Egghead68 Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 One of the neighbourhood cats is stalking my pekin. I usually let my chickens free-range when I am sitting by the back door and can see and hear them and run out quickly. However the cat is so quiet it often takes me a while to notice it. For the time-being I''m not letting the chickens out of the WIR unless I am in the garden with them (which means much less free-ranging time for them). Am I worrying too much? Has anyone heard of a cat attacking a bantam? All the other neighbourhood cats are terrified of the chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Hi, personally I wouldn't worry. Three of my bantams are very small - about the size of a large pigeon- and our cat and the neighbour's cat are both terrified of them. I also have to stop one of them from going for our very docile spaniel! But the cats and the dog have also had to deal with larger chickens so maybe they learned to be wary from being chased by them. Other's may have other experiences, but as I say, in my experience, chickens can see off cats. Maybe you should observe for a while? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egghead68 Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 Thanks Patricia. Usually the cats are terrified of them. This is the first time I've ever seen one stalk a chicken. She has been spending a lot of time in my garden catching rats so I think she has got bold around the chickens. There are a few stories on the net of bantams being killed by cats so I will continue to observe as you suggest. Hopefully one of the hybrids will give the cat a good peck and let her know who's boss! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenthelibrarian Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 We have hybrids and a fairly aggressive cat... The cat has been quite badly pecked a couple of times, and usually gives the hens a wide berth, but has been known to forget and attempt a bit of chicken-stalking. Our solution is a large-ish fairly powerful water pistol at each end of the garden. These are our kids' old 'super soakers' [a plant spray set to 'squirt' rather than 'mist' or a hose would do the trick] Just hearing the water pistol being pumped up makes the cat run now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egghead68 Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 Thanks Jen. I have purchased a supersoaker but so far haven't been quick enough. I will dedicate some time to staking out the cat and soaking it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charly1979 Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 We have had a cat stalk my girls (luckily it did it when hubby was around so I used his slight worry to persuade him to get a WIR was shocked he usually doesn't care too much for my girls ) Anyway I think the ginger one is harmless he has had loads of chances to have my banties mind you Isla my big girl does make a racket when he is around. I also keep a water pistol loaded and within reach of the back door but to be honest that's more to stop 2 tom cats coming to mine and using it as their own urinal and of course my two moggies happily let them do it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
