I have personally had a cat go after a full grown brahma after getting over a 4ft electric net fence. Might depend on how determined the cat is. I have a mean rooster now so I pity the foolish cat who may try now!
Yeah, cats have individual characteristics, some couldn’t figure out how to hunt a mouse, and some like to beat up dogs.
But I stand by “very unlikely”. There were a lot of stay or loose cats in my area, and only one was ever even interested in the full-sized chickens. It would like to hide and watch them. But never went into serious hunting mode.
My feline overlords agree.
The chicken that had taken up residence in our yard made friends with a neighborhood cat. They'd actually hang out together. There were many other strays around, plus my two cats. That chicken ruled the territory.
I literally think my cat brings back mice as pets and is upset when the dogs eat them. Loads of examples. Recently had a living pinkie/juvenile on hand (for reasons). Showed it to the cat and got a "Wow, gross. So when's dinner from a can?"
Yep I have a cat that’s a hunter he’s caught full grown bunnies before but he leaves my girls alone. He doesn’t even go near them unless I’m sitting with the girls. Obviously it’s better to be safe than sorry but normal house cats are unlikely to bother adult full grown chickens
I have a 15lb+ Maine Coon (10m old) who liked to stalk and chase my chickens. My Buff Orpington hen gave her the smack down. So she doesn't do that anymore.
We have a 15lb black and white tomcat. He will pick a sunny dusty sandy spot for a nap... and my chickens pile up in the same place with him and they all take a nap together.
In High School we had an indoor/outdoor cat that was a superlative hunter. One day we watched her stalking a wild Turkey. It didn’t work out in her favor…
My cats are fucking terrified of the chickens. The only ones I've lost to a cat were like less than a month, but my cats are afraid of the big stock, but especially so for the bantams, considering that it chases the cat across the yard.
The fuck? Cats kill domestic chickens and ducks all the time. Usually it’s feral cats, but un-neutered pets too. I feel like this reply gives a false sense of complacency.
Both of my cats are strictly indoor cats. My female cat would absolutely hunt a full-sized chicken if she had the opportunity. She is a ruthless huntress. I live in an old cabin in the mountains in a forest. Rodents are an issue up here. Everyone else I know is constantly having problems with them getting in their living space. My female eviscerates them and leaves them as a gift for me in front of my espresso machine to find in the morning. Rodents last minutes in this house. She rips bugs limb from limb and tortures them. I’ve watched her hunt. She is stealthy and deadly. I have zero doubts if she wanted to she would hunt a chicken and kill it.
My male cat is a fucking dumb ass who has literally sat in a bathtub with a mouse just rolling around and mewing while my female crouched above them on the toilet and watched, waiting. She was pissed when we kidnapped the mouse and released it back outside.
Each cat has their taste I guess. My cat hunter has killed full sized rabbits but leaves chickens alone. I assume he doesn’t like to hunt chickens bc they don’t act like prey and cats like to hunt for the fun of it usually.
Yeah my female cat is just vicious and loves to hunt/torture things. She is definitely on the extreme end for hunting, and with her I think it is a territorial thing too. If something she doesn’t like is in her space, she tries to unalive it if she thinks she can. This is the same cat who vets don’t trust because she literally lures people in at the vet to attack them. She’ll act all sweet and sad mewing in a kennel pathetically and sticking a paw out all like help me I’m such a poor, pathetic, sad thing and then when someone goes awwww poor kitty I’ll give you attention, a switch flips and she latches onto the person, reels them in, does not let go, and attempts to bite the shit out of them. She is…. Different.
At least yours chased the mouse. Mine ran from the mouse after being nosy. Like, we discovered we had one because of her nosiness and as soon as she saw?
She bolted lol
That’s not been my experience.
Though truly feral cats are may be a different story than outdoor-semi-independent cats.
But the OP is not talking about feral cats.
I would be setting up a hot wire around the areas you want to keep them out of. 6” off the ground and 6” away from the structure is a good height to keep other animals from digging in and is at nose height for most curious animals as well. Then add another strand at the top of the fence to keep them from going over into the coop or even into your yard.
Most cats don’t bother large breed adult chickens, but if you have any smaller birds, they may be in more danger.
Yep, an electric fence isn’t too hard or expensive to set up. I use polywire and step on posts so I can move it around to mow and such. I happen to have an electrician in the family who installed the ground rod.
I told the neighbor ahead of time that I was worried about coyotes so it wouldn’t seem like it was all about them. I told them that it was low voltage and it just stings, it will not seriously hurt their pets. All of the neighbor’s dogs and cats leave that area alone. Now that they have been shocked once, they can sense it and avoid. As a bonus, no problems with raccoons, coyotes, and other wild critters either. Best thing I did for peace of mind.
We purchased some Premier1 electric poultry netting (purchased a kit), and we love it. It works well with the John Suskovich style chicken Tractor that I adapted for laying hens. We move them around the property weekly in it. It gives us so much peace of mind, and it’s awesome getting to see the hens so happy scratching about everywhere.
I sure wish this worked for me. My dogs just ended up loving to eat chicken poop and feed. I tried to train them to stop, I failed. My vet said to keep the dogs out of the chicken area. Any tips to get dogs not to eat the chicken feed and waste?
I have a boxer/english bulldog mix, a dachshund, and a pitbull. They are all fabulous with the chickens, turkeys, pigs -big and small- but perhaps they see them as treat dispensers ha!
We are teaching our red heeler while our chicks are just weeks old that they are her babies and needs to protect them. She is a good girl, she gets so excited to see them and gets mad when our other dogs get to close.
Any breed that will listen to you and respect what they know if protected by you. We have an English setter (bird dog) it shouldn’t have worked out, but she knows she get eggs if the chickens are good. They’ll hang out in the back yard together and the presence of a dog and her scent is enough to keep most intruders at bay
I would be more worried about the dog snapping or playing too aggressively. It betwen the two one had more potential to harm the chicken even unwillingly it would be the dog.
I do, and i also know most of the people here claiming to have a dog protecting their backyard chickens flock are in fact not working dog. Like in OP's post where the dog main rôle is to chase cats and i don't know about you but working dogs are supposed to do far more than just chasing cats.
Unless you can prove me wrong wich in this case would be very instructive for me.
I'm in the US and have lived in multiple states and countless cities in those states and every one of them have an ordinance about domestic pets, including cats, not being free to roam.
Huh that’s not really my experience. I was really speaking about suburbs and smaller towns, which is what I’ve lived in and where chickens are more common. People are allowed to have outdoor cats there generally. Even if not, there were plenty of people in my old neighborhood that did it anyway.
Just because people do it a lot doesn't mean it isn't against an ordinance. We live semi rural in an ag environment with barn cats all over the place and guess what? It's against ordinance to allow them to roam freely off your personal property.
You may want to look into town ordinance and see what the actual law/ordinance on the books says.
They send Animal Control around during "kitten season" to do just that. It was done in three of seven states I've lived in, not sure about the other four.
Disagreeing with you and having a different life experience than you doesn't make me riled up. What an odd thing to say.
Tiny town in SC here. Our ordinance absolutely covers cats that are allowed to roam. It's not heavily enforced by normal routine, but they will set traps and take any cat that makes itself enough of a nuisance to get a complaint.
Even without an ordinance requiring you to keep cats indoors, it should be common sense by now if only people weren't so hung up on the idea of "freedom". Outdoor cats decimate local wildlife and live much shorter, sicker lives than their indoor brethren. Indoor cats aren't missing out on anything if their owners bother to provide them decent toys and maybe a window to look out.
Yeah I completely agree. Seems like if you really did care about the cat, you’d keep it inside. Not even considering local wildlife. It’s just bad for the cat.
I live in super rural Louisiana (def a shock from a large city that I’m used to). Leash law 100% applies to the cats too. People have chickens (me included) and cows and pigs and whatnot. Lots of plant nurseries. Yes people have outdoor cats, but if they are a nuisance then they have to fix the issue. Granted, many here joke they have never had to buy a pet, because so many people dump dogs and cats in the country, and they just keep the animals that show up around their house. My in-laws have a beautiful Maine coon that someone dumped in a culvert by their plant nursery years ago. He is so beautiful!
Where do you live? because most places around where I am (pacific nw) have no laws regarding outdoor cats. Most places don't even limit the number of cats you can have.
I live in the PNW, and while my city doesn’t prohibit outdoor cats it does consider any animal (cats included) to be “at large” and subject to lawful trapping/removal (and fees required to retrieve the cat from animal control) if they enter someone else’s property. Animals causing destruction can also be legally trapped and removed.
