Urgent Advice Needed (cats Attacking My Hens And Ducks)

[PortageGirl]

MOST cats can't or won't kill chickens or ducks, but if they're big enough, or starving, they might try and in doing so, injure your poultry. It sounds like they are more after the chicken feed than the chickens. Do you WANT a cat? Trapping them, and taking the ones you don't want to the pound will get them away, and you could feed one and let it live in your coop to keep down mice and such. Just a thought, and I know not everyone likes having them around. My teenage cat tries to stalk my hens, it's pretty entertaining but he'd be hopelessly confused if he ever caught one, plus, they turn around and stalk him too, so I guess they're even. Eventually he gets tired and lays down watching them, and they go back to ignoring him.

 

[jjthink]

Cats generally will not harm grown chickens. If it was me, and I'm just speaking for me, I'd feed the cats because as you make them tame you make them more adoptable. Then enlist the help of a humane organization to catch them and spay/neuter/find homes for them (this is something I've done many times on my own but if you want help with this, call around and someone will help). I have also adopted a couple of former ferals that fell head over heels in love with my chickens and could barely stand to be away from them. The chickens could sense the love, and relaxed.

The cats are just hungry and uncared for, thanks no doubt to some slime of a human that was irresponsible. We have the opportunity to mitigate for that if we choose, rather than tormenting them further.
You sound like you want to help them - thank you.
JJ

 

[elmo]

Check with your local animal control to see if they will let you borrow a humane trap. We did this when a feral cat set up shop under our deck.

If you don't catch and relocate these strays, you could be dealing with a much bigger cat population problem down the road.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Most people won't believe me when I tell them that my cat will hunt and try to kill my grown LF chickens. That's why she is now an indoor only cat.
I agree with Brindle. A havahart trap is in order.

 

[IDIOT HUSBAND]

I have my own way of dealing with ferell cats. but don't fool yourself into thinking that they can't or won't kill your chickens. I've seen several cats that can put a 30 pound dog on it's way. I don't think they would have a problem with a 8 pound chicken. Good luck with your problem.

 

[PortageGirl]

Oh, I agree that a cat CAN and sometimes WILL kill a chicken. Some have very strong prey drive and even if they're well fed, they'll try. Even if it doesn't kill a chicken, a cat like that can terrorize them and/or injure them to the point that the chooks are in danger of trauma, injury, infection, illness and yes, death.

Most cats ARE lazy though and even though ferals often present all the traits that make cats dangerous to chickens, if they're fed and given a safe place, they can learn to coexist with chooks.

I agree that live traps and at the very least, trips to the local pound are in order in the OPs case. It's true that if they're found to be truly feral beyond hope, they'll be humanely killed, but at least they have a possiblity of being adopted out too. (or retrieved by their owners, hopefully to be kept safely indoors afterwards.)

I actually think (and this IS a point of argument to some) but I think there is a place for outdoor cats in a barn/coop/farm situation. Cats have served a valuable position as vermine hunters for centuries. If they get immunized, spayed/neutered, cared for etc, I see nothing wrong with having them out there keeping rat and mouse populations controlled. Yes, they'll hunt songbirds too, and sometimes we need to take measures to protect chicks and ducklings and so on.... but, I maintain that they are worth having around within reason. They really like barn mice and rats best because chickens are just too big, and song birds are just too fast. Just MHO (my humble opinion) but I don't expect everyone, or actually anyone to agree with me.

 

[citrusdreams]

ChirpyChicken, how is your cat problem going?

I agree that if they're not actually going after your chickens, you probably just want to trap and bring them to AC. The problem is, from what you're saying, they're probably really hungry. If you want to put out food, that might help if they're hungry, but then you've adopted many cats and they'll come there expecting food. Another problem is, cats are smart. It may not be easy to trap them. But I have found out the hard way that feeding other people's pets is not the way to go.

If I were you, I'd call the sheriff or animal control and find out what your options are if they start to go after your chickens and ducks. It's unlikely, but you want to be prepared. Personally, I like cats, but if they were attacking my chickens I'd just shoot them. But it sounds like you'd be shooting a lot of cats over there.

I'd definitely find a way to make sure they can't get to the chicken food, but I'm sure that will be a challenge as cats can get into almost anywhere a chicken can get into.

Whatever you do, make sure it's legal. And if they're not bothering anything, I'd probably ignore them. But if they ARE bothering things, then I'd take action to correct it. You should be seeing a lot of good rodent control though

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
I've lost 30 chickens to cats.

Why wait til they start killing your chickens??!

Either trap em or shoot em. Don't waste your time on BB's get a real gun or a real trap. I trap them then shoot them if I can. Otherwise I shoot them. 30-06 works. Way overkill but I don't wound them either. I used to use a .22 but I had too many run off with 2 or 3 bullets in em.
Except for the neighbors 2 cats (who killed most of my chickens) they have all been sickly looking feral cats.

 

[Funky Feathers]

Believe me, a really feral cat or 2 working together can and will kill a full grown chicken or duck. Years ago our neighbor had a whole bunch of feral cats she was feeding. They were all scraggly, diseased, wormy and wounded from cat fights. I caught the head female eating what was left of my favorite pet Pekin duck. There was bllod, guts & feathers everywhere. She had wounded my other duck, his buddy at the same time. He could not be saved. I put him out of his misery right after I put her (the cat) out of my misery! Cats can and will devastate your whole flock. The more cats, the less birds you will have. Unless they are your pets and are trained to see your birds as family members.

 

[Mashallaharabia]

I have nine muscovy ducks, less than a year old. We lost three to predation; I assume by a coon, since it happened at night.. At that time they were free-range in the garden. For winter quarters I have a securely fenced and roofed 12 x 10 space for them in the horse barn, with an adjacent 12 x 10 stall and large outside run. Since raccoons hunt at night, I lock them in the secure stall at dusk. BUT we have a very feral cat hanging around, it runs like a bat out of hell the second it sees people. This cat hunts around our barns and pastures in daylight, and I worry that it may hunt and kill my ducks. I've tried using a large live trap ( can't shoot it, it's way too fast and wary) intending to kill the cat when caught. I'd just drop the live trap in the stock tank and drown the vermin. I keep finding the bait gone and the trap sprung and empty. I don't want to put out poison for fear that one of my dogs may get into the barn and be poisoned, but I want this thing dead. Any ideas?