Single hen

[Hennubi]

Hi,

My ladies are all grown up now (24 weeks and 30 wks) so we have been letting them out a bit more whihc they love. Today I tried letting them out and Moo the cat at the same time.. Moo did not behave well, started stalking them and runnin towards them and I was really hoping htey woudl turn around and peck him and show him who is boss but they all just ran off, so in the end I got too worried and locked him in again.. he is not an intrepid hunter or anything but I am just scared that they dont seem to be standing up to him and then he will claw them and panic them if not worse..

 

Has anyone else had this? what did you do? will they just have to always be kept apart? or shall I try phased introductions with moo in his cat basket? he is a cheeky so and so and I cant see him learning unless they teach him with a peck or two..

 

Thanks

Becky

[Seagazer]

Dave my youngest cat tried stalking the chickens to begin with, he did chase them a couple of times but now he just sits and looks at them. I think he knows that he wouldn't get away with it. They are probably bigger than him

[tara]

My cats were interested at first but now they dont bother at all.It would be a good idea to watch them untill all settles down.They will also learn that hes alright.Mine have never pecked the cats but the cats did hunt them at first.Hope this helps

[Janty]

Fat Sausage stalked my girls relentlessly when they first arrived. I did think that the bantams were never going to be safe but once the brahmas had chased him and held onto his fur then the chickens ruled. Even Nugget, my tiniest pekin hops down the garden in a menacing fashion chasing Sausage when she has the chance. If Sausage wants to come into the conservatory, he sits on the fence meowing until we go out and get him.

 

It is now so bad for poor Sausage that he won't come in throught the front door either as I have a new chicken statue on the doorstep that looks just like my blue cochin.

 

[Stevie]

Although i dont own a cat-there is one which sits on my fence and when i first got the chooks it stalked them..until it got close.I dont think cats have a great idea of perspective because when it got within 10ft of them-it suddenly realised that the small birds at bottom of garden were infact quite large.It dont bother them anymore.

 

Chickens are quite able to defend themselves and their beaks can inflict a great deal of pain so i probably wouldnt worry too much as it will be initial excitement from him which will wear off.My Bullmastiff has a healthy respect for them after attempting to stick his hooter where the sun dont shine and got pecked.

[Saronne]

I have four cats, and at first, they all stalked the hens - probably thinking they were easy prey. Once they got up close, they realised just how big the girls were and lost interest. Now, the only interest they take in the hens is when I give them a treat of cooked spaghetti. The cats and hens both race to get there first! I'll have to put some pictures up

 

 

Saronne

[Groovychook]

Fat Sausage stalked my girls relentlessly when they first arrived.

 

I love the name of your cat Janty!

Would love to see a photo!

[Janty]

Here are some photos of Sausage (aka Fat Sausage as he weighs 7.5 kg)...

 

 

 

 

This was his favourite place for a long time...lying on top of the quail run, gazing longingly at them.

 

[Plum]

Try him on a cat lead if he will tolerate it. I did that with my mad siamese baby and they ignore eachother. She only looks at them if she thinks I'm not watching.

[splodge88]

Cute fat cat.

First i've seen with colour-changing eyes

hehe

[Chickvic]

He's gorgeous Janty

[Sunshine]

I'm really glad that i've come on this topic and read that none of your cats have actually attacked the chickens. We don't have cats but we opened the back door today and could hear the chickens making a racket, mum presumed it was a plastic bag that had blown off the top of the hutch. However when we went out to investigate we found lots of feathers(from a bird not chicken) a few metres away from the chicken run but no sign of the bird. We are guessing/hoping it was a cat and not something that would harm the chickens. We do have a dog so i think we will be letting her out in the garden more often to try and scare away whatever killed the bird. Has definately opened my eyes so need to be more aware at what could be about as we do have fields around our house.

[Larkspurs]

Here's a bad cat. Cheers for allowing me to post it Janty!

 

[Groovychook]

What a handsome boy!

 

Poor Sausage... he must feel crushed to have lost control of his territory. My Bertie loves nothing more than a spot of chicken herding. He had a bit of a shock yesterday when Hilda charged at him! He retreated under a nearby bush until she'd lost interest...

 

Give Sausage a soothing stroke from me.

[dancing cloud]

Tubby Puddy is scared of the hens and my daft Loki tried to get them to play with him when they first arrived, haring up and down the lawn trying to get them to play chase . Don't think he's so keen now they've learned how to chase properly and see him off!

 

Sausage is gorgeous!

[Hennubi]

Thanks all,

 

Will let them meet again and see how it goes! loved the Fat Sausage tales

[charliechick]

Hi guys,

 

Im glad I spotted these posts as we are gettin two kittens soon. I thought thats good, they will be young and small enough when they are able to first go out to know that the chickens were there first. And the chooks will be bigger than them.

 

So many people have said Im mad to get cats if we have chickens but I knew it would be fine after all there's always cats in farm yards right?! I'll keep an eye on things though.

 

Also when I move the girls onto slabs (as the rats have beaten me!) which kind of bedding and how much should i use? The run is covered by plastic sheeting so dryness is sorted.

 

Plenty of dust free wood shavings? As in 2 bales of it? Hey and I have a cousin with horses and that Bedmedz stuff make horses sneeze and it made the chooks sneeze too, so I dont wanna use that.

 

Chat soon.x

[Cyber Chook]

I'm also glad I caught this thread, thanks for posting. I'm about to adopt a rescue cat, and I've been daydreaming about names for him/her. I have to say that Sausage hadn't sprung to mind, but I love it! But I think I'd have to keep it as a nickname behind closed doors - I'm trying to imagine calling down the garden for him in earshot of the neighbours

 

Any name suggestions gratefully received by the way.

 

Caroline

[charliechick]

Hi Caroline, we are going to call our's Branston and Pickle.

 

How about Tom, Jerry, Pepper, Custard, Bramble, Strawberry, Chips......

[Cyber Chook]

Awwww!

 

I'm noticing a bit of food theme going on in your household

 

Caroline

 

PS: I now have to delay getting a cat, as we're going away in June/July and I want it to feel settled, coming from the RSPCA, and also we have two lots of sparrows busy making nests in our porch as of yesterday