Hi there,
I think I may have a problem with my neighbours cat.
We started with two bantams Martha and Betty, and one day Betty escaped and flew away many months ago. I thought at the time it was just typical Bantam houdini-esque behaviour ( and I like to believe that she lives in the park)
We replaced poor Betty with two big cross-bred laying/meat birds Molly and Polly, (not for eating though) and in January, Molly was found dead in the coop with no apparent cause (although I now suspect shock).
So now we're down to Martha and Polly.
There is a silver coloured housecat (looks fat and well cared for) which I have now chased from our yard many times although I never seem to get to the water pistol in time.
This morning the cat was in the chicken coop, stalking our remaining bantam, Martha who is hopelessly clucky over Polly's eggs.
Fortunately, Polly is a very clever girl who was standing on the roof of a rain shelter in the coop and making stranger danger noises (which unfortunately sound a lot like laying noises) and she's such a big girl that I'm not too worried about her. But Martha was refusing to budge from Polly's egg. She's not a very big girl.
I chased the cat and screamed at it and it freaked out and ran to and fro a couple of times in the coop trying to work out how to get out again. It got pretty tangled in the bird netting that encloses our coop and eventually found its way out a hole that it got in through.
Ive closed the hole up. Do you think a house cat will go after a roosting Bantam?
I now suspect that the cat chased away Betty, and caused poor Molly to fall off her perch with fright.
Polly is now trying at every opportunity to get inside the house as I'm fairly sure she knows there are no cats inside.
Any ideas on getting Martha to lay off the constant roosting vigilance? They aren't even her eggs...We can't get a rooster, we live in Sydney and I don't think the neighbours would appreciate it.
I think I may have a problem with my neighbours cat.
We started with two bantams Martha and Betty, and one day Betty escaped and flew away many months ago. I thought at the time it was just typical Bantam houdini-esque behaviour ( and I like to believe that she lives in the park)
We replaced poor Betty with two big cross-bred laying/meat birds Molly and Polly, (not for eating though) and in January, Molly was found dead in the coop with no apparent cause (although I now suspect shock).
So now we're down to Martha and Polly.
There is a silver coloured housecat (looks fat and well cared for) which I have now chased from our yard many times although I never seem to get to the water pistol in time.
This morning the cat was in the chicken coop, stalking our remaining bantam, Martha who is hopelessly clucky over Polly's eggs.
Fortunately, Polly is a very clever girl who was standing on the roof of a rain shelter in the coop and making stranger danger noises (which unfortunately sound a lot like laying noises) and she's such a big girl that I'm not too worried about her. But Martha was refusing to budge from Polly's egg. She's not a very big girl.
I chased the cat and screamed at it and it freaked out and ran to and fro a couple of times in the coop trying to work out how to get out again. It got pretty tangled in the bird netting that encloses our coop and eventually found its way out a hole that it got in through.
Ive closed the hole up. Do you think a house cat will go after a roosting Bantam?
I now suspect that the cat chased away Betty, and caused poor Molly to fall off her perch with fright.
Polly is now trying at every opportunity to get inside the house as I'm fairly sure she knows there are no cats inside.
Any ideas on getting Martha to lay off the constant roosting vigilance? They aren't even her eggs...We can't get a rooster, we live in Sydney and I don't think the neighbours would appreciate it.
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