Turner_Family_Flock
Chirping
- May 16, 2020
- 39
- 88
- 67
Yesterday when we were outside checking on the chickens, my sister noticed something unusual. Outside the coop in a patch of mud (Created thanks to our chickens pecking that area clean of grass) there were little cat paw prints.
A cat had been outside of our coop the night before.
No chickens were missing, no signs of digging to get into the coop, no injuries- and for that matter, we didn't hear anything (our pitbull is VERY protective of the yard, she would've heard it first if there was a cat attacking the chickens)
What we believe happened was that a cat tried to get to the coop while the chickens were sleeping- and our predator light went off and scared it away.
Is a predator light enough to scare off cats from further attacks? We live in a city with MANY stray and/or outdoor cats (If you walk along the street you'll see between 5 and 10 outside at any given time), and one of them has clearly figured out we had poultry in our yard.
We're already concerned enough thanks to a recent hawk that came a bit too close to the yard for comfort.
We're first-time chicken farmers and our first flock is about 7 weeks old. We've had no casualties or brushes with illness or death thus far, no injuries to speak of. But we've been noticing signs of predators keeping an eye on our feathery friends, and we're not sure the motion-sensor light will be enough to scare off a hawk or a small pack of wild cats that climb through the blackberry bushes on the side of the house.
Is there any simple precautions we can take when building our new run (we plan to build a run for them within the next few days) to prevent predators from coming in for an attack? The last thing we want for our girls is for them to end up becoming a five-piece McNugget meal
A cat had been outside of our coop the night before.
No chickens were missing, no signs of digging to get into the coop, no injuries- and for that matter, we didn't hear anything (our pitbull is VERY protective of the yard, she would've heard it first if there was a cat attacking the chickens)
What we believe happened was that a cat tried to get to the coop while the chickens were sleeping- and our predator light went off and scared it away.
Is a predator light enough to scare off cats from further attacks? We live in a city with MANY stray and/or outdoor cats (If you walk along the street you'll see between 5 and 10 outside at any given time), and one of them has clearly figured out we had poultry in our yard.
We're already concerned enough thanks to a recent hawk that came a bit too close to the yard for comfort.
We're first-time chicken farmers and our first flock is about 7 weeks old. We've had no casualties or brushes with illness or death thus far, no injuries to speak of. But we've been noticing signs of predators keeping an eye on our feathery friends, and we're not sure the motion-sensor light will be enough to scare off a hawk or a small pack of wild cats that climb through the blackberry bushes on the side of the house.
Is there any simple precautions we can take when building our new run (we plan to build a run for them within the next few days) to prevent predators from coming in for an attack? The last thing we want for our girls is for them to end up becoming a five-piece McNugget meal