Outdoor kittens?

[silkiechicken]

Oh, yeah, mine all showed up as adults who knew how to feed themselves for the most part. A kitten often needs a bit of training and a few days of hunger to be a good hunting feral, and with a true kitten, you run the risk of it becoming a pet more than a working cat.

 

[mtnhomechick]

Quote:
could also be a predators lunch.

 

[silkiechicken]

Very true... perhaps that could be a reason the current strays are non existent? Are there foxes or feral dogs that are taking them out by any chance?

 

[maplesky7]

All right...HOLD THE PHONE!

Did I just read...what I thought I read?

Silkie chicken said..."The ferals I have eaten along side with month old silkies..."

You've eaten feral's?? I've heard of it in other countries but was not aware of the practice done here. te he he.

Ok, my thought is...20 cats?? You sound like my friend who had 18 at one point. One thing you couldn't mistake was the territorial wars...i.e. spraying.

Fixed or not...if they did it before they'll do it again. That's been my experiance and that was only with 3 cats. That's why those cats became outside cats. Makes my hubby so mad all the things they spray on.

Our grain store has wild kitty's all the time and they get to petting them to get them tame...well, some of them at least. And they are always looking to send them home with people.

That's where we picked up my dd's kitten for her birthday last year. We made him an inside cat but he's yet to catch a mouse...made one squeak, but didn't get it. My other cat, with multiple toes, is quite good at it. The outside cats get more gophers, bunnies, and birds than mice or moles. Though my chickens hunt and kill those.

Just thought that may be an idea of a good place to find unwanted kittens at your local grain store.

me,
g

 

[Moonwalker]

I have a spayed femal lookinf for a home. She grew up on the farm around the chickens, horses etc. But she does like to come inside sometimes

She IS a mouser, tho!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

We had someone drop off a 4 week old very sick kitten off in our driveway in the middle of Nov in WI it was -15 degrees outside at the time. He still lives with us but he is now a fat indoor cat

We do havelots of stray cats come hunt on our property and so far they have left the hens alone.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
ha ha ha. I missed that, but went back and re-read it, and yes that's what he said!!

OMG

 

[silkiechicken]

LOL, that is a great mistake!

I missed a have and a comma. Rather than

"The ferals I have eaten along side with month old silkies..."

It should be "The ferals I have, have eaten along side with month old silkies..."

 

[chickenannie]

Wow, I was starting to feel sorry for those month-old silkies too! (Of course we believe you...)

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Great ideas, y'all. It does make more sense to get an adult since they would be better mousers. Duh! I wasn't thinking about that. I was more worried about the chickens and with keeping the kitty here and not down the street.

My chickens are 12 weeks old. I guess that makes them more or less adult chicken size. They are big wussy chickens though. I'm not sure any of them would get close enough to the cat to peck him/her. We are truly big chickens! And clearly we don't have mighty hunter tendencies as I watched them graze happily with a wild rabbit this afternoon. We are pacifist, share-the-buffet kinds of chickens apparently.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll talk to my snip and tip friend and see what she has that might fit the family.

CG

PS I was a little worried about silkiechicken's kitties and silkies too! Glad they weren't dinner.

Silkiechicken- I did end up getting two silkies with my chick order. Thanks for your advice a couple of months ago! One is a bit spastic, but the blue is turning out to be super friendly and a cutie pie. Oddly enough though, she's kind of a half size banty. She's half the size of the white silkie. Weird, huh?