Do Cats Eat Chickens?

[MrsBachbach]

Here's hjow I feel about it. Unless you know for sure whether the cat is attacking your chickens, you should leave it alone. It does not take long for your property to become a mice resort with chicken feed around. Sure, you can put your feed in metal containers, but how do you stop the chickens from getting some on the ground? Mine are messy eaters despite the fancy feeders. A cat is a great predator for mice. They likely prefer mice to full grown chickens. Once those mice establish in your yard, it won't be long before they are in your house. You know, there is a reason grandma and grandpa had barn cats. I'm sure they didn't keep them around because they were eating the chickens.

 

[quigley257]

There are plenty of natural predators to take care of the mice. Cats are an environmentally harmful invasive species and often kill just for sport.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Well the natural predators sure don't take care of them around my place and I'm in a country enviroment. Personally, I'm sure glad cats hunt mice for sport. Controls the population explosion. They breed faster than a non spayed cat does.

 

[rosemary556]

on of our chickens escaped and we didn't see her and she gone missing we tought it was our dogs or cats or bigger birds that eat meat or someone stealing our chicken because we have three dogs that thoesn't have experience with chickens and our 19 year old cat that is bullied by other cats and our neighbors in our yard we saw a lot of feathers there and i tink it is our neighbors because they want eggs and we want our chicken back but it could allso be snakes because they are begining to wake up i saw two today slithering across the road.

 

[rosemary556]

on of our chickens escaped and we didn't see her and she gone missing we tought it was our dogs or cats or bigger birds that eat meat or someone stealing our chicken because we have three dogs that thoesn't have experience with chickens and our 19 year old cat that is bullied by other cats and our neighbors in our yard we saw a lot of feathers there and i tink it is our neighbors because they want eggs and we want our chicken back but it could allso be snakes because they are begining to wake up i saw two today slithering across the road.

 

[pdirt]

Just lost our first chicken to a cat It ate parts of the bird and pulled most of the feathers off...I'd say the cat was hungry. It found a loose spot in the fencing...gave us a chance to patch things up before it might get our other chickens. It came back tonight and seemed to be having a hard time getting back in. Good!

The chicken it got was one who liked to sleep in the fully enclosed run up on a high roost by herself. We usually would pick her up and put her in the main coop with the others, but didn't last night. If we ever have a loner bird like that again, we'll be more diligent about keeping them all together.

The wisdom I gleaned from this thread a couple weeks ago was that a cat was much more likely to attack a lone bird than a flock.

 

[emilyschartz]

I have the same issue. Three of the neighborhood cats are harassing my 5 hens. How do I make them leave my chickens alone

 

[YonahKluck]

Trap the cats, the animal control department in my county will receive them as a nuisance domestic animal, they will also remove them from the trap, what they do with them is then their choice.

 

[emilyschartz]

So I won't get in trouble for catching them even if they have collars on them?

 

[YonahKluck]

No you wont get into trouble. Our animal control officer does not recommend contacting pet owners directly. A collar will hopefully have a name and some other identification of the animals owner, then the animal control officer can contact the owner and explain that their animal has been a nuisance. Depending upon local ordinances the owner may receive a citation and encourage the pet owner not to let the animal roam to neighboring properties. Some pet owners care enough about their pets to have the vet implant an id chip that the animal control officer can scan for owner information. One last bit of advice; do not advertise to ANYONE that you are placing traps, some pet owners can not accept that their pet is a problem to others.

Edit:
Afterthought, your animal control officer may lend you a live trap for a few days.