Do your cats bother the chicks/chickens?

[Nava]

all my cats get along with the chickens, I've had not had an incident, when they are chicks they stay in the house and that's where they get to meet each other, then they go in a coop outside, and then this........ can you spot the cats?

 

[Keara]

one of my cat's fiirst chicken experiances was with a mother hen with chicks. Nothing will get a cat to leave the chickens alone like a momma hen!

 

[my4ladies]

Well darnit! I put the chicks in there today, knowing one cat was outside. She didn't even come around!! Oh well. I took the opportunity to introduce the 1 wk old silkie to them...outside the run at first, then inside. They barely paid any attention to her. LOL...can you spot the CHICK?

 

[dannyhobson]

hi i have 2 large buff orpingtons and i have 3 cats the cats do not bother with the chickens as long as we also give the cats attention too

 

[Aumlet]

When I got my first chicks, my 3 cats tried to go after them. Once they grew a little, 2 of the cats left them alone and the 3rd decided they were good company. My cats have left later chicks alone. The cat who loves to hang out with the chickens is my best hunter, but chickens are his friends. He'll even go into their coop and chill:

 

[zazouse]

all my cats get along with the chickens, I've had not had an incident, when they are chicks they stay in the house and that's where they get to meet each other, then they go in a coop outside, and then this........ can you spot the cats?

that is a scary looking cat..looks like something from Halloween

 

[zzGypsy]

here's the best trick ever for teaching cats to respect chickens...

part one: train your chickens to run for treats. rolled up bits of white bread are excellent, but you can use any treat they like that you can throw with a bit of control and accuracy. start by tossing these to the chickens, then toss them further away so the chickens have to run to get them. throw one at a time so there's always a bit of competition to see who gets there first.

part two: put kitty in the environment. wait for kitty to show a hunting interest in the chickens

part three: throw a bread-ball at the kitty. the chickens will run for the treat, but kitty will think "AAAAA! Chickens ATTACK and EAT KITTIES!"

TOTALLY works. even on barn cats and ferrals that have been hunting for their own living. we've got a herd of cats and a flock of chickens and ducks and other birds. several of our cats are essentially ferals who've come to tollerate our presence and enjoy a bit of cat chow... 4 of them are effective and frequent rodent hunters. we have had no kitty kills among the poultry and waterfowl, including just hatched turkeys and very young ducks and guineas.

still, wild cats are unpredictable, but honestly this has worked perfectly even on our feral hunters.

in the morning when we're on the porch having coffee, we often toss out the leftovers from the previous night's dinner... highly entertaining to watch kittens, adult feral cats, turkeys, chickens, ducks, guineas and geese all chowing down on the leftovers together. even my one-eared, squinty eyed, only-has-half-a-tail, scar-covered feral Bruiser will share leftovers with the birds without a fuss. really makes quite a picture.

 

[Aumlet]

part three: throw a bread-ball at the kitty. the chickens will run for the treat, but kitty will think "AAAAA! Chickens ATTACK and EAT KITTIES!"

Brilliant!

 

[DanEP]

I lost 39 full grown chickens ,all large fowl to feral cats this year. our house cat ignores the chickens but 2 feral cats got in my run and went on a killing spree. I couldn't run them off or stop them from stalking the few birds I had left so I had to shoot them.As for me I will never trust any cat I don't own again, on my place a strange cat is a dead cat.

 

[Afewbantams]

We have bantam hens, quail and a cat. Our cat is a good hunter, will kill anything just about. He treats our girls, all of them, as part of the family and will protect them from other cats. On occasion he will eat a wild bird in front of the girls, which makes them shout. Not a good move as I take his prize away. If a quail gets out he'll run elsewhere, I think the temptation is too great. He was 2 when we got our first quail and 4 when we started to keep chickens. He'll bask in the sun while the chickens free range and keep an eye on them.

Its been great, since we got chickens he'll stay home more, family responsibilities.