Chicken Wars: Jere Versus the Opossum

It was a terrible night in the chicken yard, but Jere is a hero. He leaped out of bed at about 1:30 saying that the hens were upset and making a lot of noise. He jumped into his clothes and ran downstairs, and after he didn't come back right away, I followed him. I opened the gate and found him locked in mortal combat with a 20-pound opossum. I am confirmed in my view that they are vile creatures. The opossum had killed my sweet TED, The Empress Dowager, Jere said, and he was not in a catch-and-release mood with the opossum. We are very sad to lose TED and are now convinced that an opossum must have also killed Tina. It was dark, I couldn't see, and Jere didn't want to make me suffer through a graphic description of the carnage, but I gather that the evil creature went up into the roosting area of the coop and cornered all of the chickens, grabbing TED in a kind of coop invasion. Jere says Craig Maxwell's hockey stick came in handy, as Jere's usual animal control tool, the lacrosse stick, is a better implement for live flinging than for exacting justice for The Empress Dowager.

Della Wager Wells

November 16, 2012 Buckhead, GA