PRACTICAL PARSIMONY: Killer Possum

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Killer Possum

The hens are recovering nicely from their trauma of losing Patsy Cline. They each gave me one egg today. For that I am happy.

As for me, my temperature is higher. I slept fitfully last night, up and down, on the computer. I think I went to bed for the final time around 5 am, not sure. But, I slept until 4:45. I had not fed the hens, so I gave them extra rations and left the pen open.

Last night, another nightmare started, so I jerked, awoke, and got out of bed for a bit. NO MORE of that!

I think it was a possum that killed Patsy Cline because of the head that was missing. Have you heard this? When a raccoon got a hen, the head was intact, just the chest ripped open. A few weeks ago, there was a possum crossing the street to my yard, so I know there is a possum about.

Maybe I will eat raspberries and milk again. They were from last week, but still good. I am surprised.

Your turn
Do possums bite the heads off of chickens?

8 comments:

Jason and MichelleMarch 14, 2015 at 8:05 PM
I've heard that possums will go after chickens. I don't know about biting their heads. I'm sorry about Patsy Cline though.
Nightmares are horrible.
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PattiMarch 14, 2015 at 11:48 PM
Possums will go after chickens. One tunneled under my coop, but my old lady chicken heard it and started to scream, which brought the dog and I out to the rescue before anyone was hurt.
We got the chickens out of the coop and into cat carriers and I spent the next hour trying to get the possum out of the coop, but the dog wouldn't let it out. It was crazy. The next day I bought a trap, but it must've been as upset as I was because it never came back.
I couldn't shoot it, as that would bring the police for sure. Sheesh.
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PhilipHMarch 15, 2015 at 6:57 AM
Never knew anything about Possums. Dame Edna Everidge aka Barry Humphreys, aka Sir Les Patterson - an Aussie comedian - who used to call his audience 'My lovely Possums'.
However, just having Googled it I now know that this animal is a bloody PEST, and looks quite nasty from what I can see.
Hope things improve rapidly for you and yours.
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SnowbrushMarch 15, 2015 at 11:30 AM
I guess you've ruled dogs out.
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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.

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The Cast

Fancy is my favorite hen. She is one of the three youngest hens I adopted. Because she is so gentle and friendly, she may be the one I rescued when she was being pecked to death after she could no longer stand. She got to live in the house in a box. Sometimes, I let her sit in my lap while she was convalescing. Now, she comes to sit in the swing with me, cuddling up to my body like a cat or dog. She died in February 2012.

Fancy follows me begging, complaining, needing me to do for her. She talks to me in various voices. She allows me to pick her up and carry her. When she became an adult, her head was a darker red and her body was light brown. Around her neck were tips of black feathers. It appeared she had a necklace of jet around her neck. When I showed this characteristic to a friend, he said, "Oh, you have fancy chickens and plain chickens."

Chessie has a broken toe. I broke it! She had a habit of jumping really high and almost sticking. A raccoon ate her in October 2009.

Thelma is the blonde. She is also the largest hen and the alpha hen. I suspect the gigantic eggs are from her. She often squats and presents herself to me. She is top hen, but I suspect she knows she had better be deferent to top feeder of the flock--me.

Louise is the auburn-feathered hen. She looks like the true Rhode Island Reds in pictures. She is almost as large as Thelma. Some days I suspect she is trying to be top chicken. When I got Pepper, I found out Louise is the Alpha hen.

Pepper came here from the same home as the first four. We were discussing putting red pepper on their food, wondering if it really would increase egg production. Pepper is the only name we agreed on. She is terrorized each day by Louise. Even after the worst was over, she was and is still filled with terror and very wary.

Linda is owned by four hens. They allow her to fetch for them. She loves them dearly, so she allows them to boss her around. Linda comes out in the rain to perform chores for them and make sure they have food and water. She begs scraps from all sorts of places to make sure they have fresh fruits and vegetables.

Parsimony is not a vegetable

Parsimony is extreme care in spending money. Stick around and learn about my random thoughts on accomplishing goals economically--dumpster diving aka safari, gleaning, do-it-yourself, sewing tips, recipes, and whatever is happening in my life.

Okay so maybe "parsimony" is not your thing. How about thrift, frugality or just plain saving money? I try not to go the tightwad route as that seems to imply others will suffer from my habits.

Some of my not-spending habits have very much been a part of my lifelong habits. Other habits are newly acquired and are an extension of my lifelong not-spending habits.

I am very imaginative when it comes to substituting or making instead of buying. I will tell you about making a heater for the chickens' water. Not one dime was spent since I had everything I needed right in my basement.

Practicality must rear its head alongside parsimony. For example, I will use the dryer in bad weather or because of allergies in the spring. But, I will not wash clothes in a tub as long as I have a washing machine or can find one.

You may hear more about my four Rhode Island Red hens than you care to hear. They lay delicious brown eggs.

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Saturday, March 14, 2015

Killer Possum

8 comments: