do cats harm chickens??

[Gonzalezfam]

My sister has 50 chickens and about 15 barn cats. None of them attack any chickens but then again she has 3 roosters that protect the flock.

I had a big orange Tom cat back in the day, my neighbor had a derby winning RIR from La. when derbies were legal and a hatch hen that was aggressive. Bastian my cat was eyeballing them one day as we were hanging out talking chickens when he says “my rooster would whoop your cat any day”. I said, “ that guy wouldn’t hunt birds anyway just rats”, the next day bastian was kinda weird just laying there with his belly bigger than before, oooops long story short he ate the breasts and I had to get him a sweater rooster and a Kelso hen he wanted.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Yes, I did see her jumping on a hen, but I was too slow to move her she wasn't scared of me at all, even when I was holding the broom it was kinda weird?? We don't have any predators here, Google always said that cats are no harm for chickens so I never really had to secure my hens since we don't have racoons or anything and I thought cats are fine when the chickens are grown up enough

Thank you for confirming! Very sorry for your experience.

I'm not actually surprised at all that it COULD happen despite not being super common. Another member actually SAW a vulture attack one of their chickens and said they too would never have believed it had not their own eye witnessed it.

All animals are free thinking in nature.. and may try something new at any time.. if they are successful, they WILL teach it to their offspring given the chance.. As I creationist.. behaviors do evolve with time and it only takes ONE to figure it out.

My feral barn cat (at least 2nd-3rd generation feral, now trapped, fixed, released) hunts all kinds of things including squirrel and duck.. usually the babies.. I saw a nest she found this season and failed those left behind despite trying hard to save them for release. I even leave rats my (once feral but tamed) domestic cats kill but don't eat and ANY whole chicken/chick.. whatever that is dispatched or passes but not going on the table for whatever reason.. too small, too you, not enough time.. It's very much a risk I take, noting birds are locked up with multiple layers of security at night due to very high likelihood of predator visitation AND my daytime pasture is more dominated by human and canine activity.

As you see roosters are only mostly helpful during the daytime, if even then. Most often they are just a front line sacrifice. They are NO match, even if they try for most of my local predators.

I would not say the cat didn't fear you.. just that it didn't respond in a manner that you perceived as fearful. If cornered with no where to go or means of avoidance they will fight.. if a light is suddenly blinding them or they can't see their escape route.. hissing, spitting, clawing, even growling viciously to CONVINCE you this pint sized animal is a threat and you should back off... completely normal.. an animal is just as if not more prone to biting out of FEAR than aggression.. in MY experience!

Plain and simple.. cat's DON'T hunt things sitting still for fun.. they hunt things they can chase.. YES this cat would have eaten your bird, were it not interrupted and was NOT doing this for game. A well fed feral cat that hunts for game is NOT going to hunt a still target that would be pointless.. not any fun, not honing a skill.. so IMHO.. the cat was indeed hungry.. and I'm sorry that the threat was understated! Apparently, despite it not often being an issue.. these things DO happen.. thank you for sharing, so we can start to realize that and maybe even consider and share it when needed!

Now why were there 3 of them injured is another question.. tries and fails, confused animal about which is the best target, someone else was on seen and the cat was left holding the evidence bag

Yes, it's hard for me too to image a place where only feral cats are the top predator.. Many things love chicken.. skunk, rats, domestic dog.. you name it.. I think like cat island is that in Japan?

Hunting rats and even gophers takes skill.. my dog's been bit inside her mouth a few times.. this is why domesticated TAME cats are often not adept rodent hunters and go after lots of birds or mice at best but not rats.

I'm more likely to believe that you haven't seen any of the mentioned predator than you don't have any of them. BUT.. I am here to learn and find something new every day! I have not seen the majority of predators that I KNOW exist in my area.

Please.. do consider better security since clearly you do have this unexpected problem if you wish to continue keeping birds safely. Knowing your location would help make appropriate suggestions!

Did you need help caring for your injured birds? Or have you started another thread about it if you do?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

recently, a cat attacked my chickens, she killed one of them and injured a couple, Google has always said that cats are no danger to adult hens?? Yet, she attacked three! She was relatively large, too fat, but doesn't look pregnant, and I have always trusted Google so I kinda never tried driving her away me and the neighbours do give her.food from time to time so I don't think she's starving or so

We have both feral cats and feral chickens here. The cats can take down a small chicken and do catch and eat the chicks regularly.

 

[MarkJr]

My wife’s cat hated our RIR rooster. About once a week, the cat would knock him down a peg just for giggles.
He scares the hens a few times, but it got old to him. The chicks were enticing until my broody cornered him inside a roll of field fence laid on its side against my shop. It was a 3’ round, 4’ long cylinder of mistake and regret. Cat had hair missing in various spots for about a month.

I should mention, my cat is a 16 pound marbled snow bengal.

 

[SarahGfa]

Why do you even need to ask this question if you already saw a cat kill your hen and attack two more?

 

[ILoveBabyChicks00994]

Thank you for confirming! Very sorry for your experience.

I'm not actually surprised at all that it COULD happen despite not being super common. Another member actually SAW a vulture attack one of their chickens and said they too would never have believed it had not their own eye witnessed it.

All animals are free thinking in nature.. and may try something new at any time.. if they are successful, they WILL teach it to their offspring given the chance.. As I creationist.. behaviors do evolve with time and it only takes ONE to figure it out.

My feral barn cat (at least 2nd-3rd generation feral, now trapped, fixed, released) hunts all kinds of things including squirrel and duck.. usually the babies.. I saw a nest she found this season and failed those left behind despite trying hard to save them for release. I even leave rats my (once feral but tamed) domestic cats kill but don't eat and ANY whole chicken/chick.. whatever that is dispatched or passes but not going on the table for whatever reason.. too small, too you, not enough time.. It's very much a risk I take, noting birds are locked up with multiple layers of security at night due to very high likelihood of predator visitation AND my daytime pasture is more dominated by human and canine activity.

As you see roosters are only mostly helpful during the daytime, if even then. Most often they are just a front line sacrifice. They are NO match, even if they try for most of my local predators.

I would not say the cat didn't fear you.. just that it didn't respond in a manner that you perceived as fearful. If cornered with no where to go or means of avoidance they will fight.. if a light is suddenly blinding them or they can't see their escape route.. hissing, spitting, clawing, even growling viciously to CONVINCE you this pint sized animal is a threat and you should back off... completely normal.. an animal is just as if not more prone to biting out of FEAR than aggression.. in MY experience!

Plain and simple.. cat's DON'T hunt things sitting still for fun.. they hunt things they can chase.. YES this cat would have eaten your bird, were it not interrupted and was NOT doing this for game. A well fed feral cat that hunts for game is NOT going to hunt a still target that would be pointless.. not any fun, not honing a skill.. so IMHO.. the cat was indeed hungry.. and I'm sorry that the threat was understated! Apparently, despite it not often being an issue.. these things DO happen.. thank you for sharing, so we can start to realize that and maybe even consider and share it when needed!

Now why were there 3 of them injured is another question.. tries and fails, confused animal about which is the best target, someone else was on seen and the cat was left holding the evidence bag

Yes, it's hard for me too to image a place where only feral cats are the top predator.. Many things love chicken.. skunk, rats, domestic dog.. you name it.. I think like cat island is that in Japan?

Hunting rats and even gophers takes skill.. my dog's been bit inside her mouth a few times.. this is why domesticated TAME cats are often not adept rodent hunters and go after lots of birds or mice at best but not rats.

I'm more likely to believe that you haven't seen any of the mentioned predator than you don't have any of them. BUT.. I am here to learn and find something new every day! I have not seen the majority of predators that I KNOW exist in my area.

Please.. do consider better security since clearly you do have this unexpected problem if you wish to continue keeping birds safely. Knowing your location would help make appropriate suggestions!

Did you need help caring for your injured birds? Or have you started another thread about it if you do?

I have raised alot of special needs chickens so I kinda have experience on how to deal with sick or injured ones sadly, when my roosters were younger they weren't friendly with each other so there was almost weekly injuries, but yes I have to admit my security is really bad because we don't have vultures or anything and I have seen my roosters take down mice or rats and everyone agreed that cats don't attack adult Chickens so I never thought I'd need tight security. Knew it the hard way sadly but idk on the bright side I keep my special needs chickens inside or the cat would have had a feast

 

[ILoveBabyChicks00994]

Why do you even need to ask this question if you already saw a cat kill your hen and attack two more?

Because I needed to know if the cat is sick or so I kinda thought she had rabies at first and thought about taking her down since I really found no online evidence about them usually attacking adult hens but yeah found out it's just a normal feral behaviour

 

[swampfox440]

Cats only know what the owner teaches them . I like cats a lot but when left to nature they revert back to the way of the beast !

 

[SarahGfa]

Because I needed to know if the cat is sick or so I kinda thought she had rabies at first and thought about taking her down since I really found no online evidence about them usually attacking adult hens but yeah found out it's just a normal feral behaviour

Yes, totally normal. My neighbor adopted a colony of neutered "tame" feral cats and one killed two of my chickens for fun, so I understand your frustration. I hope we can finally end the myth that cats are harmless to chickens. Ferals can be just as destructive as bobcats.

 

[momofseven]

We can’t have our chickens roam. The cats will go after them.
the ducks for that matter