Any tips for keeping cat out of nesting box?

stearnj

In the Brooder
Dec 11, 2016
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One of my cats thinks curling up for an afternoon snooze in the nesting box is the best thing. Trouble is - when my hens want to lay their area is occupied. I have a small open dog kennel and have put straw in there so the chooks have an alternative if the nesting box is cat occupied. If I catch the cat in there a squirt with the water pistol sees her running - but on warm summer days she just goes back to her favourite spot ...
 
what i would do is keep the cat out of the coop. make a bed for the cat so it has some where else to sleep and maybe if you do make a new house train the cat to know that this is where you sleep. (by giving it treats and pets in the new bed) Hope this helped
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Yes ... cat has a bed ... but it is in the house and nowhere near the chicken coop. She just loves that nesting box spot!!
 
A good rooster will keep her out, that is if you can have roosters.

My rooster helped me train my dog not to bother the hens. (I obviously had to train and treat appropriately, but I could always tell when the dog was wandering too close to the flock). Ol Barney has no hesitation at taking out after my small dog after the dog chased a hen or two.

Never keep a rooster if it is human aggressive however.

LofMc
 
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Maybe put some straw in your cat's bed and show it to her. Maybe she just wants straw to lay on. If that doesn't work I agree to get a rooster or guinea fowl. We have a pair of guineas. A neighbor's cat got into our chicken run. When our guineas saw it they charged at it and set off an alarm. They never hurt the cat they just scared it half to death. It hasn't been back.
 
Can you add another nesting box or two? That way the chickens always have an open box regardless of where the cat is!
Agrees, this^^^ might be a good solution.

If it's even a problem that the cat is sleeping there.
How many birds and how many nests do you have?
Are the birds laying elsewhere....do they really want the 'cat nest'??

A 'coop cat' that doesn't hurt chickens might not a bad thing to have, can keep rodents down.
 

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