I'm thinking of getting a couple of chickens for my back garden. The only "con" to this is that I already own a cat.
Has anyone ever kept chickens whilst owning a cat? Did they get on alright?
I'm not worried about the cat killing the chickens because they'll be kept in a "predator-proof" run, but I am worried that the cat being around will upset the chickens too much. Advice please?
Chetco
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Having lived on a farm for most of my life, with ooodles of cats and chickens, I have never seen a problem between them.
We had 6 cats, and about 25 chickens. They all did splendidly together. The chickens and cats both had the run of the farm. The cats did hang around the hen's feeding area and kept mice out of the grain.
If you think about farm cats ( barn cats) they have safely interacted with poultry for thousands of years.
The problems that I did have, were with the peacock chicks. Our cats did hunt the peacock chicks, and took about 1/2 of them. I think they seemed more like a wild fowl to them, as the peafowl weren't actually tame.
I remember one cold morning, getting home from work at 7am..There were 4 cats and a rooster, all sleeping on the back of our Afghan hound, on the front porch. I would LOVE to have captured that picture!
Added: My brother has his 12 hens in a 'predator-proof' pen, with 2 cats and a dog.
Added: If you do have any problems with your cat stalking the hens, you can sprinkle the cat-repellent granules or repellent spray, around the outside of the chicken run.
?
Predator-proof run? Is this about the same thing as a child-proof medicine bottle? If you have raccoons around all bets are off. Cats are damn smart when they smell some good chicken as well. Paw lickin' good! My relatives had cats and chickens on their farm and I'm sure they lost some chickens once in a while. They are predators and they will kill and eat when given a chance. Cat's aren't vegan hippies. As for upsetting the chickens.... Would you be upset if a lion beheaded and disemboweled a friend standing next to you?
Jeroen Wijnands
That depends a lot both on the chickens and the cat. I've seen cats going beserk and try to claw trough chicken wire just to get at anything with feathers. I've seen cats do a snif and ignore. If your cat is in the latter category and the hens are of a bigger variety then it should be ok.
Anonymous
If you purchase baby chickens, the cat will devour them in the wink of an eye. Mature chickens should be able to hold there own with the cat. My advise is to get a couple of hens and a rooster. The rooster will keep the cat in line.
Julie L
Unless the cat is well trained and well fed it is going to go for the chickens. You could keep them in a coop if it is well secured but free roaming chickens are pretty much always an easy target for cats and raccoons and pretty much everything else.