I love my kitties, but...

[ddcoyne]

...I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by their murderous glares when I took a few of our 4 week old chicks out for a little romp in their soon-to-be new home. I walked in and shut the door behind me and let them out of the box. They were very still for a few minutes before they tentatively started poking around. My 2 cats, a mama & her son, sat right outside the chicken wire staring, tails twitching wildly and making little impatient mewing noises. I'm wondering how long I'll have to worry about whether or not my cats will try to eat my birds. Luckily, both cats are fairly small as far as cats go, and I imagine the birds will possibly even outweigh the cats by the time they are full grown. I'd love to just let the chicks run around the yard for a few minutes each day, but that's not gonna happen. Luckily, they have a large run area outside the coop.

I do have one very large heavy cat named London. We always joke about him being a panther because he's so big & tough. I think he could easily take a chicken, but he's extremely docile and showed no interest in the birds today whatsoever.

 

[bobbi-j]

I don't let my chicks free range until they're pretty much full-size. It's just too tempting for a cat. After all, what they see is little helpless birds that would make an easy meal. I had a mama cat get into my chicks once and wiped out several of them. Totally my fault, not blaming the cat.

 

[Imp]

If they are large fowl, when they are full grown, they will probably put the cats in their place. I have a large feral tom that is terrified of my chickens. He will skip meals before coming into the backyard, if the chickens are out.

Imp

 

[animalsRawesome]

When we got our barn cats (as kittens) I already had chickens. My hens hatch chicks, and free range. I've never had a problem. My cats actually like to sleep in the coop with the chickens!

I hope your cats and chickens get along!

 

[allpeepedout]

I have a very small cat who has been feigning disinterest in the chicks, now that they are 6 weeks old. I am putting them out in a big chain link dog kennel pending completion of coop. Kennel is lined with hardware cloth but topped with plastic netting. Miss Kitty scaled the 6 ft. chain link, and I caught her sitting on the edge of a corner, debating going inside. I think she is intimidated by their number and size but still can't resist the hunt. I think I had a near cat-astrophe! Thankfully, my dog started barking like crazy and alerted me to the cat.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
I'm not that big a fan of chicken wire, but that would be a little more secure than that plastic stuff for the top of your run. Plus it doesn't weigh too terribly much.
My sister has had chicken wire on the top of her run & it has held up, but it does succumb to the elements. She had a small cat get through it, but it probably fell through a weak spot.
I am very happy to hear you diverted your cat-tastrophe!
I have 6 cats but they don't look at my babies in the brooder like they are their next meal, fortunately. They are probably desensitized by my doves. If one of the cats puts their paw on the cage, they'll peck it. I didn't teach them that, I swear!

 

[woodmort]

Generally speaking most normal sized cats will ignore a fully grown pullet.

 

[flowergirl60]

My cat is very caucious around my chickens. My pullet chases after her and she runs. She likes to go in the coop and eat thier food.

 

[jennh]

When I had my chicks, I "introduced" my cats to my chicks, let them smell them , etc. They never bothered my chicks. Maybe the cats saw them as pets like themselves?

 

[kiwismom]

We've found with ours once the chicks stop mamking peeping noises cats ignore them. We have one little hen that peeped until she laid her first eggs.She could cackle and did but then would revert back to peeping, cats will go after them when they hear that.We wait until they peep no more and they can free range, has worked well for us.