Do your cats bother the chicks/chickens?

[ScaredOfShadows]

My cats are great hunters - but they will just lounge around by the chicken coop alot. However I have mama silkie hens with babies and they will bust my cats butts in a minute for getting to close to the chicks. They've now learned to stay away from the babies no matter how little and tempting (banty chicks all under 3 weeks right now)

Anway if I were you get a big water gun or good spray bottle, let the cats out with the chicks in a little fence/pen and let the cats get close and check them out, if they stalk them - just keep an eye on them - cats will stalk chickens like they stalk each other - if they are still stalked 1 foot away from cage - spray 'em... if they just go up and take a sniff leave them be and watch them. cat pops the chicken in the head or something through the fence - spray them (mine do this alot) just don't let the cats realize YOU have the water bottle. this will just reinforce that nothing good comes out of harassing the chickens. once the chickens get bigger if the cats bug them too much - the chickens will set them straight.

Cats and chickens can get along well...Especially well fed house cats who have other things to be interested in.

 

[SparksNV]

Interesting this topic was just posted - I just got my pullets yesterday. I was sitting out this morning watching them do their scratch and peck. Up on the fence comes my neighbor's cat! My dd grabbed the spray bottle and sprayed the cat & it jumped down on to the other side (not into the run). The cat looked very interested in coming into the run. I am hoping that the pullets are big enough and will make such a fuss that the cat will go away if it happens to come into the run. I hope it doesn't happen though. I am pretty worried. I do have a bunch of welded wire that I can attach to the fence - I may have to do that...

 

[Qi Chicken]

We have two outdoor cats. The chickens are very interested in them and follow them around. It is funny to see our best hunter trying to get away from 6 chickens chasing after her. I think the key is size (and numbers). They are 18 weeks and pretty big now. A chick would have been a goner.

 

[gryeyes]

I have four cats, two indoor/outdoor cats, and two outdoor cats. None of them bother the chickens. They were VERY interested at first when I put the chicks outside at 8 weeks.... sitting right up against the run fence, watching, watching...

And the chickens watched right back, very interested. Eventually, each cat has been pecked on the nose through the fence and that ended that!

Now the cats wander through the run (the chickens free range) and I even have banties. (I have watched carefully as they were encountering the bantam breeds each time...) One cat likes to sleep in a nest box. The others want to stay in the run in the evening because they've seen mice in the run!

Chicks would be goners, yes. But not grown chickens. Even the banties appear to be safe.

All my cats have their claws. 3 of them are neutered.

 

[my4ladies]

I have a temp. run set up that I was planning on using for my almost 1 wk old silkie when I introduce her to the rest of them (5 wks). Maybe I can use that to put the 5 weekers in to introduce the cats to them and the chicks to the cats. I need a top though. I think it may be low enough for the chicks to fly out and/or the cats to jump in!

I like the water gun idea. Me yelling at them surely doesn't work. I literally have to chase them. Maybe water will do it.

Thanks!

 

[Kelebek]

I have always had cats with my chickens. Young kittens and an older female that was a feral that we had brought in. Then they "disappeared" and I brought in a 5-6 week old kitten the same day I brought in my 1 week old ducklings. They are growing up great together..... and she doesn't mess with my chickens or grown ducks at all

 

[welasharon]

I have 9 cats. The full time outside cats don't even glance at my chickens but the first day I let them free range in the evening my grandson let one of the in/outside cats out and it went after my banty hen. Thankfully she was able to get away. I think the difference is the outside chickens have experience with the feral chickens around here and know better. I need a kick-butt chicken to get ahold of her and teach her a lesson. Only problem is my other chickens are Polish.....don't think they are going to help much! LOL I will try the water.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

My bantams are pretty bold, and have let the cats have a piece of their mind if the cats go near. I mostly keep my chickens in a coop now, but years ago all of my chickens were free-ranging and the cats learned not to mess with the chickens. One peck was all it took for them to decide the chickens weren't worth the trouble. My two cats will look at the chickens from a distance, not in a prey-drive type of way, but if they get closer they get spooked and run off. I would not trust a feral cat around my smaller birds, though. There's a big mean gray cat that comes around here a lot and I keep an eye on him. Thankfully my coops are cat-safe.

 

[hallerlake]

I don't know about a hungry, feral cat, but a well fed, house cat is unlikely to go after a full grown chicken. They fight back. When our cat goes out back with the chickens. Both cat and chickens keep a wary eye on, and respectful distance from the other, but neither flees in terror. Maybe the fact that the hens don't flee doesn't trigger the urge to chase. I stayed close by with the hose in hand the first time the cat came out to look the chickens over. I wasn't needed.

 

[JOSEYWALES]

I have an outdoor cat and he is a big one. He would glady kill any chicken regardless of size. I have seen him tussel with an owl and a fox and come out unharmed. But he keeps the mice, squirrels and possums at bay so he is worth keeping around. I just don't trust him with my chickens.