Answer: To get away from the Possum.
Opossums commonly called the possum are about the size of a fat cat. Usually they are greyish in color and have small black ears and a pointed pink snout. They are a nocturnal creature and you very seldom see them during the daylight hours.
If you keep chickens on your farm, possums are your enemy. Although they don't look very dangerous and generally don't move very fast, they will kill your chickens.
So what do you do? Well, there is actually a opossum hunting window in North Carolina. You can check the North Carolina website for dates. http://www.ncwildlife.org
If you can't bring yourself to shoot them, try a live trap. I have know people who have great success with these.
Be sure that your chickens are in a secure structure with a door or hatch that closes at night and make time to go out and close it before dark. Try not to let your chickens out before daylight. I know this isn't always feasible so we have installed motion lights around the chicken pen to scare off potential predators. We also have a large penned area which the chickens gather up in toward evening waiting to go up and after their nightly snack, I close them up in this area until they go up to roost. A possum could get in by climbing over the wire fence, but the rooster would pitch such a fit that I would probably hear the ruckus. I don't know if you have a rooster, but we keep one to watch over the chickens. He's the best watchdog we ever had.
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