Kitten

Thats what I'd do with him, if he is feral. I know a lot of people believe in just killing them, but thats not the answer. Good luck.

 

These kinds of cats often make their way to me from my local humane society, and I tame them up and turn them into social creatures, suitable to be house pets. Maybe someone in your area does something similar?

 

Well it's a smart little devil isn't he! I would take him to a shelter for that reason alone! Sounds like it deserves a chance.

 

CompostQueen - whereabouts are you? You'll need to livetrap the little guy, baited with kitty food. The high-value, stinky, yummy kind FancyFeast is always a good one. You can evaluate better when you have him as a captive audience.

My guess is yes, he is feral. If he bit / scratched etc, then he's unlikely to be a housecat. I have scars that testify to this

Oh, and yes, he'll take out one of your chicks for sure. Cats are deadly killers.

 

It will probably be easy to trap him and then take him to the SPCA. Cat (and kitten) bites can be really nasty, so make sure your hubs really cleans the wound well and checks for inflammation. Cat bites are nothing like dog bites.
I can't imagine shooting a little kitten. He is doing what he has to do to survive.

 

How old is the kitten?? They can be tamed with patience, if you bring a feral cat to the humane society they are almost always put down. I wonder if it's mom is around, she may be the chicken killer and she's teaching the kitten to hunt...??
I would bait a live trap with canned wet cat food. I have been catching feral cats and kittens around here in droves lately!! People apparently think it's okay to drop off their unwanted cats near farms. I've fixed 3 adults this summer, and I currently have 2 females with their kittens!! Then there are 2 more females to catch and I think I'm done. I'm getting the adults fixed and just re-releasing them, one ended up in my chicken coop after we released her so we took her and her boyfriend to a relatives barn to live there. They can't do much harm to pigs and cows. The rest leave my chickens alone.
I am taming the kittens and it's going really well. At first they were mean nasty little devils, but now they even let my kids hold them. I just found homes for 2 out of 3 in the first litter, I caught them when they were about 7-8 weeks old (it took 3 hours) and was able to tame them in only 2 weeks. The other litter is much younger, we found them around 4 weeks old. My kids are having fun with them, pushing them in the doll stroller and wrapping them up in little blankets like baby dolls. They'll either make really great pets or they will absolutely hate kids.

 

Cat bites are nasty. If you take the kitten to a rescue, IFF they can tame it, it may be adoptible; if they cannot, and it is healthy, they will almost certainly neuter it, clip the ear (to indicate that it has been neutered) and re-release it back to the area it came from. This tactic has proven to lessen ferel cat populations.

You need to close that gap above the door, just about any predator in your area can acces your coop through it.

 

It is worse than cat bites are nasty, cats also can carry rabies that cat needs to be caught and the head provided to the state lab and your hubby needs to see a doctor pronto.