Chicken bald back

[Space Chick]

My cat is fine with the girls, but there is a new young cat just moved in down the road. He has been terrorising our girls I'm mostly worried about the bantams but he's even chasing the big girls and they are afraid

 

Ive tried nicely putting the cat over the wall, he keeps jumping back over, OH tried squirting him with a hose and this didn't discourage him (although did upset the cats owners). The owners have also complained about some noise from our girls, I have laboured the point that the noise as is a direct result of THEIR cat upsetting MY girls.

 

Any ideas on what else we can try?

[Valkyrie]

I'd carry on hosing. If you are just cleaning your free range area with the hose at the time when the cat is being a nuisance it's just unfortunate that it happens to be there at the same time. It must get the idea sooner rather than later. Ooooh oooh please can I volunteer to wash your back garden? Mwahahaha! Or I can lend you my Buff Sussex possessed by a demon girl and she will go for it's jugular - heck, she goes for mine!

[Snowy]

Could you borrow a cockerel to retrain the cat? Sounds like it is a youngster and has not yet been on the receiving end of a sharp beak!

[Space Chick]

Funny thing Snowy is that we were going to borrow a cockerel for a few months to breed from, all the neighbours were in agreement apart from the cats owner

 

Honestly I despair about her, she always causes problems in our happy street

 

My MIL reckons we should just borrow the cockerel anyway, but I would worry about what she would do

[chestnutmare]

So it's not okay for you to wet her cat but it's okay for her cat to chase your chickens?

Could you leave your dog out, has he got the oomph to chase this cat away?

[NatalieC]

You could always enlist the help of a ten year old boy with a Nerf gun (fires foam darts which do sting a bit when they hit you - I speak from experience). Its silent so the neighbours won't know! If you lived a bit nearer you could borrow my ten year old and his Nerf gun which fires 3 darts a second , so he tells me! Our cats stay well out of the line of fire (I'm still trying to master the avoiding tactic myself!)

[Snowy]

What a pain!

What is the worst she is likely to do, do you think? May be worth borrowing that cockerel - at least if she does kick up a fuss, he can still go home (eventually!). And hopefully the cat will be taught a valuable lesson in the meantime. Hope you manage to sort something out (that Nerf gun sounds like fun! )

[Space Chick]

So it's not okay for you to wet her cat but it's okay for her cat to chase your chickens?

Could you leave your dog out, has he got the oomph to chase this cat away?

 

 

My dog loves cats when this cat has broken into our house and stolen our cats food he has just gone up to him excited with his tail wagging

 

What a pain!

What is the worst she is likely to do, do you think? May be worth borrowing that cockerel - at least if she does kick up a fuss, he can still go home (eventually!). And hopefully the cat will be taught a valuable lesson in the meantime. Hope you manage to sort something out (that Nerf gun sounds like fun! )

 

She came around guns ablazing after I'd spoken to her OH about the cockerel saying she was taking legal advice Honestly, I could tell some stories, she's not a nice person

[chestnutmare]

Oh gosh, this is a tricky one. Electric tape going along the wall/fencing? But with your own animals this would probably be tricky?? Mind you, we have electric fencing in our paddock. Two of our dogs have accidently touched it but then they learn not to do it again.

[Snowy]

I'd go for it Debs. By the time she has realised and taken legal action (which will cost her money) the cockerel could have done his job and gone. The worst she can do is report you to environmental health, who will write to you first, then visit and advise you to get rid of the cockerel - could take a few weeks to get to this stage. If you then apologise and the cockerel goes - no action is taken. What have you got to lose?

[Sam]

Grr don't some people just annoy you!! I would just get one. By the time shes realised you've got one and reported it, it might have done its job and be ready to go back. Just go with what the majority of the residents think and get one

[Janty]

I don't have that problem as my brahmas are lethal. My cat, Sausage used to stalk them until they got him by the fur and fat and ran down the garden attached to him. He dosen't go near them now. I'd go with the cockerel or dog idea.

[chestnutmare]

Could be time for a fiesty terrier. (My favourite!)

