Outdoor Cat...bad idea for a nearby chicken coop

[bibliophile birds]

forgot to add that there is a member on here (can't remember who but they have the really GIANT coop with the mountain view on the Coop Contest page) that keeps 2 cats in the coop with the chickens to keep the mice down. they have a really large setup, though, and even have LGDs in with the chickens.

 

[georgina]

Quote:
Agree with that 110%!

I have a little flock of pigeons, and my big male, Airbus, got caught by a neighbours cat and practically got his leg ripped off. Happened on MY driveway and the neighbours opinion was that I shouldn't have let my birds out.

Airbus's vet bills came to nearly £200 (which might seem a little extreme for a pigeon but I couldn't have him put to sleep). I don't mind cats as such, it's just that they don't keep to their own space. And like you said, they're s***s for pooing in the flowers and snacking on the local song birds. Funnily enough, the local cats don't seem to have a taste for rats, which is a bit of a shame. My pigeons do quite often go and crap on the neighbours washing though...

Swings and roundabouts and all that!

I also got annoyed about a story a while ago about a lady who was sueing her neighbour because she let her cat out, it went into a neighbours, the neighbours pet python was in his garden and ate the cat... I figure if cat people want to let their cats out to wander, they should accept something beyond their control may happen to it. The snake man was perfectly within his rights to have his snake out on his own property surely?! *sigh* cat people shall always remain mysterious and unexplainable to me! LOL

On the other hand - not one of the local cats has been brave enough to have a go at my chickens yet.

 

[joletabey]

No problems here- my cats sit on top of the brooder and watch, but no one shows any interest in catching a chick. They don't make the little "I see a bird aak-aak-aak"noise or try to figure out how to get into the brooder.
The neighbors cats are all VERY respectful of their chickens, and I have seen their chickens flap their wings and chase the cats.

 

[CocoNUT]

ok....so i have 6 cats...only ONE outdoor cat! (she HATES being inside!) My ONE request of my outdoor Sammi was "no birds". So far, she has brought me 6 voles (field mice) and NO birds. My neighbor has two outdoor/indoor cats. I HATE them. One of them likes to get INTO my chicken coop/run and I even caught her sleeping IN the nest (inside the coop) one evening! I reached in for my egg and saw a black furry thing bolt!!! Thankfully I had witnessed an earlier attempt by the EVIL cat to 'hunt' my chickens (who were raised indoors with 5 drooling felines!) and FAIL once she realized the chickens were MUCH LARGER than she is! I IMMEDITAELY proceeded to SOAK the evildoer with whatever bottle of sprayable liquid I coudl find first and she has since NOT returned to the coop/run. (I also have SUPER-secured EVERY half-inch crack too! My neighbors' OTHER cat (male) likes to sit on the top of the run and harass my chickens AND my indoor cats! He also eats my outdoor cats' food and attempts to beat her up. Neither ONE of my neighbors' cats will get close enough to me so I can GRAB them! (I'm asking the Baby New Year for a SUPER SOAKER 5 THOUSAND to finish them off!)

My cat does wander down to the undeveloped land at the end of our road and hunts for mice. She visits some of the neighbors (she's very friendly), but mostly stays near our house. (In her little 'cat house' my husband built for her on our porch). Especially since it's been COLD, she doesn't wander out of the front yard!

My outdoor cat was allowed in the run/coop before the chickens were let out. She's pretty good about 'behaving' and she knows when I'm done with them, it's HER love time! She's an AWESOME cat!!!

I agree with a prior poster on having an outdoor cat. IF you have an outdoor or indoor/outdoor cat...you MUST be willing to accept the great variety of things that could happen to your cat. Run over by a car, taken by larger predators (hawks, owls, possums, racoons, dogs, cayotes, etc), snatched by a neighbor, INTENTIONALLY taken by neighbor to a no kill OR kill shelter, diseases, cat-fights) all kinds of FUN things! My outdoor kitty 'disappeared' for a month a few months ago. I was feeling SOOOO guilty. I honestly still think someone had taken her "in" thinking she was abandoned. She did eventually return and I was VERY grateful! I do worry about her...but I KNOW she is MUCH happier outside. (I'm not a person who really agrees with "outdoor' cats...unless you have a barn because of all the killing of birds they do!)

If you're bringing home a cat from the shelter, give the cat about at least a MONTH INSIDE to learn where it's NEW HOME "is". If you bring it home and just let it out...it'll most likely just run away!!! They need to associate YOU adn YOUR HOUSE with them getting FOOD! Also...leaving food out all the time can attract all kinds of bad things...rodents, scavengers, other cats, etc. Let the cat learn which house/apartment s/he belongs to...THEN let them slowly wander outside! Otherwise you've just added to the ferral cat population! (out by us, cats are considered 'vermin'...so NO special 'protection' under the law!!!)

Good luck, either way I don't think you'll have a problem with a cat and "Grown" chickens! lol

 

[Kittymomma]

No problems with my three indoor/outdoor cats or even any of the ever changing, hungry "strays" that get dumped out here on a regular basis--Sure wish folks would figure out that dumping their critters by the nice farm doesn't mean they'll get a home here. I wouldn't trust any of them with chicks, not sure about banties either, but standard adult chickens aren't likely to be messed with.

 

[Harrietsmum]

My three bantams are in charge of the backyard. They do let the cat share their scraps, but not if it is something yummy. When the cat was given a tasty piece of roast chicken skin, one of the bantams grabbed it out of his mouth and took off running around.

 

[gryeyes]

I wish I had been able to get a video shot of the scene when Patch, one of my cats, peered through the fence very closely at a chicken standing nearby. Matilda, the Australorp, turned and saw Patch. She leaned way over, they went nose to beak, and then Matilda quite deliberately pecked Patch's nose where it was framed in the fence material. You never saw a cat leap backwards so fast!

 

[bibliophile birds]

Quote:
i think it totally depends on where you live as to whether you should let your cats out. i live in the middle of nowhere and my nearest neighbor is a mile away, so my cats aren't a bother to anyone else. nor would i be ok letting them out if other people lived closer for fear that terrible things would happen to them (it's hard enough thinking about the critters that could get them out here).

when i lived in town, the cats were NEVER allowed outside unless they were in my arms or on a leash (yes, i was that girl). there were so many roaming neighborhood cats that could carry god knows what and i wasn't willing to take that risk. plus, farm cats and city cats have very different agendas. the farm cats here want to follow me around and "help" on the farm and they kill rats, mice, moles, and all kinds of unhelpful critters. all the city cats i've been around wanted to do was eat my garbage, even if there was a tasty rat sitting on top of it, and pee on my front door.

 

[bubblebean11]

She doesnt mind the chickens at all. I have quite a few Big cats and they dont bother the birds. I even have a really small bantam that runs around the yard and they leave her alone. I think the cats are more afraid of the birds than the birds afraid of the cats.

 

[Emzyyy]

My neighbor's cat got my cochin bantams.

Neighbor found them in her garage.