Last night was a pretty wild night in the chicken coop. We were later than usual getting outside to close the gate on the chicken run. By 8 p.m., everyone was in the coop and settled in under their heat lamp. With the gate open, a possum decided to help himself to the rotisserie buffet.
Aaron pulled into the driveway flashing headlights onto the coop just in time to see the chickens running to escape as the possum terrorized the flocked.
Sadly, he snagged our gorgeous Betty White. However, the crazy timing of Aaron’s arrival appears to have saved the rest of the flock.
In the dark of the evening, we though we’d lost 4 of the 10. This morning, though, we awoke to Biggie crowing at the sunrise under our back deck. When Aaron went outside to check on the crew, Biggie saw him and immediately sprinted to safety.
Reunited with the flock, he also found two of the others that we thought were gone. Ultimately, we only lost Betty – which is a truly shocking result. In all our research, when a possum makes it into the coop, there are very rarely survivors.
Today, we’ll be checking the coop for any needed reinforcements, cleaning, adding new bedding and making things comfortable again in hopes that the flock will keep roosting there. They were all hesitant to return last night – however the coop continues to be the most secure home we have for them on the farm. Roosting in the barns would leave them more exposed to danger including possums, raccoons, bobcats, coyotes, owls and more.
A few are missing feathers. One has a couple of scratches. Generally, everyone is moving, eating and flocking together. All things considered with a predator involved – we’re very lucky to be able to count our chickens today.