Will cats kill Chickens?

[nina1marc2]

I have stray cats that try to attack my 4 hens. I run it off at least once a week. It scares the girls and they are so loud when it shows up. I send my dog out and it will run it off, but does anyone have ideas how to make this cat stop coming in my yard?

 

[UlmerChickens]

Our neighborhood has a lot of stray cats,
And we are asking that same questions.
We have pretty large Buff Orphintons.

 

[UlmerChickens]

Can anybody name some things that will scare the cats away immediately?

 

[TalkALittle]

Can anybody name some things that will scare the cats away immediately?

A really big dog.

 

[leliel]

Looking over this thread, and seeing what happens with the flock at home, it seems like there are 4 main factors.

• Number of birds. A big flock will scare off most cats.
• Agressiveness of birds. A big agressive bird is more fight than most cats want to deal with.
• Desperation of cat.
• Agressiveness of the cat.

All in all.. not very controllable, so probably better to keep the cats well away from the flock.

Where I am, feral cats are fairly rare, and with about 100 birds in the flock, including some huge roos, they're pretty safe from all but the most cussed and desperate cats.

 

[lunafox]

Cats will DEFINITELY kill chickens. Any cat let outside is a killer of birds, rodents, lizards, etc. We have lost numerous free range chickens, including full grown hens, young roosters, and guineas, to feral cats!

 

[jborum]

I have five cats and 11 small chicks. I have raised chicks for 3 years and my cats have never payed any attention to the chicks. They are free range and run around the yard with the birds and other small animals. My cats are all killers and hunters. Even more so when they are with the chicks but seem to be more protectors than hunters when it comes to the chicks.

 

[mclanea]

We've got 2 dogs and a cat. This will be interesting.

 

[anne23]

Our strays are too scared of the chickens. One of them that is more of an outdoor kitty will come near only because I am there but she will run away if the chickens show interest in her. She gives them a wide zone.

 

[Billy Hill]

Cats will DEFINITELY kill chickens. Any cat let outside is a killer of birds, rodents, lizards, etc.

I've got 4 hens, 3 cats and a dog. The dog is easy to train to leave hens alone. The cats are outdoor cats and take down rodents up to the size of full grown rabbits. They've never attacked our hens. They're afraid of the hens, especially the leghorn with attitude (and it's the smallest of the flock).

The biggest threat I think we have here is hawks. But we've got way more black crows than hawks and the hawks do NOT get along with crows. The crows will chase them off every time. And the crows share the yard with the hens. It's a win/win.