cats are a problem

[bj taylor]

i'm soon going to be turning my chicks out into the run which doesn't have a top. it will have shade cloth on top to discourage hawks & my dogs can't get in. my worry is that they still won't be too big for my cats who can jump into the run. any ideas please?

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Not sure what to tell you, but it really depends a lot on your cats temperament. A true hunter will overcome just about anything, but his lazy cousin...? I have an open top run in suburbia and I have never caught more than the odd pigeon or squirrel in mine. We made it about seven feet tall and the top two feet is just chicken wire. You could make it a bit taller with like we did with ours.

 

[bj taylor]

making it taller may be what i need to do. i think i can do this in certain areas that may help. thanks for your reply

 

[chic-a-deee]

Hi. Ive got a small coop & a small run. My run is under 6ft tall. The run is made from stakes that has anti rodent wire & chicken wire tied to it. I was worried about neighbours cats even when I was home.....so.....I laid the rodent wire along the top of the run. Its the best I could do, plus I have shade cloth suspended above it, mostly because its sooooo hot here in Australia in summer. The only obstacle here is the gap between the door of the coop & the roof. I try to overcome this by attaching a strip of the rodent wire over it if Im going out. If a cat wants in, it will find a way. They are masters at squeezing thru small gaps & spaces. But Im hoping that the wire roof (suspended over some metal & plastic stakes & secured with ties) will deter a curious cat. God knows what I'll do with my set up if I have to move

it will be so difficult to dismantle....

 

[mstricer]

My cat was always afraid of my chickens. Now if they are chicks it is open season for a cat, all they see is a bird and dinner.

 

[elmacri]

My Neighbour has over 100 cat...........Yes i did type it right over 100. Last summer the little buggers got every last chick and duckling that we hatched and also all of our quails. We doubled the height of our perimeter fence around the land and property to 2 meters high and the fence to the pen to 2 meters. Still didn´t stop them.
We spoke to the local police here as she has so many and they are not micro-chipped ( which is law here) They gave me a humane cat trap to place in the garden and then when we had a few we would call them back and they would take them to the dog and cat pound.
I caught cats i didn´t even know came in the garden. We caught on average 20 cats a day.
She was FUMING

with us. Every time she wanted them back she had to pay30€ a cat. Oh and had to have them chipped, another 36€ on top.
Funny enough after a month of this happening we didn´t see any more cats in the garden. She now keeps them ALL inside. every now and then we will see them out and we get the trap again and catch one or two and she shuts them up again.
For me this was a last resort but i have to say it was the best thing EVER. She is due to move in the next 3 months and will be taking the cats with her. The new buyers came and introduced themselves the other day and they have 8 dogs but no cats. I can put up with barking as that wont kill our spring babies. Also they are going to fence all their land. (result)

I know this doesn´t really help you much as you too have cats but i just thought i would share it with you.

For me i think this years babies will be safe. oh and just in case anyone is thinking why didn´t we put a top on there run, well its because its an area of 1000 square meters that they have with very large olive trees in. They are very lucky free range birds

 

[mstricer]

My Neighbour has over 100 cat...........Yes i did type it right over 100. Last summer the little buggers got every last chick and duckling that we hatched and also all of our quails. We doubled the height of our perimeter fence around the land and property to 2 meters high and the fence to the pen to 2 meters. Still didn´t stop them.

We spoke to the local police here as she has so many and they are not micro-chipped ( which is law here) They gave me a humane cat trap to place in the garden and then when we had a few we would call them back and they would take them to the dog and cat pound.
I caught cats i didn´t even know came in the garden. We caught on average 20 cats a day.

She was FUMING with  us. Every time she wanted them back she had to pay30€ a cat. Oh and had to have them chipped, another 36€ on top.
Funny enough after a month of this happening we didn´t see any more cats in the garden. She now keeps them ALL inside. every now and then we will see them out and we get the trap again and catch one or two and she shuts them up again.
For me this was a last resort but i have to say it was the best thing EVER. She is due to move in the next 3 months and will be taking the cats with her. The new buyers came and introduced themselves the other day and they have 8 dogs but no cats. I can put up with barking as that wont kill our spring babies. Also they are going to fence all their land. (result)

I know this doesn´t really help you much as you too have cats but i just thought i would share it with you.

For me i think this years babies will be safe. oh and just in case anyone is thinking why didn´t we put a top on there run, well its because its an area of 1000 square meters that they have with very large olive trees in. They are very lucky free range birds :yiipchick

Where are you, are you seriously aloud to have 100 cats? Here in Ohio they allow 4 dogs legally.
100 cats YUCK!!!!!!!!

 

[elmacri]

I am in southern Spain, and yes sadly it seems that there are no rules on the amount you can have......However they all have to be Jabbed, micro chipped and own a pet passport. Her cats do NOT all have this and any that we catch that are not chipped do not go back to her. She has had a vet come to the home 3 times that i have seen in order to start chipping them. Can you imagine what the state of her house must be. Loads of cats all shut indoors with litter trays. YUCK!! A true health issue there!!