Hello!! New to BYC and new to the wacky world of chicken keeping!

[sunflour]

glad you have joined us and congratulations on getting your own flock.

The decision to raise a flock confined or allowed to free range is a personal one, but IMO those who have larger flocks and can accept some losses have an advantage over those of us with only a small flock, lots of predators and unwillingness to lose even one of the flock.

Supervised ranging is one alternative.

Once the chickens are full grown, cats become less of a threat, but those reports are from folks with pet cats, so cannot predict a feral cat's threat.

There are so many other possible predators that we don't notice are around until we acquire a flock and then they seem to come out of nowhere.

Good luck with your new adventure.

 

[Michael OShay]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! 2 questions: where do I get all the cute chicken emojis???...and I have a few feral cats that roam my yard. I see one in particular that pays close attention to the girls and sort of swiped at one as she ran by. Nothing serious has happened but I will be devastated if it does. Advice?

You're welcome and X2 on the advice that CTKen and sunflour have given you.

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard chickens. Feral cats and free roaming dogs are among the biggest predators of poultry. All I can suggest is a covered run for them during times when you aren't out to supervise and intervene when predators approach.

 

[HaleyM]

Welcome to Backyard chickens.  Feral cats and free roaming dogs are among the biggest predators of poultry.  All I can suggest is a covered run for them during times when you aren't out to supervise and intervene  when predators approach.

Thank you for the advice. I called a feline rescue to set up a date for them to bring out traps. It's a no kill rescue so I feel pretty good about that. I spent most of my day today overseeing the chickens and watching the cat's behavior. They seem overly interested in my girls but won't attack them in front of me, however, they do stalk and eye the chickens intensely. For now, I'm only letting the girls free range when I'm out there with them. Better safe than sorry. Thanks again.