Mean Kittens Bloodied my Hen :(

[ChickTucson]

Neighborhood kittens have been scoping out my chickens. I scared them off a couple times, hoping to teach them and not have to do anything further.

I typically allow my hens to free range and I supervise and then I allow them to go back in their coop on their own terms when the sun sets...

Today I just went inside for a bit and one of the kittens attacked my sweet Ancona. Her face is all bloody and I can see where she was cut under her eye.

How should I treat her cut?

What should I do about the mean kittens?

 

[shmccarthy]

As long as it isn't infected, you can put some neosporin on the cut. If it's a deep cut though, I wouldn't recommend putting it directly on the cut. I had a mink attack one of my roosters and rip off the back of his neck. I wrapped it up lightly in gauze and put the neosporin on the gauze itself so the wound had room to breathe and could still have the antibacterial stuff on it. Your best bet though is to probably just put antibacterial ointment on it daily and it should heal just fine.

As for the kittens, do you know whose they are? If they belong to someone specifically you should go talk to the owner and tell them what happened. Most people are reasonable and it's not out of the question to ask for compensation, even just the price of the neosporin (it's not about the price but the owner will get the picture). Tell them they need to keep their cats away from your property or else you will take them to the pound. My neighbor had a dog that would run loose and my younger brother was taking a walk and the dog ran onto the street and jumped on him and bit him on the face. Luckily he didn't need stitches but we went to the neighbor and told them what happened and they were reasonable and now keep their dog on their property.
If the cats don't belong to anyone there are organizations that will come out and trap them in live traps for you. Some will even spay/neuter them and that usually makes them less agressive. You can also look into calling a shelter and asking if they can trap them for you and take them in if you don't want to do it yourself. Those would probably be your best options, at least that I can think of.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Wow I've never heard of a cat attacking a chicken and definitely not a kitten. That's a ballsy little kitten. How bad is the cut? What is your yard layout? Is it fenced or open?

 

[ChickTucson]

I don't know whose cats they are. They seem to be fairly tame because they're really hard to scare off. I know feral cats and they seem far too clean and human friendly to be feral.

It's a pretty superficial cut. It didn't take long for us to get the bleeding to stop once we cleaned it and handled her (while she was on her own, she kept shaking her head and making the blood go everywhere). My hope is that in the morning she will no longer be bleeding and hopefully on the mend. If it looks messed up, I'll post a picture here for you.

My fiance says he just checked on her and says there is blood splatter in her little area, so she must have started the bleeding again. He also says he saw her scratching it before. I don't really know what to do about that.

Thank you for all of your suggestions. We have a humane trap out for them. I doubt they'll fall for it. I've never been successful at trapping any cats before, unless they were just a week or two old.

 

[ChickTucson]

I was pretty surprised too. They're not super little kittens. They're probably 3-5 months. My yard is completely surrounded by a 7 1/2 foot tall cinderblock wall. The hens are typically in their coop area that is pretty big and pretty secure.

They were wandering about when the kitten got her. The cut is pretty superficial. It is somewhere between her eye and her ear. It doesn't seem deep or big, but it sure is bleeding a lot.

My fiance was actually with the chickens when the kitten attacked. He says he didn't even see the cat at all, it was hiding and then he saw it in his periphery just bolt. He says the kitten had flattened the hen and was on top. He scared it off, but it didn't even leave the yard fully and just sat there and spied on them some more. That was my experience before when I noticed them casing the yard. They don't scare easy.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Does your fiance have a paintball gun? Maybe they need a little pop of paint to get the hint.

 

[aart]

Was this a full grown chicken?

 

[enola]

Cats DO attack chickens. Lots of posters will tell you differently. But I know what I have experienced personally. Kittens learn how to hunt/kill their prey by 'playing' .

What do you bait your trap with?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Cats DO attack chickens. Lots of posters will tell you differently. But I know what I have experienced personally. Kittens learn how to hunt/kill their prey by 'playing' .

What do you bait your trap with?

Yes I have had a fully grown hen attacked by a cat.

 

[Mahlzeit]

I never said cats don't attack chickens. I just have never had any personal experience with it or know of anyone who has. Especially kittens.