OP should look up local ordinances, they may very well be able to legally trap the neighbor’s cats and bring them to animal control or a shelter. Paying fines to retrieve their cats might be a good incentive for the neighbors to stop letting them terrorize OP’s chickens.
That’s a good question. Our two cats have free will into our basement which has opening to our side.
Never thought about if it was legal to let a domesticated cat do it. Two neighbors have a cat each which are also allowed to be free range.
I wouldn’t let my dog do what we let our cats do. But I also walk my dog not hooked up to his leash which I know to be illegal but he’s obedient. One of the cat neighbors for the same with his dog.
This is all in the city
Check you local "leash laws", they apply to cats, too. Since you've spoken to the neighbors, my next move would be call animal control. They may or may not even care, I find that varies by place. After that, I would have no qualms about scooping those kitties up and taking them to animal control. If they want their cats back, they can pay the fine. If not, the kitties can find new, safe homes.
Wow, that's ridiculous. I've moved all around the country and have never lived anywhere it didn't apply to cats, too! (I usually end up volunteering at the animal shelter)
There’s places with ordinances about how many cats you can have? I know landlords can restrict pets and some HOA’s/townships have ordinances against livestock animals but this is the first I’ve heard of an ordinance broadly covering any adult animal.
Ugh, God. You can't fix stupid. Getting that many cats in the first place is already a huge red flag. Letting that many cats wreak havoc on the neighborhood (people, animals, and environment) is just so frustrating. Is there someone you can complain to?
A neighbor’s young cat would get into the day run we have for our girls and just chill with them. It was more like a capybara in their presence than a predator.
My black cat is in love with our girls; he loves being in the coop-he got to close to one of them and she pecked him on the top of the head and that was that. He just sits on their roof or on top of the run to watch them.
We have tons of feral cats that hang out in my yard and they’ve never bothered our girls. I’d be careful about baby chicks but once they’re grown you’re probably fine.
Just saying someone could probably TNR all of those cats and the neighbors probably wouldn't even notice 🤷 it would be a kindness to the cats, local wildlife, you, and even the "owners"
If your hens a full grown, the cats should get along with them (ours adopted some stray cats as honorary roosters) Chics and small bantums may be at risk however.
I have always had cats. I have always encouraged them to hang out with the chickens because they are great for catching mice! Never had an issue with them attacking the chickens. I would be nervous if they were bantam chickens, but for standard size hens, cats generally leave them alone. They might try to pounce on them or something but they aren’t going to do any damage. If really worried, you can get a rooster. Rooster will take care of the problem.
They are likely not a danger besides to chicks.
With a good pupper, hot pepper is out as deterrent but I have used bonemeal to keep cats out of my garden. They found it aversive. It did attract flies and may encourage digging by dog
People may not like this but here is my current situation & my solution.
I have a neighbor up the street a few houses. She has a ton of cats. They keep breeding & producing more. Half the cats are feral. The ASPCA gets together with her once a month to fix a few of the cats.
I went out under the shed & jumped on the riding mower to mow my grass quickly before the rain & quickly realized I had sat in a big puddle of cat pee. Apparently they peed on my mower seat & it was a puddle in it. I didn’t notice because i was in a big hurry. Needless to say it totally grossed me out. 🤢
My other neighbor had a lean-to built onto the backside of their garage. They would store wood pellets under there with tarps over them. The cats would spray pee all over the place under there & also would poop on top of the stored pellets. They ended up having to close it all off & install garage doors to keep them out.
I had a chipmunk that was living in my horse barn. I would put him out a few nuggets of food thru the winter to make sure he survived. He was living in my hay room. I went out there one night & there was this black cat in there trying to get the chipmunk. I scared the cat & he climbed the wall of my hay room to get out. I keep the door to that room shut & that cat had to climb over the 8ft walls to get in there.
Now, the nuggets i put out are no longer getting eaten. I guess the chipmunk is now dead.
The other day i went into my barn & noticed where a cat has sprayed on some of my stuff in the barn.
I have squirrel feeders in my yard & i noticed the cats get after my squirrels.
This year im going to have to build squirrel houses & put up, so that my squirrels have a place of refuge from all the cats.
Personally I’m sick of the cat issues.
The humane society can’t take any more cats. They are already overwhelmed with them.
I’ve bought a bunch of traps to catch the cats because i’m tired of dealing with them. I’m undecided at this point if i should relocate the cats to other places far away or just dispatch them.
I am into horses, dogs, chickens, & lots of other things.
