Wild neighborhood tom cat is about to lose his 9th life!

[JanaBanana1]

I leave the house....come home to my little ladies raising a ruckus, only to find the nasty stray tom cat terrorizing them! Lets just say the .22 is loaded and ready! I am afraid of him hurting or killing one of them... {have you ever heard of a domestic cat killing chickens?} Time to SSS.- Shoot.Shovel. and Shut up.

 

[Desert Rooster]

Quote:

You gotta do, what you gotta do.

 

[bburn]

My 22 is loaded and ready. I have already had to dispatch one that was feral. If it belonged to someone it would be harder. However, you have to protect your birds.

I have a cat. Love it. But I don't let it run loose to wander wherever it wants to go. It is bad enough that I am hatching chicks right now. Kitty is going to have to sleep in my DGD's bedroom with her tonight. Once everyone is hatched it won't/shouldn't be a problem as the brooder is stainless steel and she would have a hard time getting in it. Will be moving it to the big bathroom in the hall until the babies are old enough for the brooder in the garage.

But I have no problem taking care of things that might harm my 'fenced in' livestock.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

I had a feral cat who had kittens and she almost single handedly wiped out my flock. I couldn't catch her till she had done the deed several times. Well, I finally did... YES CATS WILL KILL CHICKENS!

 

[GarlicEater]

hav-A-hart traps work great, and there's plenty of info out there on using them, by the company and by others, on YouTube.

If a cat is trap-wise, you'll need other means, but most are not.

if you take a shot with the .22, be sure of your backstop, and if possible don't try a head shot, try for a heart/lung shot, just like on a deer.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

We just had to SSS a stray female cat. I felt bad, but she killed 2 of my chicks and kept trying to come back for more.

 

[spottedtail]

Tomcats are interesting creatures.

If you were to capture him and attach a radio frequency device to monitor his movements, you'd be amazed where this character shows up.
Your henhouse is only one of many stops on his circuit.

spot

 

[Doopy]

Shoot it. Those sneaky little devils can do a lot of serious damage in a very short time. Plan your shots and consider what's behind the cat. You really, really do not want any accidents or problems with neighbors.

 

[BorderKelpie]

Ok, stupid question regarding marauding tom cats:

If I attempt the hav-a-hart trap and I capture the beast, since I have no animal control in my area, what do I do?

He has recently killed 3 chicks that my DD hatched - pulled them out of a chain link covered in garden mesh run, beats up my (neutered) outdoor cat and sprays EVERYTHING.

The only weapon I have will sound like a cannon going off and I do have neighbors close by. (.357 magnum)

Any suggestions?

 

[speckledhen]

I'm dealing with a black tomcat (I think it's male--has that "look" about the head) right now. Not sure if he'll bother the chickens, but he sure will bother my big garbage bags if they aren't in a can.

I hope I don't have to do anything to him. No idea if he belongs to anyone or not. A neighbor asked if we had gotten a cat, they saw him around so much.

There have been cats who hung out here over the years, one came around twice daily for three years and I fed him. He never bothered the chickens, even when they met up on range, so I was happy to have a mouser that I didn't have to take to the vet--I couldn't get near him at all and if he saw me looking at him, he'd vanish like a ghost. In fact, I called him Ghost. I have no doubt he would have killed a chick, of course.

I think the best thing to do is try to trap, but I don't know what I'll do if he gets to be a problem. We do have a sort of loosely organized animal control here and a friend started a local humane society, but I'm sure they're overrun with cats already.