Because cats are carnivorous piranha , it ’s usual to question if a neighborhood computed axial tomography or stray will leap over your fencing and attack your laying hens . But are cats reallythatdangerous ?
Stray Cat Strut
While my first tidy sum was still quite untried — feathered out but not laying — a neighborhood cat would come by to stalk my birds . He would prowl around the coop and lie down next to it . This was before I started free - ranging the flock . When the cat first started visiting , the skirt would clack a bit , but they were still too young to be keenly mindful of danger .
Had I free - ranged at the time , the birds would sure enough have been in some danger , because the hens were quite small then . As they grew , the cat was less of a scourge and hang out with my great deal . He became a feature of the yard some days , enjoying the ambiance that chicken bring to the yard , perhaps .
Desperate House Cats
One of our firm cats , Lily , became an remote cat when she was about 8 eld old . ( She had a problem urinating everywhere in the house . ) When we find out with our veterinarian that she had a behavior problem , putting her outside at last ease us all . By that fourth dimension , our chicken were to the full grown lay biddy , and they were gravid than Lily .
The hens want a bit of sentence to get used to our cat being in the yard with them while they free - ranged . Like a safety equipment hot dog , Lily kept some pests away , including wild birds that got into our wimp provender . In the backyard , Lily , the chickens and even the neighborhood true cat , co - existed with ease . It was Lily and the neighborhood cat that often fought over dominion , but the chicken were always left out of the catty play .
Consider a Cat’s Motives
If you ’re a computerized tomography proprietor , you understand the khat personality . They ’re lazy , easily bored and only trouble themselves with thing that are simple , like chasing optical maser luminance , kill weak creature and napping . A cat wo n’t raven on an adult crybaby for the same reason she wo n’t prey on the kinsfolk dog — poulet are too bombastic and not worth the cat ’s time . cat commonly belt down mice , small doll , and maybe a bunny or a chipmunk on rare social function . cat prey on very small creatures they can pick up and take with them , specially if a killing is an offer for its owner . To locomote with quarry , the dead have to be little enough to keep the cat ’s agility intact .
Consider chicks to be in risk of a guy plan of attack until the reach the size of a house qat . This is ordinarily around the time they ’re ready to commence put eggs ; however , small grownup chicken , like bantam and Silkies , will likely always be in danger . If you choose to free - range any of these small chickens , do so only with strict human supervision . Small birds are vulnerable to all predator because they ca n’t protect themselves , and the vernal wo n’t even find peril . Pullets and skirt are far less cognizant of the globe around them than grownup chicken , and vulture always prey on the minor and weak .
The Old Cat is Old Hat
orotund , full - grown hens can co - exist with cats because they are as large or large than domestic cats . Lily became old news program to our peck . When she would bring home mice , the hens would slip the putting to death and chase one another around the yard for it . Poor Lily would pad her way of life to the back doorway , defeated .
If a neighborhood computerized tomography see your yard and is a stranger to your flock , the Gallus gallus will let you recognize with frantic calls of danger to one another . And , they ’ll stand still in the yard like statues until you shoo a hombre out or until the cat gets world-weary and leaves on his own .