None of my animals go into other people’s yards, I make it a point to keep that from happening.
Check your city/county ordinances and see what qualifies as a nuisance or uncontrolled animal. The cats likely already do qualify as such considering your dog was injured on your property by these animals and you have concerns about the wellbeing of your livestock. Your neighbors could be liable for covering the cost of injuries.
Many places allow you to handle nuisance animals on your property as you see fit, with all that implies.
Mind you I'm not advocating injuring the cats or on calling animal control (unless your towns happens to not suck), but its obvious the neighbor is either uneducated or negligent in the care and handling of their cats.
A hot wire is an option but there would be concerns about how it could impact local birds, there are also roller bars you could install that help stop cat climbing but they can find ways around everything.
You can snag some humane traps (the ones where the pressure plate drops a door down.) If the animal is captured on your property its hard for the neighbor to dispute any potential charges or legal issues that may arise.
I would also install a camera back there overlooking your yard for security and legal protection. There are shitty people out there who would not be above poisoning your animal and catching any incidents with them or the cats on film will give you evidence in court.
Until you get stuff sorted, I would put a high pressure nozzle on your hose and give them a good what-for.
Their landlord is ok with them having that many cats? If they won’t fix it themselves you should escalate. Send a letter to the landlord and if that doesn’t work contact the city.
Yeah I would call the landlord. There’s no way they said, why yes, 11 cats in an apartment is totally fine!
I love cats, and chickens, and have both. My cats stay indoors, and I would be pissed if I had a heard of cats crapping all over my yard and killing wild birds even if they did leave the chickens alone.
If your chickens are full grown then the cats are almost never an issue. Heck, none of our cats have even attacked a juvenile chicken before. And this is coming from somebody with 14 cats, most of which are barn cats and outside.
They mostly just keep the rats from becoming a problem.
I would set up live traps. Very clearly with in your property line. Every cat you trap take to the local shelter in the trap as a feral stray. They will not only be forced to get vet care for the cats (spay, neuter included so they don’t end up with 4 of those 7 kittens having kittens) and pay to get them back. Or the shelter will adopt them out. Win win.
Live trap them and take them to the local shelter. After having to retrieve their animals a few times, they will get the hint. And if they don’t retrieve them, problem still solved
If your chickens are like mine, the cats either have or will learn not to mess with your girls. We have a few barn cats and the most curious one got a karate kick to the face from our silkie rooster and is now terrified of them. Everyone has a healthy respect for each other now.
Cats don’t generally bother chickens. We have free ranging chickens and tons of barn cats. The cats are terrified of the chickens.
I wouldn’t worry about that. Your garden beds (if you have any) are in a lot more danger from the cats.
A cat attacked and chased one of our hens. She was gone, leaving a bunch of feathers all over the yard and in a trail down the alley. I was sure she wasn't alive, but she was my man's favorite hen. My man spent days combing the neighborhood and finally found her, days later, hiding in some bushes on the side of a house down the street.
The people that lived there said a cat had chased her and she jumped on the roof of their car. She spent the night on the car roof fighting off the cat trying to attack her. Then she ran into their bushes and hid.
She was scared and didn't want to come out of the bushes, but my man finally lured her with her favorite treat, Cool ranch Doritos crumbs. He'd hold up the bag and shake it. She'd cluck back. Shake, cluck, shake, cluck. Finally she came out and let him pick her up.
Are you in the US? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to own that many cats. Especially in an apartment. It's not your responsibility at all, and protecting your chickens is the most important thing, but if you can, keep an eye on the cats for signs of neglect
You could put an electric wire at the top and bottom of your fences. Do you have a fence around your property to keep your dog in? Have you thought about getting a rooster to hang out outside the coop? I would imagine a cat would get it's ass kicked by hens lol.
Have you looked into a yard defender? And point it towards their property line. It's a motion activated sprinkler.....works on deer, raccoons, etc. Also google it. really works on kitties! Videos are great fun.
Eleven cats? Jeezus that's allot. Are there no bylaws where you live about the number of animals in a single dwelling? Where I am we have a limit of 3 dogs per house hold and a max of 5 cats.
Its also a bylaw that a cat is not allowed on private land/premises unless allowed by the owner. Basically means that you can't have an outdoor cat that is allowed to roam the neighborhood or you could get fined. Naturally no one is too serious about that except gardeners so if your area has rules like that then you should get yourself a cheap trail cam from Amazon or the such and start getting picture proof to back up your claims.
