cats

[TheBigWRanch]

My cats will kill my chickens in seconds! It makes me so angry that they can't just live in peace.

 

[bigzio]

aznewbe, we never had a problem with cats and chickens. We have a tom cat that spends hours with the chickens, sometimes I think he thinks he's a chicken.

One night I forgot to close the pop hole and was watching TV when I thought, gee I never locked up the chickens. Took a flashlight and went out to close the birds up, when somethiing comes walking down the ladder to the coop. At first I freaked thinking it was a coon, but low and behold it was just Tommy sleeping with the chickens. LOL

bigzio

 

[aznewbe]

Well I let a couple peeps out in the grass with the pup today. It went very well. I put her on a down stay comand and then put a chick on her head and back. At first she was shaking and wanted to chase but after a while of sitting with her and the chickens running around she calmed down and just laid there. I plan on keeping this up tell she learns.

 

[silkiechicken]

My cat won't even look at my pet hamsters once it sees me play with them. Yet she will go out and bring back dead mice and rats all the time. She leaves the birds alone and is afraid of the large bids.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Labs are great dogs, i've got 5 of the big 'ol galoots (and 5 pups just now old enough for their new homes). My dogs are pretty well trained in obedience, one is a superb bird dog. Even though they behave well for me, I know that they easily give in to temptation...I'm making sure my coop is secure against them before I put the chickens out in it.

As long as I am present, I know that I can control the dogs. See, my dogs and cats are great pals, eat together, sleep together..the whole shebang. But, even though the dogs like the cats, if the cat runs from the dog, the dog will chase it. If the cat doesn't run, the dog doesn't chase. It's a game to the dogs, which is fine, but they get caught up and I have recently lost a cat to 'the game' because the dog played too rough. If I call the dog back, it will stop chasing, but if i'm not there to supervise, well, you know...

I seriously doubt the chickens would not run from a charging Lab, so..no doggies with the chickies.

My point is that with Labs, even well trained Labs, you have to keep in mind that they're 'puppies' at least mentally until at least 2 years of age. I'd keep up with the supervised 'visits', it's sure to help. Just don't give over complete trust because above all, Labs love to play.

 

[AWolChic]

Hi all. New to having chickens. I have 6 that are about 3 months old. I have just started letting the chicks out of their coop/run in my fenced yard has 6'wood privacy fence. I have seen a cat in my yard twice & looked like it was about to start stalking the chicks. It went back over the fence before I got the door open.
Just wondering if the cat is a threat to the chicks. I have been letting them out during the day & they go back to their coop at darktime & I close it up.

 

[RWise]

I am just SW of you and cats got every chick I hatched last year,,,, this year so far has been good, but I wait until the chicks are 5 weeks old to put them in the flock.

 

[Ginmary]

Any bird that is small enough to act like prey or a cat toy is not safe around cats unless the cat is a pet and/or has demonstrated that they are chick safe. I don't believe most cats would go after an adult chicken as a rule. I have eight cats who have not yet been introduced to our 10 week old chicks. I know that some of them would be OK but some I would not trust. The chicks get very upset when a cat has been allowed to come in and sit with us for a short time.
We are waiting for a shipment of fertile eggs that we want to hatch. I would like to introduce the chicks to the cats early to minimize the possibility of any future "incidents"

 

[RWise]

I looked out the window to see 4 adult cats stalking a hen, the dogs went out,,,,,