New Chickens and New Neighbours

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elmwood

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Hi,

Well no sooner had I collected my two new hens, (Friday), the new neighbour as of tomorrow, poked his head over our fence, spying our girlies. Naturally we tried to ignore him, then he came a knocking. Turns out he has 2 cats, and wanted to clear the way as he could clearly see we have chickens. :roll:

I have no experience of cats whatsoever. So I am naturally concerned that they will snaffle my two smallest girls who are no bigger than a mistle thrush!

Any advice welcome please.
 
As i'm not known for having one of anything (except my poor long suffereing OH of course) :D I have 5 cats - and some birds that are tiny and all the baby chicks and the cats have never bothered them - hope it goes well with new neighbours - I'm lucky - I haven't got any neighbours at all :-)08 :-)08
 
Nah, They won't bother, they might investigate initially but will get bored of them very quickly...
My 6 cats don't bother with my chooks at all, panic ye not!! :D
 
I have cats with my chickens who free range as you know. I got a new young male cat last spring, he is a real hunter and catches birds, mice, rabbits etc. I watched very carefully when we first let him out, he slunk up to the chickens who were weeding a flower bed, lay there wobbling his bottom as they do and then pounced. He disappeared behind a bush, then reappeared running very fast followed by my smallest pekin head down, wings out swearing very loudly. Elvis the rooster has also attacked him, totally unprovoked, as he was wandering around the garden and giving the chickens a wide berth. I think on the whole chickens get the best of cats.

Our young male cat did once chase our neighbour's chicks, who were very small and had wandered into our garden. The mother saw him off though.
 
We have a girl cat whois an enthusiastic hunter and we were worried when we first got our girls. When we first let them out she did watch them alot and has chased the odd one but they kick up such a fuss that I think she is abit afraid of them now. One word of warning, I would be careful with your new small girls as I think the smaller they are the more likely a cat would see them as any old bird to catch. Just keep a close eye Elmwood.
 
Hi,

Thankyou everyone for such reassuring and helpful adice. It does make me smile to think these cute bundles of feathers and fluff could get the better of a hunter cat. :-)08 However I am beginning to apprecaite that a smaller "size" really is no hindrance. Buttercup, squared up to our largest Pekin, and has been strutting her stuff ever since. Don't think she will be far down the new pecking order ladder.

Fudge, the sruffy one, layed today, her first egg on day 3 in her new home- Valentines Day. 0:-)



thanks again. x
 
As others have testified, most cats tend to ignore poultry, or just show idle interest. My old Mogs would walk past ranging broodies and chicks without the slightest flicker of interest.
Occasionally you will encounter problem Moggies though. Some years ago, A huge feral/farm Tabby Tom ( and father of my own two house cats of the time) made some serious inroads on my Cochin growers, until a bullet from a .22 rifle stopped his antics.
 
Hi all,

How ironic that I was sooooo concerned about my NEW neighbours cats, when the real threat were the two dogs which got into my garden and killed one of the new girls.

How I wish I had had a .22 rifle Friday morning. Thankfully the owner hasn't walked her dogs past our house this weekend.
 
elmwood said:
Hi all,

How ironic that I was sooooo concerned about my NEW neighbours cats, when the real threat were the two dogs which got into my garden and killed one of the new girls.

How I wish I had had a .22 rifle Friday morning. Thankfully the owner hasn't walked her dogs past our house this weekend.
Click to expand...
aaaaaaaawww that really sux :(
 
elmwood said:
Hi,

Well no sooner had I collected my two new hens, (Friday), the new neighbour as of tomorrow, poked his head over our fence, spying our girlies. Naturally we tried to ignore him, then he came a knocking. Turns out he has 2 cats, and wanted to clear the way as he could clearly see we have chickens. :roll:

I have no experience of cats whatsoever. So I am naturally concerned that they will snaffle my two smallest girls who are no bigger than a mistle thrush!

Any advice welcome please.
Click to expand...
I am in almost exactly th same situation. I very seldom get cats in the garden but a new neighbour has moved in with three. One of them comes in rather a lot. She's a very friendly cat and difficult to chase. So I am now in 'wait and see' mode.
I think this is the best policy. Let the cats come in and let the chicken out, but watch them. If the cat goes into hunting mode It is possible the chicken will kick up enough fuss to discourage it. If not you'd need to get out quick before you lose one! Once a cat is happy to wander through chicks with no disturbance then you ARE fairly safe. It all depends on the temperament of the cat though. A dedicated hunting cat would certainly take the chicken, but since you can never keep cats out it is much better to let them get used to each other out in the garden. Warning. If the cat is used to seeing the birds behind netting and then it finds one loose, it is faily likely to attack.
 
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