Cats!!!

[jay1995]

I live in residential neighborhood, where no farm animals are aloud. Well we have had chickens here for about five years and people love walking by hearing my roosters crow. But now my neighbor has like a hundred cats walking all around my yard trying to get into my coop. I can't call and complain because the lady who is the superviser for the neighborhood always has a stick up her butt. Always rude to people who have any kind of animals. Luckily she doesn't actually live in the development, so she can't get in. The cats have killed a few of my chicks that were in a garage that was open for a minute. They have also killed one of my roosters. Well we kindd of got a little payback by our Husky " getting off" his lead line and taking care of one of the cats that bothered me. But now they have adopted more from the humane society (which is luckily closed now). Hopefully no more cats will be brought to that house. But I have now resulted to shooting at them with an air soft gun, just to sting them and hopefully keep them away. After all of the attempts to throw stuff at them to keep them away didn't work.

 

[citrusdreams]

How many roosters do you have in that flock? If it'd be me, I'd let the roosters out on those cats

Most cats don't bother full sized chickens, but of course, I can't say those cats won't bother your chickens.

I'd also trap them and bring them to AC. They don't need to be on your property, regardless of the presence of chickens, IMOHO. I know there are varying opinions on the matter, but I'll state mine again: If I can keep all my animals contained, so can everyone else.

Can you get a dog? that'll keep out the cats for sure.

 

[Vanessabuffsnsilkies]

That's interesting...we have a stray who keeps sleazing around my chickens and my garage where the chicks are

my husband just came in and said he ran it off AGAIN. It was out there last weekend and I let my dog out and it took off. I was thinking more along the lines of my 22. No, I'll just get the live trap out and catch the darn thing then figure out what to do with it.

My 2 cats don't bother the chickens! It's this darn stray...

 

[thoughtsbysabian]

Well I can tell you something that I have done ( Well I guess I am still doing lol) Similar to your story I have a neighbor that has 100's of cats. So instead of taking them out with the .22 I decided to get a $ 10.00 sling shot from Walmart. At close range it WILL kill them, but from a distance, you are just going to give them a little welt. It has been keeping "most" of those cats at bay. Hope this helps.

 

[ranchhand]

How about protecting your chickens, so the cats can't get to them? Fenced runs and secure coops are wonderful.

That way, if your husky gets loose again he can't get your chickens either.

Since you are in violation of the law and/or neighborhood covenants, I would suggest not doing anything to draw attention to yourself and your chickens. Which includes not killing the neighbor's cats.

 

[Wifezilla]

Have a heart traps and a trip to the pound will take care of things.

 

[HLAC]

I used hidden mouse and rat snap traps to discourage neighborhood cats from going where they weren't wanted. Works great, the cats get the message quickly and you don't have to worry about upsetting the neighbor because you killed their cats.

 

[jerseygirl1]

This is confusing.........you say 'The neighbors sometimes pay me to come over and feed and water their cat. Im about ready to say "No sir I don't know how that rat posion got in there" Hopefully the air soft guns little pellets will keep the little things away. If not they are getting picked up and say '
So............you have never mentioned this to the same people that you are catsitting for?
Are these the same people - they are paying you to watch their pets, and also their pets are killing your chickens? Have you said anything? But, you are going to resort to other tactics and still cat-sit for them? I find this very odd.

 

[citrusdreams]

Quote:
Yeah, well since she's in violation of her ordinance, I didn't recommend the handy dandy 22, but that's how I got rid of a recent feline chick-eater. It's a shame, she was a pretty little thing too

I really wish her owners would have contained her but I can't have her eating my own

I probably wouldn't have bothered if I didn't have the chicks around, but unfortunately, having chicks tends to attract some predators that are less of a threat to adult chickens. Fortunately, I seldom mess with chicks.

 

[poultrypatch]

Have a young neighbor women..married...that for some reason had 26 miserable cats. This was about 8 years ago. I watched them hop my 4' chainlink fence, dig up my flower beds...finally destroying whatever was planted there. Final straw came when it cost me $126.00 for my vet to load 5 syringes with Ivermectin for me to worm MY DOGS and rid them of all the round and tape worm they had gotten from those cats using my yard for their litter box. Not to mention that when they were finally done I had no flower beds left that I had worked on for years. I went to local grain store and bought a Havahart trap and put it out in yard near my fish pool that had Koi in it..that was fascinating them. I caught cats daily....and it being the beginning of Summer they all took turns on the little bus to summer camp. Call the AC ?? Don't think so ! Nothing would be done. Besides, in this little town the AC has told me to just shoot them. I thought Summer camp was better. I live by one rule....if you own it, love it, and want it....KEEP IT IN YOUR YARD. That's what I do ! Most places you're only allowed to have 4 cats...no more. I don't mind cats...just NOT in MY yard.
Liz
Rochester, MA