How do you all stop chickens from eating barn cat food?

[LostInAppalachia]

Our barn cats and our free range chickens don’t. Everyone gets feed, but our free range chickens prefer cat food. Our cats will kill possums and squirrels, but will not defend their food against chickens. They went from being barn cats to being garage cats. Our garage eventually got peed/pooped in, littered with squirrel tails, and they are screaming for feed at the door. What’s worse is the chickens have simply started braving the garage and leaving the occasional poop in return. As of this week, everyone has been kicked out of the garage because the chickens are on lockdown getting treatment. The chickens start free ranging again today. How do you keep your chickens from eating barn cat food?

 

[ChickyWhicky]

We keep the cat food pan up high where the cats can get to it but the chickies cant. Cats are super climbers/jumpers, if you can find a shelf to put it up on, should solve the problem.

 

[LostInAppalachia]

We keep the cat food pan up high where the cats can get to it but the chickies cant. Cats are super climbers/jumpers, if you can find a shelf to put it up on, should solve the problem.

We tried that. It got to the point where we were putting the fed up in the rafters. The chickens just followed. A few of them roost in the rafters anyway so it’s not difficult for them to get up there.

 

[ChickyWhicky]

We tried that. It got to the point where we were putting the fed up in the rafters. The chickens just followed. A few of them roost in the rafters anyway so it’s not difficult for them to get up there.

Holy smokes.. You have some determined chickens. Do you lock your chickens up at night? Wondering if you could feed the cats at night time, when the chickens are away.

 

[LostInAppalachia]

Holy smokes.. You have some determined chickens. Do you lock your chickens up at night? Wondering if you could feed the cats at night time, when the chickens are away.

We have four that refused to be cooped at night. They rose in the rafters in the barn where we attempted to keep the cats. I had this idea once, but they weren’t swayed.

 

[Battlepants]

Do your chickens and cat avoid eachother? If so, you could make a small room for the cat food and connect that to the main area via an Infrared cat door. This would make it so only the cat can make it to that room but the chickens cannot.

 

[NatJ]

Infrared cat door.

Even a normal cat door might work, depending on how smart the chickens are.

It might work to put the cat food in something like a dog crate, and arrange a cat-only door.
Depending on how big and how clever the cats vs. the chickens are, a cat-only door might be something like:
a swinging flap
a pet door that locks itself, and only unlocks for an animal with the right charm on its collar
an opening that is just barely big enough for the cats to crawl through
a tunnel made of cardboard or plywood
an opening in the top or the bottom of the crate
some combination that makes use of the fact that cats can jump, can squeeze through things, and see better in the dark than chickens do

 

[LostInAppalachia]

Do your chickens and cat avoid eachother? If so, you could make a small room for the cat food and connect that to the main area via an Infrared cat door. This would make it so only the cat can make it to that room but the chickens cannot.

The cats avoid the chickens but the chickens will run the cats right off their food. We are both allergic to cats so indoor outdoor isn’t an option, especially because my female cat is a real killer and is sometimes covered in blood. I guess we could attempt building a room in the barn that responds to infrared collars…. The issue is getting the cats to keep collars on.

 

[LostInAppalachia]

For clarification, flea collars don’t stay on very long around here

 

[SourRoses]

Just feed your cats only what they can eat at one sitting and when the chickens aren't around. Feeding them in the chicken space isn't working so you can just feed outside somewhere the chickens don't expect it to be, and if they never get a meal they won't come to that spot looking.

We fed our barn cats on the back porch and picked up the bowls when they were done. They learned there were two times a day to get fed and they showed up promptly for it. But we also fed wet food because it's better for the health of cats.

After 6 years of doing well here, both of our beautiful boys disappeared within a month of each other last fall. We were so sad, it must have been a predator or maybe poison, as we are surrounded with farms and woods, not roads.