barn cats???

[CluckyJay]

They probably feed the cats too much. If I feed mine they lay around and only catch a few pests. Take the food away and they kill everything from rabbits to voles to squirrels. Mine even go after possums and raccoons, lol.

 

[DianeS]

There are a LOT of stray cats in my area. And none of them ever bothered my chickens (though I had full-size ones, not bantams). One cat was brave enough to try to snatch meat-based foods from right in front of the chickens, but all others stayed at least a couple feet away from the hens. No issues at all, and after a couple weeks I stopped worrying about it.

I do bet the stray cats are the reason there are no mice around here!

 

[mohillbilly]

cats wont bother full grown chickens or full grown bantam chickens but baby chicks is another story they will eat every one they can catch...

If you want to take a drive I am in southeast MO and i will give you all the cats you would ever want

 

[silkiechicken]

The farm cats haven't bothered any adults or chicks at my place on over a decade of birds so I do not worry about it.

As far as rodent control, ever since we adopted a feral cat colony, not a single mouse has been found in the house. Used to be at least a few times a year. That said, keeping feed only in the coop kept rodents away.

 

[dlynne1123]

I have 6 LG and 2 bantams. I can say visually speaking, they look just as big as the others right now with all their fluff! And our female barn cat has not harmed the chickens as of yet. She occaisonally seems interested but she seems to respect them! She was an 'EX' feral that was spayed and adopted out thru a program we have here. Practically wild. Wish she would kill our squirrels! She gets mice all the time, but no birds. We must have a busy enough population for her to keep busy!

 

[DinosRBirds]

jeez... now you guys are making me consider sneaking one of those free kittens in town into my barn......

 

[chigger bait]

Some barn cats are good and some are not so good.

Some are there just to suck eggs and eat chicks.

Those have to go before the judgement throne for their sins.

 

[cjhixon]

My Chickens have never had an issue with the cats. The cats always yield to the full grown chickens; here Penny wanted some of the cats food. My cats kill birds, lizards, mice, voles, gophers, rats but never a chicken. My cats enjoy watching the chickens. I was worried about my silkies but at 3 months I rolled the dice and the cats never bothered them. I'm sure they would kill a chick faster than you could catch them. We have three large cats, the picture is fairly old and that's the youngest cat.