House cat harassing chickens

[shadowfox]

I was walking home with kids from the bus stop and heard my chickens in an uproar. When I made it to the back yard I saw the neighbors' cat leaving our yard. I assume it wasn't able to make it into the run. The run is fenced pretty well with a buried apron and is covered in bird netting...

If the cat were to get in, how much damage would it be able to do?

 

[The Phantom]

Probably pretty bad. My hens chase my cats. lol it is funny to see them running

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

If you have a rooster, he'll teach that cat a lesson in Kung Fu fighting! I have three cats, none will dare bother the hens, in fear of the rooster.

Seriously though, if you have baby chicks they would be the first to go. I don't think it would be able to do more than scare your hens. Unless, the cat is some kind of exotic breed like a Savannah. Which is an African Serval mixed with domestic cat. Very big and wild!

Stress from being stalked is not good for the hens, and could cause them to stop laying.
Get yourself a motion detected water sprinkler and set it up where the cat comes in. That cat won' t bother your chickens any more.

These are my thoughts on your cat issue. I hope they have been helpful, if not humorous.

God Bless

 

[Teila]

First up, I am a cat lover and have two of my own who are indoor cats with an outdoor run and harness trained for walks; this is for their safety and that of the wildlife.

Being a cat lover does not stop me getting extremely angry about other people’s cats wandering and terrorizing the neighbourhood.

Possibly coincidentally, I lost a happy, healthy, less than 2 year old chicken on the night of a cat fight which happened right next to the coop; lots of hissing and screaming etc. I went out the next morning to find KiKi dead on the coop floor. While I can not prove it, I suspect she died of fright or fell off the roost from fright etc.

I have another story where one of my cats, who never tries to dash out the door, did so one day because she saw across the roads' cat under our car in our carport .. she chased him back to his house, across the road, stopped and realised where she was [outside and unknown territory] and turned around, running back across the road towards me and in front of an oncoming car .. I nearly watched my beautiful girl get run over and I am so grateful that the driver either saw her in time or me having a hissy fit on the side of the road and swerved to miss her.

If their cat had remained on their property and not encroached on to ours, she would not have dashed out the door.

I have no idea how I stopped myself from walking across the road, ringing their door bell and punching them in the nose! LOL

I will climb down off my soap box now because I could rant and rave for hours about irresponsible cat owners, but I recommend going over to your neighbours, telling them that you have chickens on your property and that you would like them to not allow their cat to wander on to your property.



Yes, you did hit a nerve LOL

 

[ChickNanny13]

We had cat coming around at night, not sure which neighbor but I got tired of it. So I hung some fly tape with chicken bone attached to the loose end, the other end I attached with a loose clothes pin to a string suspended from the eaves of the patio roof. Next morning the fly tape was gone & I never had issues with the cat again

 

[tigger19687]

Ohh I like that !! Fly tape. There are a few cats around here.
The local $1 store had a 6 pack of fly tape for $1. I may go see if they have more or just use up what I have.

Maybe I will use cat treats that my INDOOR cats won't eat to bait.

One of the cats is a long haired one

 

[chickens really]

Chickens make a ruckus over anything they think is a predator..The Cat won't harm the Chickens...

 

[21hens-incharge]

Cats coming at night don't bother me or the birds. They are after mice so are welcome to it.

Cats during the day...... Well they scare the daylights out of my birds, especially the bantams.
The daytime cats get live trapped and a free ride to the pound.

We are in town. We are close to a main highway. I am sure the neighbors would not appreciate my dogs running free.

I refuse to feel guilty for removing daytime cats. At least they aren't getting run over or causing wrecks once removed.

 

[chickmom3941]

I think it depends on the cat. A stray cat from the woods "adopted" us a few years ago. He lived outside at the time, and we found innumerable dead rodent and bird carcasses piled up outside. One day he even brought home a crow as big as him! Although I liked the rodent control, I didn't want him killing birds, so we decided to keep him inside. Last year, he bolted out the door one day, and IMMEDIATELY started stalking our chickens. Luckily, I caught him before he could reach them, but I have no doubt that he could have killed them if he had not been stopped.

 

[Plip]

It seems to me that cats and chickens have been coexisting on virtually every family for a long, long time. We've had chickens for 8 years and have never had an issue with our cats, the neighborhood cats, or even with one big feral Tom cat that was around off and on for a few years.