Do your cats bother the chicks/chickens?

[Zigapor]

we have 5 cats. Our master hunter is the only one who comes inside, the other four are outside only. Two of them I have no fear of them attacking the chickens. Our big male tom, idk, he's very protective of his pride, I think he'd only attack if he thought the chickens were going to harm the other cats. The excellent hunter cat is now a cranky old lady, don't think she'd give chickens the time of day, besides, she's got mice and chipmunks to worry about, lol.

The fifth cat however might pose a problem. She is as feral as a domesticated cat can be, terrified of people (stupid previous owners, ugh) She refuses to come into the house (she used to be an indoor cat but when we moved here she decided that outside country life was the life for her, lol, no people to worry about out there! I worry she may try to sleep in the coop come winter. Not sure if she would hunt the chickens though.

So, how do i cat proof the coop without making McCat more scared of me than she already is. She loves to hang out in that area of the yard (lots of trees and bushes to hide in) and I fear that denying her access to her favourite area will traumatize her more than she already is :/ any suggestions?

 

[Wayne&Kim1963]

Our cats run with our chickens always. We free range chickens including mommas with babies and rarely have problems. Once in while we will get cat that goes bad but most of our cats are raised with them and are respectful of them. We also keep our cats fed so they are not like starving either. We have right at 35 outside cats running with our 300+ chickens, bantams, large chickens, mommas with babies, babies without mommas, duck geese turkeys adult and babies, and don't have any of the cats getting any of the poultry.

 

[Zigapor]

lol, my cats could be over-fed and still hunt! it's more of a sport than for food

 

[erinszoo]

We have six cats in the yard with our chickens. Sometimes they even sleep together. The cats are scared of the chickens, not the other way around. Still we don't leave young birds out with the cats alone because, well, cats are cats and you can't remove the general instinct in them to jump on anything that moves. Lol.

 

[Zigapor]

hey how do you add all the animals you live with at the bottom?

 

[cutlerfam7]

hey how do you add all the animals you live with at the bottom?

that is called your signature line so if you go to your profile and edit it there will be a spot where you can edit your signature line! That is where you could put anything that you want to say...a quote, website and even how many you have.

 

[cutlerfam7]

I wanted to say that we have three cats and two of them go outside with the chickens. The third doesn't go outside because she wanders away from the house too much and doesn't come back when we call. Kitty is our male cat and he loves hanging out with the chickens. There have been a few times that I have come home and he is just sleeping on the front lawn with a few chickens hanging out around him. He really has no interest in them what so ever and they all get along.

However, my cat chloe who is only 2 years old tries to play with the chickens. She actually stalks them in the yard but then just jumps at them. She doesn't try to hurt them just likes chasing them. She actually gets scared of them because the chickens aren't afraid to charge her or stand up to her so they put her in her place. My chickens are 22wks and 15 wks old. I have 3 22wks olds and 26 15 wk olds.

 

[zzGypsy]

Our cats run with our chickens always. We free range chickens including mommas with babies and rarely have problems. Once in while we will get cat that goes bad but most of our cats are raised with them and are respectful of them. We also keep our cats fed so they are not like starving either. We have right at 35 outside cats running with our 300+ chickens, bantams, large chickens, mommas with babies, babies without mommas, duck geese turkeys adult and babies, and don't have any of the cats getting any of the poultry.

Thank you Thank You Thank You... I no longer feel like the crazy cat and poultry lady...

11 cats, and maybe 60 or so turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, and guineas.
oh, and dogs, horses, sheep, goats, rabbits...

 

[Zigapor]

oh my! 11 cats! and here i thought I was nuts having the five of them, lol

 

[Imp]

oh my! 11 cats! and here i thought I was nuts having the five of them, lol

Me too!

11 omg

35 off the charts

Imp- you go!