kannie Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 My sister has agreed to look after M&M when we go on holiday later this summer. She's never looked after chickens before, and I thought she'd be worried about her garden. But no - what she was worried about was her cats! Apparently one of them is terrified of anything new, and the other is just the opposite and likely to bully the chickens! I know it's said that chickens and cats are generally fine together, but any tips for handling the intros? And any tips for chicken holidays altogether? I thought I might get a rabbit under-mesh for the run, as it'll be on grass for the fortnight. I seem to remember Grd said this was how he protected his lawn... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 We have 3 cats - the old grumpy one mostly just ignores the chickens, whereas the six-month-old kittens play at stalking Migsy then back off as soon as she gives them the Jurassic stare If you've got the Omlet hens, they're pretty solid birds and ought to be able to fend off any cat*. They should be fine, but I'd recommend keeping the chickens in their run for the first couple of days and then supervising their free ranging, just to be on the safe side. That said, we're a bit nervous about letting our new bantams out at the moment as little Cicely isn't fully grown yet, so our moggy could easily carry her off Hope all goes well! Anne * Except Greebo, of course, and he's safely on Discworld - I hope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen & co. Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 We don't have cats but the girls certainly put our pup in his place when he gets too close karen x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kannie Posted July 30, 2006 Author Share Posted July 30, 2006 Thanks - this all sounds sensible. Apparently one of these cats has refused to leave the house before when frightened by something in the garden! But I would have thought he'd understand that the chooks were safely behind bars and so not a threat when in the eglu. Actually I think our chooks may be rather scared of the cats - they're used to squirrels but seldom see anything bigger in our garden. I imagine that the cats might understand the chooks 'worried/scared' sounds and assume the dominant role. Our chooks certainly seem to understand other birds alarm calls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
