Didelphimorphia or 50 Pretty Good Reasons Why the Chickens Were Acting Freaky

Apparently, the girls had an uninvited night visitor.  I got up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym yesterday , glanced out the kitchen window and saw the coop door wide open, the orange light of the heating lamp staining the snow. I was mightily confused because the door had been shut and latched when I went to bed the night before.  When I was growing up, we had a Japanese Silkie named Floyd, stolen (and murdered) by the neighbor's grandson. So, I was on high alert that this was also juvenile shenanigans at work.  Of  course, the time had just "sprung forward" so it was once again dark at that hour.  I could make out the silhouette of Sadie down on the snow by the fence and Jane was in the path by the compost. They were both afraid to come to me but eventually came around and I herded them in to the coop.  The only sign of any struggle was an overturned water dish. Bertha, the smallest, was not in sight.   We'd had a dusting of snow. There were large chicken prints and then smaller, almost cat-like tracks.  These had one toe that was at 90 degrees to the "pad" and landed in pairs that weren't quite pairs.  Opossum where art tho?!

Exhibit A

 At that point I was thinking the possum had gone into the coop to  look for eggs and to scavenge all the crumbs of the kitchen scraps the chickens don't eat.  I was concerned that Bertha had jumped the fence and was in a neighbors yard and we'd be posting " Lost Chicken" photos around the 'hood to bring her home.  When I got back from the gym, the sun was coming up and Bertha was hot footing it across the snow to the coop.  Whew!

Then I started reading up on Didelphimorphia. Apparently, they have an appetite for eggs and the chickens from whence they come!  They possess 50  sharp, dagger like teeth and When threatened, opossums run, growl, belch, urinate and defecate. And when all else fails, they “play ‘possum" and act as if they are dead. It is an involuntary response (like fainting) rather than a conscious act. They roll over, become stiff, close their eyes (or stare off into space) and bare their teeth as saliva foams around the mouth and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from glands. The catatonic state can last for up to four hours, and has proven effective as a deterrent to predators looking for a hot meal.  Mother Nature Network
Lovely.  No wonder the chickens were acting, well, chicken, after their encounter.

http://www.bobinoz.com/blog/4013/possums-and-opossums-australia-and-america-all-explained/

Trivia Fun:  Male opossums are called jacks and females are called jills. The young are referred to as joeys, just like their Australian cousins (Kangaroos), and a group of opossums is called a passel.