Will cats kill chickens?

[angel8035]

I think it's funny when I bring my indoor only cats out to the backyard for a few minutes with me. The rooster will walk right up and give the cat a good look. The cat runs away every time! Of course these are house cats and not feral/barn cats. I always scare away the stray cat that wanders into my yard. I have caught him eyeing the chickens a few times and it makes me uncomfortable.

 

[1chicken fan]

I am on 7 acres, and my cats pretty well stay around the barn......but they are cats, lol! Most of the places around us within a block are also farms. I had a neighbor when we lived in the city who put her cats on leashes and teethered them because she was a bird lover and had several bird feeders

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

i have nothing against cats as house pets, each one is unique, they all have the instinct to hunt, it can be managed but a loose cat is an ecological disaster, ask a farmer and a hunter, true, most cats wouldn't survive turned loose it's the ones who do that wind up destroying wildlife..in a big way. An interested cat is tuning into his hunting mode, a bored cat is not..he is thinking, how bout if this wire wasn't here I'll try a little swipe...go ahead,take the barrier down, prove me wrong.

 

[Pilscat]

A hunting orientated cat can and will kill pretty much anything it wants to - especially if it can pair up with another cat and hunger does not even enter into it. Rats are certainly not a problem any more than chickens are and we have even found the remains of birds of prey. In short - most of them are fine, but if you have a problem with one then do not trust it at all.

 

[lukemower]

I have four chickens and two siamese cats, when the chickens were about I week old I took them outside in the yard and watched them very closely, I noticed the cats watching them. One of the cats was hiding under a nearby toy, I looked over and saw that wild look in his eye, he started running toward the chicks, so I tackled him, ever since the cats have not bothered the chickens, even when a chick fell off a ledge next to the cat. Now my chickens are 2 months old and I have been keeping them outside, the cats will often come next to the cage and watch the chickens. I decided to test it so I let the cat in under close supervision, the cat hid under the coop and the smallest chicken came over and started chasing him and trying to peck his tail,it was really cute, the cats seem to be scared of the Chickens now.

 

[WAREAGLEPOULTRY]

My neighbor has fifty plus cats , he can't afford to feed em and they have decimated my pullets, basically the shotgun is bout to work overtime, I've had neighbors kill my chickens and their cats kill my chickens. Enough is enough I live in Alabama and have every right to protect my livestock

 

[Smauler]

Well fed cats will omly kill during their play/hunt...Dogs are way more of a risk. My cats have gone close to the hens to see what they are,but a few pecks and they were done.Chicks need to be protected like all native birds....well except house sparrows.Those are free game.

If your cats kill a hen consider a cat enclosure instead of free roaming.

Yeah, killing during their play/hunt is the exact issue.

You claim dogs are way more of a risk, but our dog has 100% access to the chickens (without us being there) and protects our chickens from wild foxes. I trust him completely with the chickens.

 

[Sutremaine]

We've never had cats and chickens at the same time, but with our last two cats, both treated the same, one would have been far more trustworthy than the other. Our tabby was a big softy and while he did manage to catch a bat once, he batted it around long enough for me to get outside and see what he was finding so interesting. The cat was restrained with little force or intensity, and the bat flew off. Our Angora, on the other hand, was a proper little huntress and would chatter through the window at birds on the feeder. She brought back sparrows and finches quite often.

It's nice having cats, but I'm not sure I'd have any more. Like all animals, they like the outdoors and the fresh air, but they also like killing stuff.

 

[Zoomie]

I guess the plain simple answer is "yes, yes they will.".

Cats, like dogs, are predators. They kill stuff. That's how they survived for all those years before they had humans to cater to their every whim. Unfortunately, birds can be delicate. Cats have these claws and teeth that are basically like big sharp knives with lots of bacteria on the ends of them. When they grab a bird, it's like being stabbed four or five times, or however many, and the stab wound is also inoculated with lots of really bad bacteria. It's hard for a bird to survive that. Even people sometimes get bad infections from such wounds.

I've had cats that would go out and kill full-grown cottontail rabbits. Cats also sometimes end up being the death of some creature that initially got away, but succumbed to infection. So, yes - cats can kill chickens.

This doesn't mean that they ALWAYS will. Or that they ALL do. The only reason my current cat doesn't kill things is because I don't let her outside. This is also keeping HER from getting killed by coyotes and dogs.

 

[Transform987]

Look mate if my dog is fine with them naturally cats are no worry