# How dangerous are cats to chickens?



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

I jsut got home from work and saw a black cat snooping around the chicks. They are in a secure cage but still....made me nervous to have that cat so interested in my chicks. This will only be thier second night outside.:stars: Don't think I'll sleep much now worrying about them.:bash:


----------



## katy (Feb 15, 2010)

Cats are fully capable of killing / eating baby chicks.............. that said, cats pose little to NO problems with adult chickens. 

If you can bring chicks in at night till they are bigger.


----------



## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

If a cat can get them in their cage, so could any of a dozen other things that also love to eat chicks. 

One of the first rules of chickens is physical security.


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

cats are preditors, chickens are edible, some house cats wouldnt know what to do with a live anything but most would at least kill it and play with it, cats that spend alot of time outside would kill and eat a chick in a heart beat, some cats that have little to no human intervention or if they are just that bord and hungry CAN and WILL kill adult birds as well, i have seen it happen more than once, dont be fooled by the cute little furball, they are killers,


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

I don't think the cat could of gotten in the cage, it's pretty secure. But I didn't want it scaring them to death, if that's possible. I know rabbits can get scared to death. Dh said to shoot it but it looked like somebody's pet, well fed and all so I scareed it off. Maybe it was just curious or passing through. Haven't seen it this morning at all so I was jsut worrying for nothing I guess.


----------



## kirkmcquest (Oct 21, 2010)

If I recall correctly....Sylvester the cat was always after Tweety bird.


----------



## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

I keep our chicks very secure, even around my own cats. Once they're at least 6 - 8 weeks old, my cats don't bother with them. 

My cats (who are both outdoor cats, but very friendly to people) never bother my full-grown chickens (who free-range). They all mingle peacefully.


----------



## WstTxLady (Mar 14, 2009)

It might be able to reach through & hook a chick & then its lights out for the chick.


----------



## kenworth (Feb 12, 2011)

2 weeks ago my own cat had to be re-educated that the chicks are part of this family. A strange cat would get a stick thrown at it, aiming to hurt and injure.


----------



## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

Not very.
The only cats I've ever known to go after chickens are very hungry ferals. And even then they don't rip through chicken wire.

If I don't have a good rooster or broody to teach the latest kitty that even teeny fuzzy chicks running around on the lawn are a Bad Idea, then the garden hose or a super-soaker make them think chicks make God pee on them.
Part of the trick is to not yell at the cat until after the nozzle is back behind your back. Then they don't associate the wetting with you, but learn that you yell a warning. I even had one cat who would run to me for protection if he heard _No_.
The look on his face was _Wow. Thanks, that was close. It almost got me._


----------



## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

This morning while I was out in the garden, my wife's cat got outside and started stalking the rooster. I told my son, "She's awful ambitious to be trying to stalk that rooster."

He replied, "She couldn't stalk a hamburger."

Little chicks trigger the cat's prey instinct and they're going to go for them. Full grown birds have nothing to worry about.


----------



## Tawnya (Jan 27, 2011)

We have 15 Chickens (14 layers), 41 chicks and several farm cats and have had trouble with only one cat going after chicks. After the second time he was rehomed to a family that didn't have chicks. 

We free-range and both cats and chickens intermingle. Cats have as much competition from chickens for their food as they do from other cats and we never have a problem. The cats just don't mess with them. But the little cotton balls on legs are just to tempting.


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Cats and ***** are two preditors that can kill and eat a bird or rabbit through cage wire, if they can reach in they can snag something and pull it too them, ***** will pull the bird or rabbit through the wire and eat it as it comes out, Cats will grab and kill and depending on the wire size will try and pull through, again just because you THINK your pet kitty wouldnt hurt a fly, doesnt mean that ALL pet kittys or even the one you love to bits wouldnt kill and eat your chicks chickens ducks or rabbits,


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

Cats will attack chicks but chickens will attack cats MY crazy one year old cat tried to chase my 3 week old goslings this morning . She got a big surprise when they turned around and chased her back making an unGodly racket and flapping their stubby baby wings. Then when their foster mom showed up the cat hid under the truck and refused to come out. I don't think she will do that again.
Linda


----------



## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

I have 4 cats. 3 I can lock in the same room as brooding chicks. One, will play & kill them. 

A strange cat and a chick or half grown chicken within easy reach (paws/claws through mesh or bars) would probably not end well. 

I only put my little chicks out when I am right with them.

