Are neighborhood cats ever a problem with chickens?

[mikecnorthwest]

I just finished my coop and put the girls out a few days ago. They are 6 weeks old. The coop is completely enclosed by 1/2 hardware cloth. Today I noticed a neighborhood cat sitting on top of the fence eyeing the chickens. That was in the morning and he was back in the afternoon. I seem to remember reading that generally cats are not an issue to worry about. Is that true? We live in the suburbs so there are plenty of house cats strolling around the neighborhood. Check my BYC page so you can see my setup.

 

[CritterBazaar]

Sounds like you have a good setup so should not need to worry. My cats love to sit on top of my cages and they mingle with the free range birds. Even had one have her kittens with the Turkey and her nest. Today the turkey baby (just hatched) was wondering with the cats. I took it in just so it did not accidently get played with. The only thing that could be a problem is that your birds could be scared if they have never seen a big furry chicken before

 

[thechickenchick]

We have barn cats all over the place. Our run is not covered and the cats are in and out of there all the time. We even have 1 that "lives" in the coop. When I go out to close them up for the night Forrest runs in and jumps in to his nesting box! In the morning he runs out with the chickens. Once in a while they let him know they don't want to share their treats. So at my house, the chickens are the boss!!

 

[Imp]

Nice set up. Cats can be dangerous to chicks, and some people have had problems with adult chickens. The cats in my neighborhood and yard are absolutely cowed by the chickens. I have to feed them seperately or the cats will go hungry.

Imp- In the winter the cats sleep in the coop during the day for the warmth.

 

[joletabey]

My cat, Black Julian, is fearless in the face of Jack Russells, cats bigger than him, and the horses. He ran like a scared rabbit when one of the neighbor's hens flew at him and chased him around and under the shed this morning. . . .a couple of good pecks probably have taught him respect!

 

[Swamp Roo]

Can cats be a problem? In a word: YES
I will give'em a chance, but if they even look at the chickens funny, SSS. I won't loose any more chickens to cats if I can help it. Make sure the cats can't reach through the wire, they love to stick their paws in and "fish" for chicken heads. They will eat what they can pull though and then fish for the next one. Chickens are both stupid and curious, not a good combination.

Swamp

 

[Attack Chicken]

If a cat comes into our yard it's going to have a big ol' roo after it's tail. We haven't seen a cat in our yard for months.

 

[92caddy]

My barn cats dont bother my birds/chicks, but the neighbors cats did, they are not a problem anymore, thats all Im going to say about them.....................

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

A hungry momma cat shows no more mercy than a skunk though.

Also, I heard that you shouldn't let your rabbit have nose to nose contact with cats because of pasturella, can cats pass pasturella on to chickens too?

 

[OrpingtonManor]

I wouldn't trust a cat with young chickies.

I put my girls in their coop when they were about 2 months old. Shortly after that, I looked out the window to see the neighbor's black cat with both front feet through an opening in the coop eaves. I don't think it could have gotten in, but it ran when I went out there. I closed up those eaves that very day.

Now that they are full grown, the cats don't even come in the yard. My hens will chase down cats, squirrels, even fawns. I wouldn't trust a dog with them, though.