Well this morning about 3:45am I was out on the back porch enjoying my first cup of coffee. Then I heard some chicken wings flapping and a chicken make a startled sound. So I ran back into the house and got my shotgun and mega flashlight and jogged down there in my flip flops shining the flash light toward the chicken as I went. I saw some additional eyes. I ended up shooting a young possum, not tiny, just young. I don't have a clue how it was getting through the 2"x4" dog wire.
It was too late, he/she had done busted the last egg. After that mama hen called it quits on trying to raise a brood. When I got home this afternoon she was walking around in her little cage. I could tell she wanted out so I opened the door. She went straight to the grass and started eating it. Then she took a good ol dust bath. Tonight she voluntarily went in the main chicken house. I'll give her another day. If she don't start sitting on the nests in the chicken house I'm separating the hens and the roosters. The roosters have "bare backed" the hens. 26 hens and 4 roosters plus chicks. Winter's a coming. My jr herd sire is growing his winter coat back out quickly. In the spring you'd swear we used clippers on him.
