Can cats kill my chickens

[Danny1234]

Recently my pullets and cockerels have been growing quite a lot (10 weeks) and I am thinking of leaving them out of the run by themselves. We don't get any predators about just some house-cats who will occasionally try and eat them but we have 2 cockerels and 2 pullets. Would the cockerels be able to defend themselves and the pullets from the cats? They also never come when they are supervised.

 

[TheReadyBoys]

It depends on how big they are, but they should be able to.

 

[CherishHolland]

My flock is about 6-7 months old and I still do not trust my daughter's cats around them,even with 4 roosters in the main flock. I have watched my DD's cats hunt in pairs and have seen them attempt to take down a hawk,almost succeeded if they didn't get distracted by the dog. I would wait until the roosters are a few weeks older and have some more size on them before putting your trust in them,at 10 weeks they are still small and a house cat could easily overpower them. Another thing you could supervise them and pay attention to how the roos act.

 

[Majd]

The cats here are mostly feral and they only try to eat chickens when they are smaller than 4 weeks.... over 4 weeks they don't try to kill them at all even with no mom around.... at 10 weeks they can eat the cats lol.....actually all my chickens are not even bothered from cats... but the even chase them off and steal food from them lol... I always get surprised when someone says that a cat tries to eat young chickens...... no offense but noone bothers our chicks when they feather out a bit... our casual concerns are dogs fuerets badgers rats(on chicks) and weasels.... humans sometimes lol...

 

[Bullitt]

The cats here are mostly feral and they only try to eat chickens when they are smaller than 4 weeks.... over 4 weeks they don't try to kill them at all even with no mom around.... at 10 weeks they can eat the cats lol.....actually all my chickens are not even bothered from cats... but the even chase them off and steal food from them lol... I always get surprised when someone says that a cat tries to eat young chickens...... no offense but noone bothers our chicks when they feather out a bit... our casual concerns are dogs fuerets badgers rats(on chicks) and weasels.... humans sometimes lol...

You must have small cats in your area.

House cats can be 5 pounds to 20 pounds. A 10-pund cat can easily kill chickens that weigh less than 5 pounds.

Maybe you have larger chickens that protect the smaller chickens. It's always good to have a rooster for protection.

 

[Majd]

We always have a rooster in the flock no matter what.... but no we have huge cats.... I see them hunting mice rats lizards and birds and often little chicks..

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Your little roos will run if a cat gets after them. Any chicken is a buffet for a cat until it's at least fully feathered or nearly full grown.
I recently lost 15 chickens between 3 days old and 3 months old to a stinkin cat.

 

[OllyOwl]

I'm sure untamed wild cats will hunt your chickens if they don't have a constant food source.

We have barn 3 cats. One is about 1.5 years old, but he's not feral and is really sweet, and he's an intact male. Never bothers the chickens or ducks, and they are used to him cause they don't run away when he prowls around.
The other 2 are kittens about 6 months old and growing fast. They weren't as tame and are still leery of people, but they are getting used to people.
They don't bother the chickens either.

They do hunt mice and whatever else they can catch, but we also feed them everyday, so they never get that hungry.

All 3 live in the barn.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I thought it was neat the way my chickens & cats mingled together. Even though the cats regularly dined on crows, mocking birds and blue jays the same size as my young chickens......
The cat that killed my 15 birds was 1 of my own barn cats who have a never empty feed bowl in the barn. A free ranging cat is the same as a feral cat, not the same as a spayed/neutered sissy house cat you see on YouTube walking around with the family parakeet perched on it's back. I made 2 irresponsible mistakes:
1 I thought my cats were cool with my chickens.
2 I failed to provide my chickens with safe & secure pens.
I learned 2 things:
1 If I want to keep my chickens alive I provide safe & secure pens.
2 Until such time as the wolf shall dwell with the lamb NEVER trust any cat around bittys & young chickens.

 

[Danny1234]

Thanks for all the replies! These cats are quite domesticated and don't really visit any more. I even showed one of my roos to one of the cats about 10 metres away and it didn't even bother standing up. I'll wait till they're full grown