Got chickens in my cat food and cats in my chicken food

[blutenstaub]

I let my four chickens free range in my yard, where there are also a bunch of cats (some mine, some from the hood). My cockerels are turning out to be kibble addicts! In some ways it's a good thing, because they clean up the cat food spills that would otherwise be feeding flies and slugs. So recently they reached the size that they can intimidate the kitties away from their food bowls. They're not super aggressive or anything, just kind of peeking over the eating cat's shoulder until it gets annoyed and walks away.

But the cats get back at the chickens by eating their crumbles! I guess it's not _so_ different from commercial kibble, with the corn and soy meal and all. When I find them in the chicken feed, I give them a couple tablespoons of cat food somewhere away from the chickens and hope they finish it before the cockerels catch on.

I've started feeding the cats their big meal at night, right after the chickens are put to bed, but they still manage to get a little cat food daily. Weirds me out a little that they're little cannibals... Should I stop letting them clean off the scraps when I feed my cats wet food? How much should I be worried about it throwing off their nutritional balance? Anyone got any chickenproof Rube Goldberg feeding systems for cats? (I've seen the PVC chicken feed tubes and plan on building one sometime soon.)

 

[sourland]

Sounds like a good clean up crew to me. Feeding the cats at night sounds like a good solution.

 

[Audialogical]

I give my chickens water soaked kibble all the time because my cat won’t eat anything out for more than a day. Picky picky. It’s grain free salmon I’m glad someone will eat it.

 

[NatJ]

Anyone got any chickenproof Rube Goldberg feeding systems for cats?

Maybe a pen with a cat door? (Unless the chickens are smart enough to go through the cat door too.)

Maybe a pen with a tunnel access, assuming the chickens don't like going through a dark tunnel? You could probably use cardboard boxes to make tunnels for testing, before trying anything more permanent.

I'm guessing the cats would prefer more than one entrance/exit, so you might end up wtih a pen that has 2 or 3 cat flaps in different sides, or several tunnels sticking out from it.

(But feeding the cats at night might be easier than making a chicken-proof cat feeder.)

 

[blutenstaub]

Hehe I'm imaging getting one of those electronic cat doors that only unlocks if a cat with the right microchip walks up to it... I've actually found a spot in my yard that I can put cat food that the chickens haven't found yet. It's elevated and very in the open, so I think they don't feel safe exploring that area. Yet.

 

[ColtHandorf]

As no one has mentioned it, cats are obligate carnivores and require special diets with taurine in them. Put the catfood somewhere the chickens can't reach it so they can eat unmolested and put the chicken feed somewhere the cats can't get into it. Long term, they can have kidney, liver, and vision problems from an improper diet.

 

[blutenstaub]

I know about the cat taurine requirement. They don't eat much chicken food, anyway, because when I see them doing it I feed them a little of their food, even if the chickens are still out. It's so funny what non cat foods cats are into sometimes.... My oldest cat (18) goes nuts for nori seaweed and plantain chips. Seaweed makes sense, but plantains?! It's probably the oil they're fried in, but she's not like that with other kinds of chips. (And no, I don't share my snacks with her regularly.... that's MY food!!)