Two Dead N.H. Reds, Suspect Shot

[WillieBoy]

Well, after 3 yrs of chickens, lost my first hens to a cat. I like cats, have one as a pet.
Yesterday, the girls were flipping out in the back corner of my yard. I grabbed my Storm X pellet rifle and walked back there to see what was happening.
Sitting there looking at me, a NH Red not ten feet away laying dead on the ground, was a cat.
I've seen this cat around my yard for the last couple of months, now and then. My own cat has been really afraid lately, acting very spooked and not wanting to go outside much lately, whih see loves to do.
Anyway, i aimed and got a clear shot through the brush. I heard the cat going over the 6ft stockade fence in the backyard.Don't know how serious the shot was to the cat.
I felt kinda bad, because i could tell it wasn't a feral cat. It had no collar or tags on.I alway thought i'd lose my first hens to a dog or coons..I've had live traps set around for months, the cat wouldn't trap.
My hens come first, i really disliked shooting that cat, as i've always had a cat as a pet.Killing my hens and making my cat miserable left me little choice...
The cat crossed the line when it killed my hens, thou i know it was around here for some time.Don't know if it died or is still alive. I just hope i never see it around here anymore...

 

[7L Farm]

I'm not a cat lover. I don't go around killing cats. But if a cat threatens my chickens I would of done the same thing. Even if you didn't kill it . I doubt that cat will come back.

 

[woodmort]

How big was this cat? I find it hard to comprehend that a cat could kill something as big as a NH hen, much less two. I've had some big cats over the year that were good hunters and most could kill anything much larger than a half-grown rabbit. Also none of them were ever even interested in the chickens once they got past the fuzzy stage.

 

[lilchick]

I used to stop my jack russell from chasing cats. One day I saw a stray cat hiding in my pasture eating a chick.. Noticed the hen was down to just 1 baby.. I brought out my jack russell and gave him the signal to sic the cat. Well that was the end of it.....

 

[Lbrad7]

Quote:
I have to agree Woodmort. I have had stray cats hunting in my barn for years and never had one even give a full grown hen a second glance. (chicks...now that is a different story) I am wondering if it might not have been a bobcat.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

I don't think that a pellet gun would have killed the cat, just tought it a good lesson.

 

[zazouse]

Quote:
I have to agree Woodmort. I have had stray cats hunting in my barn for years and never had one even give a full grown hen a second glance. (chicks...now that is a different story) I am wondering if it might not have been a bobcat.

I agree,

 

[ivan3]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=116704 (post #10).

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
I have had a cat kill a half grown meat bird, it jumped on its back and grabbed the neck. I hucked the cat against the wall by its tail and never seen it again. But I have many cats and thats the only one that ever tried it.

 

[ivan3]

ChickieBooBoo wrote: I have had a cat kill a half grown meat bird, it jumped on its back and grabbed the neck. I hucked the cat against the wall by its tail and never seen it again. But I have many cats and thats the only one that ever tried it.

Had two ferals, that I watched, for at least 15min., work their way up the drainage to the east of the clearing in front of our house (chooks were in some of the lilacs in clearing). One would move then stop and crouch, then the other would move. They never took their eyes off of the chooks. I could almost hear Marlin Perkin's voice-over describing feline hunting tactics on the `veldt' of the dissected uplands in Missouri. Those two were retired before they got a chance to `bring down' any chooks.

Our 18lb. Manx was acquired when I was picking up trash along the road that fronts our property (in a wal mart bag with five dead sibs). He was on our dining table and the chooks were on the back deck. He leapt from the table, struck the sliding glass door, separating him from the chooks, with his head, and walked around addled for about a week. He will never see the `great outdoors'.

Our outdoor cat is a target for both the chooks and turks. She pretty much looks, but doesn't touch (was raised with adult fowl to put her in her place).

The only thing I feel safe in assuming is that I'll lose chooks by assuming much more than that.​