Predator? Pest! Chickens vs Cat *New Cat (??) Appeared*

[Chickenaddict]

We have several strays around here plus our own 2 cats, none of them bother chicks or the adult birds. I guess we are just fortunate. Our youngest cat is an avid hunter but only the sparrows and other smaller birds, anything bigger then a robin he leaves alone. That cat looks like he is enjoying the company of the birds, He is a beauty!

 

[speckledhen]

He is a very handsome cat, for sure. Used to have a black cat hang around-we called him Smudge and he brought his pregnant wifey with him. Maybe this is his kid.

 

[mamabahre]

if he is desperate enough to try an attack on a full grown chicken he might be starving a bit.. I myself would feed him and eventually see if I could pick him up and bring him inside, then again I am a sucker for any stray and would take them all if dh wouldn't kill me!

 

[speckledhen]

He looks to be in good weight, actually. I'm not sure he's a true stray, maybe just a guy scoping out better homes than he currently has.

 

[86121]

If you have some spare wood lying around, I would build a little shelter house or something and put some food in it.
If hes in your garbage it means hes hungry. If he has some food available then he wont touch the garbage anymore. You just have to find a way to keep the coons out of it.

 

[speckledhen]

Seems we have another cat...at least, I think it's a cat. This thing is larger than many foxes, but it's big, fluffy and orange and white like an orange creamsicle. DH told me weeks ago that he saw what looked like a huge orange and white cat near the coops when the chickens were alarming. I never saw it.

This morning at daybreak, I heard my Delaware rooster, Isaac, making an odd alarm call with the strangest tone, but all others were stone silent. I got out of bed and parted the blinds just in time to see a window screen we prop in front of the large picture window of the main coop falling and a humongous cat-like thing shooting out from underneath it. The window has a hardware cloth screen inside so no way anything short of a bear could get in, but the window is directly in front of the main roost and less than 2 ft from the ground. We put the screen there in case it rains, maybe it will deflect some water from getting inside the coop and we can leave the window full open in summer. Not sure if the cat was trying to get to the chickens or just trying to see in or what, but that thing was big enough to easily take down a full grown chicken if it was so inclined. Wish I'd gotten a look at it standing still. I wondered if maybe it could be an oddly colored fox because of the size, but I got the impression it was super fluffy like a Persian type cat, not sleek, and didn't see a tail.

 

[Firefighter Chick]

cats can be good guardians of property. If this kitty makes your yard his home, he'll probably keep other non-chicken loving cats away. i hope you keep him!

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
Hope you get it figured out! I don't blame you for not wanting to feeding it!! That's just asking for it to hang around.

 

[theFox]

speckledhen,

Be careful, things that are cat like and large aren't always 1. domesticated and 2. a house cat.

You folks have bobcats etc..

I'd say it was time for some good sized box traps or a trail camera or two.

 

[speckledhen]

Gosh, I really want a game cam! I think maybe I'll have to see if I can squeeze out some $$$ for one from somewhere. I've seen a bobcat run across the road near us in the daytime and I know we have all manner of predator, including bears because I've seen just about every one of them on my property. The coops are secure against all except bears at night. Bears go wherever they like.

We do have an old video camera we can set up with a tape to watch out there, but it isn't any good at night. It was light enough, I think, today that we could have seen what this thing was if we were watching at the time.