How to stop our hen from hopping the fence

[bruceha2000]

Kinda sad isn't it? It is sorta yellow orange, looks kind of like a potato so we can call them all the same name no matter how different they are from each other.

 

[Sylvester017]

We've had the Hav-a-hart trap set for a couple nights with cat food and last night just as the stray Calico cat was ready to approach it in the side yard a friend drove up in their van and scared it away - darn! Now we have to wait and see when/if the cat returns to that side. She jumps really high up to the block wall top. We can keep dogs out fine with our block wall and iron gates, but stray cats will always be a problem because of their agility -- the skinny emaciated cats can easily squeeze thru fence posts.

 

[Swiftbow]

Wow, I didn't notice this thread had gotten a LOT more replies! Our solution worked for awhile... but recently, she realized that she could just flap a little harder and land on the cardboard, too. I'm thinking about some kind of arbor with hanging stuff (beads maybe) to dissuade her. Or just a bigger gate. I don't want to block our cat if I can help it, though.

Yep, I'm really torn about what to do with that Calico. She's a good mouser as we've found shredded rodent in the yard. But her presence in the yard is keeping the adult hens from venturing out of their coop/pen to enjoy foraging in the backyard when she's here and she's here every darn day!!!!!

Kind of funny, we have a calico cat and it's our dominique who's the pest, lol. (Our doms are similar for sure... Lady Cluck's our only chicken who really seems to like being petted, though our Java is mostly okay with it.) I checked your location, just in case we had overlap, lol, but PRETTY sure Scamp doesn't roam to California. She mouses, too, but Lady Cluck caught herself a mouse without cat aid the other day, so competition increases! (Our cat thinks chickens are terrifying, btw... she briefly gave our new chicks a short-lived stalking, but their mom went into attack mode and chased her a short distance. The chicks have been ignored since.)

 

[Sylvester017]

Having a variety of pets is what we decided to avoid, sometimes various animals get along with each other and sometimes not -- it was either a pet dog, a cat, or some hens (no roo's are zoned here). DH never had chickens before so we got the limited 5 hens to try out. We've cycled through 18 chickens in 6-1/2 yrs to get down to the breeds we like. I like sweet Ameraucana's but had a couple girls who suffered in our horried SoCal climate so I don't get heavy or full-feathered downy breeds anymore. Love the smoother-feathered Breda and perky Dominique. DH loves his Silkies but we're down to one left -- she's our oldest hen and kinda special.

Whenever we had new pullets, they would chase stray cats out of the yard but once they start laying eggs they get wary and don't chase the strays. Maybe our 3 new Dominiques will eventually chase out the stray cat -- but they are only 3 months old and still in their chick stage. We almost caught the stray Calico in the Hav-A-Hart cage since we found some of her fur caught in the door. We'll keep trying to catch her. I don't want to use poisoned food in case lizards, wild birds, or rodents eat it and die in the yard -- I don't want our chickens possibly eating poisoned carcasses. I do love Calico cats -- had one on Mom's farm -- great mousers. Just don't like people who leave their pets behind when they move away and leave us to deal with their irresponsibility.

 

[Swiftbow]

Understandable. I do think having our own cat tends to keep the other neighborhood cats from coming around (at least most of the time). Ours can't stand other felines in her yard. The funny part is how convinced she is that the chickens are after her... they never are, they're running at me or my wife because we might have treats.

 

[Sylvester017]

Cats are definitely territorial and defend their zones. We had an indoor-outdoor cat and she had a boundary of just a certain distance down the street and then would stop and turn around. She would wait at that corner and when she recognized our car coming home would chase after us into the yard -- also probably hoping we had treats. After I watched the cat documentary on Netflix I found that cats are solitary and don't move in packs like canines and that sometimes getting our cat another house "buddy" cat may not be doing the solitary cat any favors LOL!

Our 3 new Dominiques are an energetic bunch and once they get running will even scare the two older hens out of the way. And yep, it's treats they're hoping we have for them! Best darn personality breeds we've had in the yard. We have a really high backyard fence with added privacy topping so hopefully they can't fly over it.

I like the Breda chicken for their flock congeniality and regal carriage but there's nothing like a group of Dominique clowns. Although we once had a very spunky energetic Black Silkie personality who's sadly no longer with us.

Silly BLACK SILKIE always had cobwebs in her "hair" -- we lost her this summer to a bleeding ovarian tumor -- really really miss her antics.

BLUE BREDA chicken -- no comb - just a triangle tassle crest

CUCKOO BREDA - Breda have feathered legs but no comb

Regal BREDA standing w/ 3 Dominiques rarely at rest

Old PARTRIDGE SILKIE recuperating from dry pox and molting