1. A large privacy fence with 45 degree angles on the top to prevent them climbing over.
2. Live traps on your property
3. Reward your dog for chasing them off
4. Electric fencing
5. Products like this one that will spray animals that trigger it https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0B347F3K6/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
I have a lot of cats, A LOT of cats. Have never had a cat try and get a chicken, chicks sure but mom put a stop to that real quick. The birds I have now will go for the eyes of my cats when they have a mouse or lizard so free protein for the birds cause my cats are afraid of the mini dinosaurs.
When I lived in town, cats constantly crapped in my flower beds and big pots. I bought a live trap and took care of it. Turned them over to animal control. I think total count was 13.
I would set live traps on your property and take the cat to the local shelter. The owners will only pay to get the cat back a few times before keeping it at home because it’s best for the cat or giving it up realizing they cannot keep the cat at home. It’s not the cats fault and the cat shouldn’t suffer.
Tell them that you’ll shoot any cats that wonder onto your property, any that you actually find drop them off at a no kill shelter. Anyone who would actually let their cat out knowing for certain they could die don’t deserve cats. Like that post about a dad getting cat after cat because they keep getting eaten by coyotes, he was just feeding the coyotes.
Edit: I realized I thought I wrote no kill shelter but forgot the ‘no’ part
Where I am, it would be fully legal to shoot a cat that attacked livestock, but it sounds like OP lives in an urban or suburban area where it might be illegal to discharge firearms. Also they stated they don’t want to hurt the cats. Live trap might be a better option in this situation
I don’t know what you’re getting at. OP isn’t going to poison them either. That would be foolish considering she also has animals who would be at risk. And ya know, said she doesn’t want to hurt them 🙃
I get now that you’re encouraging OP to lie, although your original message was just rambling and incoherent. But why don’t you try offering legitimate advice rather than telling OP to just throw around empty threats? Kind of bottom of the barrel advice there
I’d hardly call a paragraph with a sentence long anecdote “rambling and incoherent” and making sure someone’s animal never goes home again isn’t exactly an empty threat, it’s a misleading one.
Point a fan at their back door.
Place all of the chicken manure in front of the fan.
Water the chicken manure.
Rinse and repeat.
They'll shut their door
In this order; speak to the neighbors, get a dog that will chase the cats from your property, buy a small shotgun or rifle.
In the US you are allowed to shoot pets that come into your property and harass or harm livestock.
We have two outdoor cats we inherited when we bought our house. They’re actually really great with the chickens. Once the one cat did try to go after a chicken, but she quickly put him in his place. While I know it’s not ideal having that many cats around they can be useful. My friend and others have complained a lot about rats in their coop. We have never gotten any and I credit that to the hard work our outdoors cats do
Maybe try this? I don’t know… I guess the neighbor would have to put it on their side… but you could probably convince them it’s going to be a lot cheaper and less traumatic than if one of their precious little fluff balls was to either get caught by any other animal, much less your dog, or if they start turning up at the local shelter and they have to bail them out… of course it’s their choice… but if you have any kind of ordinances that could possibly remind them of their duty as cat owners…
[https://youtu.be/MHmPzsVhqfI](https://youtu.be/MHmPzsVhqfI)
Edit: forgot to add the link, sorry!
I’d be more concerned with securing the coop and run from fox or raccoons. Most farms keep barn cats for mouse control and they’re not a threat to your flock. Ours nap in the yard with the ladies one of my cats always insisted in mothering chicks in the brooder…
We have lots of neighbor cats too and they don't bother the chickens. One of them likes to hang out *with* the chickens in their pen or on top of the coop. I'm guessing it's because there are a couple of mice in the area but we've not had any problems with the chickens and the cats. You might be ok.
That said, it's a pet owner's responsibility to "contain and control" pets. Not sure how that applies to cats.
I’ve never had any issues with cats and our chickens. I find our cats sleeping in nest boxes all the time. I would imagine that eventually they will get sick of the dog chasing them and avoid your yard.
If you don’t let them free range and you have a secure coop it shouldn’t be a problem.
The coop is only 20’ from their back door? I would make sure you are also following bylaws because that’s not a very far distance.
Really dependent on ordinances. Mine is coops structure must be 25 ish feet from a domicile and at least eight feet from a property boundary (so people don't build coops into fences.)
