The Nocturnal Mr. O.

It seems like every year when the weather in South Georgia turns frosty my chickens and I can count on a nocturnal visitor. Equipped with a pouch instead of a sack, I am not talking about Santa, a certain Mr. or Mrs. O. Possum (colloquially called a possum) makes an appearance looking for fresh eggs, dropped dog kibble, or just a warm porch to hang out on, your guess is as good as mine. I figure the pickings are as good in my yard as any because if a possum can’t find any of the aforementioned comforts there are plenty of things including scattered pecked over chicken feed, fresh water, and any number of insects and grubs just waiting to be part of a tasty possum treat. The porch was warm enough to invite two hens to take up roost for the night on my husband’s old desk, a fixture on the porch since our house fire a few years ago. I wondered if chickens dream when they are asleep because although those two went to sleep on the porch, they woke up the next morning back in the coop with the rest of the flock. That’s one of the good things about having chickens. They are hard to catch when they are awake but easily moved about once they fall asleep. I know I digress but as far as I know they never even saw our nocturnal visitor, Mr. O. Possum.

In the past I've been able to run off a possum from the front porch by pouring a pot of water on him and the banging loudly on the pot with a wooden spoon. Of course he only ambled as far away as the culvert that runs under the road at the corner of our front yard so I had to take up all night cat food snacks to further discourage his return. My grandkids saw a possum sleeping in a Leyland Cyprus in our side yard once but the tree didn't survive our house fire and the grandkids aggravated that possum into leaving long before that. Those sightings had the distinct advantage of not being anywhere near my chickens. My girls have managed to kill a couple of snakes, glass lizards, and a rat but a possum is another animal all together.

Possums are the only non-primate mammal with opposable thumbs. Theirs are on their back feet and useful mostly for tree climbing so you are not likely to see a possum opening a pickle jar with its hind feet and prehensile tail. Possums do have more teeth than any other mammal and instead of playing possum when our dog, Fred, cornered Mr. O. on our back porch he gave us a good view of all of them. I tried throwing water at him but all he got was wet and, dare I say, madder than a wet hen! A lot of growling and hissing ensued until I was able to get a leash on Fred and drag him back in the house. With the aid of a broom, Mr. O was persuaded to amble off into the darkness. Knowing he’d be hanging around (high in the pine trees in my back yard during the day) made me realize that Mr. O. would have to be trapped and relocated far from my chickens because after all my backyard is what a possum lawyer (and my husband) would call an attractive nuisance, especially attractive to possums on chilly South Georgia nights.

Enticed by the scent of cat food Mr. O. Possum walked into the trap the very next night under the watchful eye of our cat, Sherbie (short for Orange Sherbet) from his perch on the fence. It was too dark to be sure but I figure old Sherb’s tail was swishing back and forth like a clock cat’s tail as he watched confused marsupial try to find an escape. When my granddaughter, Julie, saw the possum (in the trap) going out the door the next day to be transported for relocation, she gushed about how cute he was and asked, “Can we keep him?”

I replied, “No, but you never know when we’ll get visit from another friend or relative of the nocturnal Mr. O.”