Will a cat hurt my chickens?

[Hei 20]

Well, my cat was already an adult when the chick hatched. Chick lived with the cat for the first 4 months of his life with no problems. Except when they were both arguing on who would sit next to me. LOL

miss you Hei Hei

I just recently rehome my rooster on Saturday. He needed to be with some ladies. He was humping my TV remote.

 

[Hei 20]

I just recently rehome my rooster on Saturday. He needed to be with some ladies. He was humping my TV remote.

Not kidding, it was happening every day.
I miss my baby so much.

 

[KingD]

I just recently rehome my rooster on Saturday. He needed to be with some ladies. He was humping my TV remote.

What you trying to say?

 

[ackie]

It's going to 100% depend on the individual chicken and the individual cat. Some chickens have next to no predator awareness and/or arent great at fleeing. I bet a gamehen could out-fly a standard cat, but some of the fluffy layer breeds...not so much. Plus gamehens think everything is a trap so they're not likely to let a cat get close. Friendlier or more docile breeds will have a problem with that. Also depends how many places your birds have to hide away from the cat. Even the best flier cant out-fly if theres no where to go. The fact that they cat has been stray sounds bad. It's used to hunting so it has a solid prey drive. All cats have a prey drive but this one will be more fine tuned because it's been for food not for fun. So if you want to do it, heavy supervision and lock up one or the other when you cant supervise until you get a better understanding of the variables.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's a risk. My cats have never harmed any of my birds, but we did lose a bird to one of the details around here.

 

[ackie]

I've had one of our cats destroy a nest with day old chicks and bring one in the cat door. And that was one of my protective hens not a push over. But I've never seen him mess with a grown bird.

 

[ackie]

On the plus side, since he alerted me to the fact that he destroyed the nest, I got to save 3 chicks that were hiding out of reach of him but that meant they were also out of reach of mama.

 

[cmom]

All I can say is that it is a risk you take free ranging and the cat. Cats are hunters by nature. Predators including the cat can lurk looking for an opportunity. I have seen cats on my game cameras but my birds are well protected and so far no intrusions. It may be fine and maybe not. You won't know unless you give it a try. Good luck...

 

[LanaNg]

Here’s a kitty update I named him Salem.

I’ve witnessed one good sign already: there was a duck in my front yard about 10 feet away from him and he didn’t even give it the time of day. He barely glanced at it, much less attack it!

 

[OmnipotentOrpington]

Here’s a kitty update I named him Salem.

View attachment 2429811View attachment 2429812
I’ve witnessed one good sign already: there was a duck in my front yard about 10 feet away from him and he didn’t even give it the time of day. He barely glanced at it, much less attack it!

Wow, he's a beautiful cat! Mind if I draw him?