House cat harassing chickens

[tigger19687]

You can call Animal Control and complain. They bring in Fleas, Ticks, sh*t all over.
THEY should be the ones that are going to trap them.
Also make sure you tell the neighbor the issue... write an anonymous note saying there is Rat/mouse poison around and they are bringing in these cats to DIE ! No you do not put poison out, but the treat is enough to do it.
I did that with one neighbor and said it is under my deck and your cat is going under there. It kinda worked

 

[Acre4Me]

You can call Animal Control and complain. They bring in Fleas, Ticks, sh*t all over.
THEY should be the ones that are going to trap them.
Also make sure you tell the neighbor the issue... write an anonymous note saying there is Rat/mouse poison around and they are bringing in these cats to DIE ! No you do not put poison out, but the treat is enough to do it.
I did that with one neighbor and said it is under my deck and your cat is going under there. It kinda worked

Several years ago we moved into a home that was in an area with feral cats. Also, an area where a few neighbors fed these #@*&# cats, and where the city acknowledged the problem but had a policy against putting resources towards it (too big of an issue, so ignoring it was their response). Anyway, the basement (particularly one area) smelled like cat pee, and the feral cats had been using the mulch to the side of the front door as a toilet (*gross* and *stinky*). We just wanted the cats to not be near our home - obviously they were going to be around, but we wanted to make our home and yard inhospitable. The #%&@#cats could find another path through the neighborhood. First, we used straight vinegar on the foundation walls - apparently bleach attracts cats, but vinegar does not. We used this because they were marking the foundation and it would make that area of the basement reek with cat stench. We removed all cat poop and affected mulch. Once we saw a lessening of cats near our home, we added moth balls around the bushes, near the foundation. While mothballs are toxic, a cat will not eat them (unless you try to hide it in food, I guess) and our purpose was to repel them, not kill them so we just placed a few around the foundation. Eventually the mothballs dissolve after a few months. We had to put the moth balls out 2x and treat the foundation 2-3x with vinegar, but it worked - cats stopped peeing and pooping around our home. None of them died as we continued to see same cats here and there, but farther from our house. I would not recommend putting out mothballs if you have chickens that roam or could access the mothballs through their fence, because I think chickens would be more apt to peck at a mothball.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I agree with those who say it depends on the cat. My cats and most cats apparently are not interested in Chickens, but a cat that is used to fending for itself might look at a chicken as a meal. It is also true that cats might hang around a chicken house looking for mice or rats or even wild birds in the feed. The chickens might have been reacting to his presence as much as what he was doing. I would keep an eye out on that situation. Cats are predators. They have all the tools to kill and eat a large rooster if they were so inclined. I have never met one that was so inclined, but my dog is an amazing animal and he would never allow a strange cat (or anything up to and including a bear) on our property.

 

[El - Ahrairah]

Wouldn't write off the possibility of a cat attack just yet. I lost some of my chickens to a rabbit, so I wouldn't be surprised if a feisty tom (or even a queen) tried to get its paws on a succulent chicken. My cat is a small female, and I'm not sure if she would actively predate on a chicken. But there is a very large and aggressive tom who lives near me, and I'm a bit wary of him. I'm not even sure if one of my roosters would be able to fight him off. He actively kills other birds, and I think he might have actually killed another cat in a fight (or so I've been told). If you have a large or aggressive cat living near you, be alert.

 

[nminusyplusm]

There are a lot of feral cats in my neighborhood and they liked my yard a little too much since my coop, garden and pond created a popular wildlife ecosystem and cat hunting ground.

There was one particularly bold young male that had struck up a territory war with my indoor spayed female by spraying her screened cat porch.

I figured that wasn't going to change so I started feeding him, made friends with him, trapped him, got him neutered/vaccinated and released him back into my yard hoping that by allowing my property to become his territory he could provide somewhat of a biosecurity buffer between my cat and the ferals if he was the only one near the porch.

It's working very well so far and I like that he and my chickens get along. He naps next to the run and now I don't have to worry about the chickens getting parasites or diseases from close contact with wild birds. I no longer have any other feral cats in my yard either so I'm ok with letting this one cat stay.

 

[tigger19687]

Neutering him will not make him stop spraying. A bit too late, he will continue as that is how he marks his territory. You need to do that WAY before they become mature. And even then it is not a guarantee.
See if the pound will take him and maybe someone will give him a nice indoor home.

 

[nminusyplusm]

Neutering him will not make him stop spraying. A bit too late, he will continue as that is how he marks his territory. You need to do that WAY before they become mature. And even then it is not a guarantee.
See if the pound will take him and maybe someone will give him a nice indoor home.

YMMV, but the feral that calls my yard home stopped spraying after I got him neutered. The vet estimated that he's about a year old.

 

[tigger19687]

I hope that it stays that way but after over 10 years working with vet/Shelters it is usually not the case when they are allowed to return outdoors.

Also, if you are feeding outside you MAY bring in more cats. At some point your outdoor cat will allow a few buddies to enter and hang with him. I would stop feeding him and hopefully all your neighbors will stop feeding the ferals too. That is usually the reason ferals stay, a good food source. Just saying

 

[nminusyplusm]

I hope that it stays that way but after over 10 years working with vet/Shelters it is usually not the case when they are allowed to return outdoors.

Also, if you are feeding outside you MAY bring in more cats. At some point your outdoor cat will allow a few buddies to enter and hang with him. I would stop feeding him and hopefully all your neighbors will stop feeding the ferals too. That is usually the reason ferals stay, a good food source. Just saying

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your advice in general, but in this specific situation what I've done is working very well. I've worked with animals for over 40 years and imho each is an individual and not all approaches work all the time with each one.

This is how I interpret what I'm observing: None of the ferals were friendly with each other before. I've seen that kind of colony behavior in settings where there are scavenging opportunities or prey food sources like large quantities of grain or garbage. Where I am is the opposite of that. It's brutal desert. My little garden does not provide that kind of hunting so there is no incentive for cats to exhibit colony behavior out here and they don't.

A few months ago there were several older and more dominant competing cats that would chase off this younger male and fight with each other. Since I started feeding this year old male, petting him and making him welcome, he's secure and knows my yard is his territory. Prior to befriending him, he would run away when I came outside as the other ferals did. Now he chases the others off should they venture too close to *his* yard.

I feed him in multiple small portions so there isn't food being left outside to attract other cats while I'm not around and it reinforces that I am the provider of that food.

I am the only one around here feeding any feral and I'm just feeding this one guy. I am doing this because it has reduced the number of cats in my yard to 1 and my neighbors' yards as well.

There's no avoiding the fact that a garden and pond out here will bring prey and unwanted cats. I could keep getting rid of each cat only to see it replaced by new un-spayed/neutered cats or I can accept that nature truly abhors a vacuum and selectively allow that ecological niche to be filled as best as can be.

 

[SW31]

Our cat started to herd our chickens but when they got much bigger she backed off. She has also learnt that it’s not a good idea to touch the hens electric fence!