[MirandaW]

Hello, I'm Miranda. It's my first time posting on here but I felt I could maybe help you with your problem.

 

I happen to work with cats, so know a little something about what they do and don't like, First of all, I think that unless you had a very powerful spray on your hose, it wouldn't be enough to put off a moggy.

 

I suggest the use of natural citrus oils in and around the garden or near the chicken area? Cats really hate the smell. I don't know particuarly how chickens feel about citrus, but it might work?

 

Secondly, cats hate really loud noises. Perhaps using an empty drinks container with some marbles or gravel in and shaking it loudly when you see the cat. This should be enough to get the point across and send the intruder packing. Also, your neighbour would have no grounds to complain using this idea.

 

With regards to using any kind of gun - please don't. It may seem like a good idea, but I am sure you wouldn't want to cause any permanent damage to the cat, which I am sure this would do.

 

I hope this helps!

[Space Chick]

Thanks the citrus may be worth a go (although I do worry about our cat ), the problem with shaking things in pots is that I have trained my chickens using this approach, so they'd expect corn

 

Don't worry I would never use any form of gun, I am a big animal lover, and this cat is also lovely.... When he's not terrorising my girls.

 

Thanks for making my plight your first post, and welcome

[MirandaW]

Aw, thanks for the welcome

 

Good point about your own cat, and the bottle sounding like corn! Mine would be the same!

 

I wonder if this cat is neutered, as this may have a lot to do with it.

 

The only other suggestion is some extension fencing, which can be added onto lots of kinds of fences and keeps creatures in, or out, of the garden. It folds in at the very top so cannot be climbed and is quite sturdy. If your cat was more of a 'garden only' cat this may be a good idea. Although if not, it may be upsetting to your cat to be more fenced in.

 

It seems im not being that much help after all, sorry!

[Redwing]

rickety trellis (the expanding diamond stuff) on the tops of fences would help

 

or maybe those prickly strips tacked to the tops of the fences

 

Thats presuming he is coming in over rather than under fences

[Space Chick]

All these things would hinder Thomas He loves going over the back wall and into the woods

[Aunty e]

I've had some success with a hose on jet spray - I'd keep hosing it, if it's on your property then you're perfectly within your rights to do so, and it won't hurt him in the slightest. In fact, when my cats are being a pain on my street that's exactly what I suggest my neighbours do to them. Or chuck a bucket over them.

[Valkyrie]

You can still have Squirt before I throttle her.

 

I like the cockerel idea. Go for it. Let her whinge - the other neighbours are happy. Yo ho ho and a Mwa ha harrrrrrrrrr!

[migsy]

Your neighbour sounds like my ex neighbour. She was truly horrid and caused problems for lots of people. She also had an awful cat who terrorised both my cats and the chickens (although the chickens got used to him). He even jumped onto my bed in the middle of the night and started a fight with my sleeping elderly cat!

 

If your other neighbours don't mind, I would get a cockerel. It would take quite a while for Env Health to take action as your neighbour would have to keep noise diaries for 2 weeks and then they would come with the sound monitoring equipment, by which time your cockerel might have done his job. It might even amuse your other neighbours who have been on the receiving end of her unpleasant behaviour

[ClaireG]

Keep squirting with water and borrow a cockeral. I agree that if the other neighbours don't have a problem then stuff her!

[Valkyrie]

Set the cockerel on her and then say well how do you think my girls like being attacked by your cat.

Claire - would you use sage and onion or perhaps chestnut?

[mostin]

That woman is truly a nightmare . I love my moggies, but I have told my neighbours to feel free to throw water at them if they ever catch them doing anything unpleasant . It doesn't hurt them, but they certainly don't like it .

 

We have used a super-soaker gun on a big un-neutered tom-cat who kept beating up our cats , he really didn't like the jet from that .

[daxigirl]

Can you not catch the cat and pop him into the girls run so they can get him on mass as it were?

 

My neighbours but one got a new cat that took great delight in coming into the garden, Millie whippet and the dachsund posse have solved that problem having cornered it up the conifer a couple of times and given it a some close shaves. (They're all scared of the chooks though.)