We just had a tradgedy this morning. I left the house this morning before my teenager. Darn son left the bathroom door open and the basset hound ate 2 - 3 week old pullets.  I am NOT happy with either of them. Hubby came home & called me at work to tell me. Chip had shown zero intrest in them this whole 3 weeks. I have no idea what made him decide to do this. He would even lay beside them outside & lick them.

He ate a golden comet & a buff orpington. :sob:


----------



## FCLady (Jan 23, 2011)

I just walked towards the house and noticed all my capons (30+) "looking/staring/stalking something. Everyone was watching something all at the same time. So I stopped and looked to see if I could see what they were looking at. It turned out to be a young cat of the neighbors. Full grown, just young. Hilarious - they all watched and followed it along the fence line until it went home. If that isn't intimidating I don't know what is... Anyway our friendly cat used to sleep in the hen house and catch mice. He'd wait in the nest box till morning and when I'd let the chickens outside then he'd sneak out. We've since revised our coop building to all raised coops and don't have a mouse problem. Our feral cat stays far away from pullets and full grown chickens.

Wouldn't trust either cat around babies tho as the friendly cat has already had one of our rabbit babies for lunch...


----------



## BonnieDale Farm (Apr 30, 2011)

My cats sleep on top of my brooder box which right now has 27 chicks in it. They are too lazy to hurt anything. Im sure it just depends on the cat though,..I wouldn't trust a strange one around. Spray it with water,..it won't come back.


----------



## Charly (Feb 20, 2010)

Just yesterday, I walked into the chicken coop to put a bit more feed in their feeder. Naturally, the girls all followed me in (10). I no sooner got in the coop and all the gals started squawking loudly and were having a fit. I thought, "What in the world?" I turned and looked, there looking terrified out of his mind was our big kitty trying to take a nap in one of the nesting boxes. The girls were not happy. However, our cats walk amongst our free-range birds all the time. They were just surprised to see one in their nesting box. 

Our dog has been a bigger problem than the cats.


----------



## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

When the chicks were little, and in the house in a "brooder" cage, I more than once found one of my cats clinging to the cage. I'm sure if they could have gotten in, they would have feasted. now that the chicks are full grown, the shoe is on the other foot, and the chickens will chase the cats!


----------



## Fat Man (Mar 9, 2011)

I have a cat specifically for the chicken coop. It eats sleeps and is feed in there. Last summer I had a rat problem that almost made me sell off the birds. I hired the cat and all is good.


----------



## christie (May 10, 2008)

I was wondering if I kept a cat in the coop... would that deter ***** and such?? probably not huh? The cat would just sit and watch...


----------



## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I had a cat that decided the coop was the best place - to have kittens. I tried chasing her out hoping she'd find a different spot (I closed it up at night). But one mornign I went to let the birds out and I swear she was standing at the door with her legs crossed. I gave up - she jumped in the comunal nest box and started giving birth - had five of them.

My problem was devising a way to keep the birds from killing the kittens, so I put in a box - with the lid shut the cat could get in and out of the box, but the hens were too big. I had to make sure the Mom was in the coop before closing it up each night - and she was always there ready for me.

Once the kittens got a few weeks old, I moved them out and all was well - until they got big enough to be taught to hunt, then the Mom that showed no interest in the chicks decided they were the easiest thing to go after. The chicks were a few weeks old, and she had never shown any interest in them before.

I won't leave chicks unsecured, but once they are fully feathered and bigger, the cats don't even try.


----------



## cathyharrell (Nov 9, 2003)

My cat, sissy, will eat them when they hatch out in the pasture but the other cats don't bother them. Sissy is a boy. I thought he was a girl when I named him.


----------



## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Cats are hunters. Cats kill birds.

Maybe a fat lazy house cat wouldn't take on a full size hen, but don't assume that a hungry battle-hardened feral cat can't kill a chicken. Something as small as a weasel can kill a chicken and a cat is a heck of a lot bigger than a weasel and has much bigger claws and much bigger teeth than a weasel has.

There was a drop-off tom cat that killed every quail in the neighborhood before the coyotes finally got him. A quail is slightly bigger than a chick. A cat wouldn't have any problem killing chicks.


----------



## Kshobbit (May 14, 2002)

Cats will eat baby chicks even well fed house cats. I have chased my cats through the yard slapping chicks out of their mouths (I moved faster then). One of my cats managed to get her paw through a vent opening and hooked a chick and killed it. They do not bother bigger chickens. Mine do kill and eat mice and rats, and will kill moles but won't eat them. I had one that stalked hummingbirds under my hummingbird feeders! She could leap up and grab them, I gave her away as a nice barn cat to a lady that did not feed her hummers.


----------

