Cats and chickens?

[Mthenmom]

We too have chickens and cats. Never a problem. One tomcat of mine sleeps in the henhouse with the hens and at times has been closed in overnite!! From what Ive heard, chickens will chase and squak after a cat if it feels threatened.

 

[MamaG]

I have 4 chickens and 3 cats, and the Chickens "rule the roost". Roxanne will run across the yard to chase my 20 lb hybrid wild cat. No doubt about it. The chickens have control of the back yard.

 

[rooster-red]

I have 2 outside cats that catch wildlife all the time, and they never bother the chickens, they even walk into the run and laze around. My chickens don't bother the cats either, they've just naturally gotten along.

My chickens and cats did not grow up together.

 

[dbjay417]

When I moved here a month and a half ago, there were three stray cats on the property. All of them were full grown. About one month ago we bought 11 turkens (no chicks), and even the pullets and cockerals will run off the one cat that even goes near them.

About three weeks ago now we got five chicks of unknown breed, just to try my hand at raising chicks. The older cats don't pay any mind at all to the chicks, and the kitten that arrived randomly last thursday morning swats them with his paws when they wander too close to him, but he doesnt scratch, and he certainly doesn't kill.

I've seen these cats rip wild birds apart, but they leave the chickens alone. I keep the cats well fed though, and since they've spent most of their lives on their own, they are grateful for a free meal.

I'd supervise interactions between the cat and chickens/chicks for a week or two, and if nothing happens, your probably cool.

I've got a thing about making my animals get along, I plan out exersizes and therapies and so on in order to make everyone familiar and friendly toward one another. I wont tolerate killers.

 

[barbara4rb]

The 1 acre property I bought last October, 2006, came complete with alot of free range chickens and several semi-feral cats. The owner had died in April and the critters were all on their own until late May. I know that the cats were he** on the baby chicks.

All summer, we fed everyone, but when the chickens would hatch out babies, the babies would dissappear, a few at a time. It'd take several days. Very discouraging for me, the new-chicken-owner.

Even late this summer, when the cats were being fed daily, we had a black hen show up with 5 babies. Didn't take a week to lose them all--babies, that is, Momma was fine. (This was before I found this website!)

Now, I'm ready with nest boxes and hoop coops to protect the hens and chicks this coming summer.

Also, the four cats (all neutered) seems to respect the full grown chickens--and it's a common sight for them to all be out in the sunshine together. I don't trust the cats with the chicks. I am hoping that everyone will co-exist this year, but hedging my bets with the hoop coops.

 

[kayri]

We have 2 cats and 5 chickens. We kept our chicks tightly guarded in the upstairs bathroom with a thousand signs on both sides of the door to keep it shut at all times. When the chick were first put out, we keep them in hoop coops until they were about 3 months old. The cats would have definitely eaten the 2 month old chicks. At 3 months I supervised their first few meetings. Now the chickens will peck at the cat's tail if given an opportunity and the cats give them a wide berth.