ideas?

[Ashley129]

hey so I have about 20 doves split into 2 cages these cages are dog cages there spacious and big,we brought them from California to Washington and we leave the cages outside on a table so it’s high enough for them.Now the problem is that there is a lot of cat in the neighborhood so they tend to attack my birds and managed to eat about 5 of them this whole year.yesterday one got eaten and the other one got it’s wing pulled off and didn’t make it.is there any ideas on what I could do to prevent that we were planning on buying a shed but we’re moving soon and we don’t have room for that.At night we cover them with a tarp and stretchy Bands that tighten everything but the cats still manage to eat them. Should I put poison around the cages? Cages are about that big

 

[nuthatched]

Bring them into a secure place or wrap the cages in hardware cloth. Can you build a movable aviary out of hardware cloth? Are you sure it's always cats? Raccoons are also a possibility.

 

[My Bagurks]

Don’t do poison. The cats paws can probably reach right inside of the cages and kill them. Would it be worth it to you to wrap the sachets in hardware cloth with 1/2 in gaps?

 

[McChooky]

You should be able to find 25 ft rolls of 1/2 " galvanized steel hardware cloth 2 or 3 foot wide at lowes, walmart or tractor supply for under $40 . You'll need wire cutters ,gloves & zip ties to cut & attach it. It will make your cage stronger & keep predators out .

 

[Ashley129]

Bring them into a secure place or wrap the cages in hardware cloth. Can you build a movable aviary out of hardware cloth? Are you sure it's always cats? Raccoons are also a possibility.

yes it can also be raccoon during the night we usually see a baby raccoon roaming around our yard so it might be that aswell we wrapped them with cloth then the tarp and use stretchy bands but they still end up eating it and they only take its head but leave the body

 

[Ashley129]

You should be able to find 25 ft rolls of 1/2 " galvanized steel hardware cloth 2 or 3 foot wide at lowes, walmart or tractor supply for under $40 . You'll need wire cutters ,gloves & zip ties to cut & attach it. It will make your cage stronger & keep predators out .

great thank you hopefully this works we moved them up on our porch and today it still got eaten we cover the cages good idk if it’s a small animal and how it’s getting in

 

[Ashley129]

Don’t do poison. The cats paws can probably reach right inside of the cages and kill them. Would it be worth it to you to wrap the sachets in hardware cloth with 1/2 in gaps?

going to tractor supply and Walmart later see if I can find some sort of fence and covering them. There’s 20 of them now im planning on maybe letting these birds free but my mom doesn’t want to I think it’s better for them to be free then to be stuck in a cage were they Can slightly die.

 

[nuthatched]

going to tractor supply and Walmart later see if I can find some sort of fence and covering them. There’s 20 of them now im planning on maybe letting these birds free but my mom doesn’t want to I think it’s better for them to be free then to be stuck in a cage were they Can slightly die.

Just rehome/sell them. Releasing them isn't a good solution and your set up now isn't close to as it should be.
Maybe you can get Quail later, when you have the time, energy, money and have done actual research to raise Quail properly, but for now, you and they aren't having a great time and you seem unprepared for caring for them.