Killer cat

[Spires6]

We are having a sad spring. We have lost more than 20 chickens to predators. We have electric webbed fencing but it has suffered alot of damage and is no longer functioning. There is a huge raccoon population here and I have been hearing them almost every night. I assumed it was raccoons killing our chickens. My husband fixed the door on the coop (It had been damaged in the wind and wasn't shutting properly) and we are shutting them in at night. We stopped losing hens and they were starting to lay eggs again. Saturday I went in the coop and my sweet little barn kitty was in there munching on a dead RIR. Since then she has been trying to sneak in every night when I shut them in. I can't believe my cat is a serial killer. Anyone else have a killer cat?

 

[chicmom]

Oh boy. I'd re-home that kitty quickly.

 

[bobbi-j]

Are you sure the cat killed the chicken, or was it eating a dead chicken that it had found? Maybe something small like a weasel or rat killed the chicken. I've never had a cat kill a full-grown chicken, but I suppose it could happen.

 

[Spires6]

I am not sure if she killed it or found it dead and was eating it. I really think it is coons that have done most of the killing and that maybe she has fed off some of the carcasses and developed taste for them. Hope she hasn't done any killing. She is small and less than a year old. I will be watching her. I think it's suspicious that she wants in the coop at night.

 

[bobbi-j]

I don't think a small cat would take a full-grown chicken. Maybe there are mice getting into the coop at night that she likes to play with? My cats have never bothered my adult chickens. They don't have access to the little ones.

 

[Rammy]

I doubt the kitty killed the chicken. I know if they are pullets they will kill the smaller chickens. My neighbor lost about 24 to the neighbors cat. Needless to say, kitty hasnt got too many lives left if he can get a shot at it. I really agree with the other posts that it probably found the chicken and was just eating it. Sounds like you need to do some more fortifying. If the cat found a way in, something else showed it the way.

Rammy