have been safer to put on more than just a pair of mokasins?

I once woke up when a possum walked over me while sleeping outside in Queensland, Australia somewhere and thought it was a cat. I went back to sleep. When I woke up again the person next to me told me it was a possum because it had woken her up as well. Good times. 


Cool story Herb, perfect for the morning tea

Usually those possums are just seen on the side of the road dead around here, although I suppose some other people see them (or have to put up with them), along with the racoons.

Karyn


Herb. Would it not have been safer to put on more than just a pair of mokasins?

if it was good enough for the Cherokawa ... it's good enough for me.   I practically live in moccasins when I'm not working.... so comfortable.