The cat has steered clear of me and my wife until today.
We give our hens several day old raw milk that we get for free from a dairy farmer about an hour out of town.
Today, I went outside after I got home from work to give the chickens bowls of milk.
I saw the little cat -- she was sitting right in the middle of my tractor hen's nest (sitting on top of one of my hen's eggs, I might add).
So I poured the milk in full view of the little cat, and before I could count to 5, she darted out of the tractor and started drinking the milk. I was only about two feet from her, but she didn't care -- she was hungry, and that milk looked really good.
I poured another bowl of milk for my tractor hens, then went inside the main henhouse to pour two bowls of milk for those hens.
Then I came out, and she had finished the bowl of milk (I only put about half of a cup of milk in it -- I really just wanted to see what she would do).
So I softly walked towards the bowl, and poured more milk into it.
She drank all that milk too.
I stayed a few feet away from her, and didn't move. She'd look up at me from time to time, I guess trying to figure out if I was going to shu her away, and when I just stood there, she went back to lapping up the milk.
After she drank the second bowl, she came right up to me and rubbed her body on my ankles.
She seemed like she wanted to be picked up, so I did.
She is bony, but otherwise looks in good health.
I cuddled her, and my wife cuddled her. She really wants love as much as she wants food.
So yeah, I guess I've got another yard cat, whether I want a second cat or not.
Late this afternoon, when I fed the chickens, I put out a small bowl of dry cat food for her. She already drinks out of the tractor chickens's water bowls, so I didn't have to put water out for her.
An hour ago, I went out there, and the cat food bowl was empty.
Tomorrow, I was already planning on finishing setting up the chicken tractor for winter housing of the three birds that we do not house in the main henhouse.
So I guess I'll be building her a warm little cave to sleep on the side of the henhouse at the same time.
I figure on building it out of square bales of hay. I'll put down a piece of plastic tarp on the ground where I want the cave to go. Then I'll use blocks of hay to form the walls of her little sleeping cave on three sides, and I'll use another piece of plywood and then two bales of hay on top of the plywood for the "roof". Her "flooring" will be a mixture of cut grass clippings and crushed autumn leaves, about six inches thick, that she can use to help keep herself warm and comfy. The cave will be about as wide as a cat carrier, but will be the length of a square bale of hay, so that she can go to the back of it and have protection from the elements during bad weather, or sleep near the opening in good weather. Or climb on top of it, and sleep on top of the roofing when she wants to be "on top of the world."
I've done this once before for my Maine Coon cat (until my other cat died, and the Maine Coon asked to become an indoor/outdoor cat), and it proved to be a pretty warm and dry little place for a cat to make a winter home.
The cave will be on the south side of the henhouse, which means that the henhouse itself will block alot of the harsh winter wind and some rain from reaching her. The plywood roof weighted down with hay bales will provide both insulation and further protection from cold and rain.
I figure I'll feed her right in front of her cave, once I get the thing constructed tomorrow. I'm figuring on feeding her well for a couple of weeks while I try to put a little meat on those bones and get her used to living in that little cave. But then, I'm going to cut back on the rations, cuz I want her to continue to go after the mice. The henhouse is only about 25 feet from a neighborhood drainage ditch - though there IS a wooden fence separating the chicken house from that ditch -- so mice that normally live in or near the drainage ditch routinely wander into our henhouse.
I'm sure that's part of the reason why this cat decided to move in with us in the first place.
