Cat vs chicken?

[flying_babyb]

So does anyone have advice about getting my 5 cats to leave the darn chickens alone? Our brooder is up on a table (for saftey) and they sit on the table and watch them. The chickens seem ticked about it. Will it hurt the chicks if the cats are watching them? None of my cats will hurt them, or can get close enough to hurt them (these are cats who play nice with my hamster). Also is it bad for the chicks if my elderly cat (15 years old) sleeps on top the brooder? She likes the heat and the chicks dont seem to care, they will sleep with her up there, and they dont peep madly like they do with the other cats. I guess Im just worried about my babies, Im just a overprotective hen momma!

 

[OkChickens]

I would make sure the cats can't get to the chicks. I know that my cat lost to 5 barred rocks and she lost pretty bad! She isn't to fond of chickens now. I just started free ranging on my 2 acres and my cat got curious.

Nate

 

[claudicles]

I have my brooder in a room I can close the door on but my two 7 month old kittens spend a fair amount of time sitting on top of it. It is a large dog crate. No one seems too troubled and the kittens get bored eventually. My 13 yo cat doesn't seem interested. My 3 labradors are a different story. They love all fluffy things and are pretty excited to have chicks to watch. I guess I figure it is best for everyone to get used to each other and I can close the door if I need to.

 

[harvster]

Our cat is afraid of our week old chicks.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

Better safe than sorry. Make sure the brooder is cat-proof. Letting them watch is OK, the chicks will get used to them being there.

 

[Jerseyjack]

I was a bit concerned about my cat too, up until about a week and a half ago. I started taking the cat and dog to the brooder area (taking turns) whenever I would check up on them. At first there was a lot of curiosity from the 100+ lb. Choc lab, but the cat was more afraid of the chicks than they were of him.

Now, the dog could care less, the cat is curious, but that's it. When I do my chick routine, I remove the wire top covering the brooder, and the chicks fly up and line up on the brim (at least 3-4 of them). They are just about 3 weeks old, but know me pretty well. They like to be picked up and petted, they sit there perching on the rim of the brooder and the cat will go up and sniff them, the chicks just sit there face to face with the cat, no fear!

The cat stands up on his back legs and pets the chicks with his paws, never rough and never uses his claws, it's funny and relaxing to just sit there and watch. The chicks aren't stressed whatsoever though, quite the opposite really.

 

[Amy Chickie]

I let my cats watch my chicks so they could get used to each other, but I always made sure the chicks were safe. I kept their brooding box inside the guest room bath tub so they could be completely closed off from the cats when we weren't there to supervise. We finally introduced the cats to the chicks when we felt the chicks were big enough to not be tempting for the cats, and when we felt we had successfully taught our cats to be "calm submissive" (to use Cesar Millan's term about dogs) around the chickens. The cats sometimes nap inside the hen house, but the cats are clearly ruled by the chickens! I took this picture when I opened up the back door of our chicken tractor's henhouse and woke up our cat, Sparkie. Our chicken, Francine, didn't quite know what to make of this?