now i've got another problem

[chixrus]

we caught a cat in our trap and i think that it might have killed my little silkie hen. she showed up not to long ago, a chicken dies, and then she's caught in the trap right where the chickens body was? coincidence? doubt it. here's the thing. she's very cute and i was thinking that we would just shoot it, but now i don't think that i can. she wasn't scared of us at all, she was mewing the whole time, but she rolled over on her back and was acting like she was totally used to humans, she just wanted to be let out of the trap. wouldn't a really truly wild cat be backed up in a corner hissing? she's really pretty young, too. so, what do i do with her? i can't release her, since she's probably a chicken killer, and even if she wasn't, it's the same as shooting her, she'll get hit on the road soon enough. i was thinking about a farm that wanted a barn cat, but i don't think that there's much of a market for those this time of year. what are your opinions?

PS it's ok if you post and just say that you would shoot her, i won't think that you're cruel or mean or anything, i want your honest opinions

ETA: this is the post about my silkie, if you want to look at how she was killed: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=270488

 

[chookchick]

Very few cats are chicken killers, and if she is tame, she is probably not the kind of wild, rough cat that would take on a chicken. I think she just happened to be a the wrong place at the wrong time. Please give her the benefit of the doubt--she may be hungry, and smelled the dead chicken carcass. She may be somebodies pet. Don't you have any kind of animal shelter in your area, a place that takes in lost pets, and tries to re home them if the owner doesn't claim? If not, I would advertise for a lost cat, or ask around your neighborhood. If she is pretty and friendly, someone will probably take her.

 

[Alley]

My cat and all of the neighborhood cats leave my girls alone. They look but they don't touch...

 

[chixrus]

even a silkie who can't see behind her? missy was a very small silkie...

 

[rufus]

Congratulations, you have a new cat. Keep her. Cats stare at the chickens and stalk them, but they can't kill a grown chicken. Once they get pecked, they know who is the boss, and it isn't the cat.

Rufus

 

[chookchick]

Read the other thread, and now I REALLY don't think it was a cat. A cat would not just take the head off and leave the body for later--like the others said, sounds like a coon. A cat would sit down and chew up the body, and leave feet, head, etc...Make sure your coop is secure because that raccoon will be back, and he will be relentless until you catch him...

 

[hilandfrog]

We have 4 cats...

1 inside only, hairless that sleeps w/ Paiger under the sheets and all

1 barn cat, keeps the population down to a dull roar and the horses seem to like all 25 lbs of him

2 inside our garage, for property patrol, these are the one that feed dead mice to the chickens.

They used to leave the dead critters in the garage, now they leave them just outside the coop.

Our Chickens love the dead things and prevents me from tossing them into the woods where my dogs more than likely get'M.

Cats are good, if their good cats.

Repo

 

[rirluvr]

Take the cat and offer her a silkie while supervising her. If she is the murderer she will remember the act of killing and attempt to kill again. When she does you will see your silkie in distress and have no regrets about killing the chicken killer. I have a cat she is 15 and my chickens order her around.

 

[domino7]

My neighbors let their cats run the neighborhood. I HATE it. They don't bother my chickens, but they kill chipmunks, and everything else they can catch. I could never hurt them, but I wish someone would lol.

 

[chris_m90731]

isn't it illegal to shoot a cat?