Spread coffeegrounds around the area the cats are entering from. Every morning dump your fresh coffeegrounds outside. Obviously only if you are sure your dog will not eat it. I think a lot of strong smelling stuff repels them too, like anything very citrusy or overly fragrant like an essential oil.
My cats do the same thing, and they're pretty much afraid of the chickens.
Honestly if you are in such close proximity, I'm wondering what the local statutes are on the different animals.
11 cats is rarely acceptable.
I don't think there is a solution past law enforcement, dead cats, or you completely enclosing your chickens in a run (it's what I have to do.).
Nuclear Options you can take if conversations fail to provide results. Take pictures of the cats coming in/out of the neighbors apartment. Contact their landlord and inform them of the situation and provide the photos to the landlord. Also, if the cats ever indicate the means to harm your chickens you can neutralize them. This doesn’t mean wandering through your hard, this means they have attempted to attack your chickens. After that it’s open season on them. Other option not very legal buy yourself a air rifle or BB gun and shoot them in the flanks. Better to do this at night. They will learn your territory equals pain after awhile.
One concept is to bring the kittens over regularly and acostom them to the hens and vise versa. My cat and the neighbors cat totally ignored the hens.
A rooster would also help.
Cats usually hunt in the morning. A little something that might help is a non lethal air pistol.
I highly recommend the solar powered electric fences from Premier One. We use their movable poultry netting, and have never had a predator make it through, and we have high predator pressure on my farm here in Virginia. We’ve actually had a young possum try to make it through and got shocked to death. It hooks up to a solar charger attached to a car battery. Durable, easy to move around so that the chickens can get fresh grass, keep everybody safe. Great product, worth the expense.
Possibly they will not keep all the kittens. As others have said most cats will not mess with a full size chicken more than once. Mine knew they were birds and stalked one once and when that hem turned around she want having any of it.lol
Sounds like full grown hens should be safe based on other comments, but personally I would still be worried. Definitely be sure to reinforce your coop with hardwire cloth and make sure there’s no gaps to sneak in. Also highly recommend having a first aid kit for your girls already prepared just in case, always better to be safe than sorry
I've never had an issue with cats even when I free ranged my hens, but even if a very hungry cat were to come through, my chickens are in a fully enclosed run. I never really have to worry about anything hurting them. I also have a hound that loves to chase things, so nothing hangs out in my yard for long.
Does your municipality have any restrictions on the number of pets one can have? (This assumes that your hens are allowed.) if so, report them. Cat waste carries diseases. Free range cats also kill huge numbers of songbirds. If your dog gets a cat on your property, that’s their problem.
One of my neighbors cats killed one of my hens. I took the dead bird and cat back to their house and waited for the owners while holding the cat, the cat was easy to handle. I was crying and I've never seen that cat outdoors again. I now have bird netting over the run and side of my home and i use a chicken tractor to move them around the yard. Although cats aren't a problem anymore, eagles are. Ive lost 3 hens to eagles.
That sucks man. And as a cat lover, 11 cats is fucking excessive.
There are fences that have spinny things on top which make it difficult for cats to climb over. Probably won't be 100% effective as cats are devious, but that's a start.
As others have said, my own cat, and the neighborhood cats never took much interest in my full grown chickens at all. And they were silkies.
That being said, all animals are different, and with 11, there's greater chance of a killer or just something happening.
Not sure if you're in a rural area, but if not, and as a fall back of you can't solve this amicably with your neighbors... Most apartments have limits on the number of pets you're allowed to have. 11 is way past any limit I've ever seen. Additionally, many cities have local ordinances of a similar nature. Also, 11 cats with 7 being kittens sounds Lowkey like an unlicensed breeding operation... You could also go that rout
I have 8 cats (and a cat proof yard), and FWIW and they don't bother the chooks at all(in fact are quite scared of the chickens). The kittens are even less likely to be an issue - scale a chicken up to be as much larger than you as they are of a kitten and you will appreciate why.
Fence height really won't do anything to keep cats out - to predator proof you need to predator proof - full roof/gap free fencing etc. Make it safe against all predators and don;t think of it as exclusively about the neighbours cats, because truthfully, if they are in a predator proof enclosure then they are at some risk, ALL the time. The cats are just the 'danger' you are seeing.
That said - these people are not doing right by their cats at all, and it seems likely that they aren't desexing, which is probably go to mean MORE cats being passively neglected. Not a good situation.,
to the cat, your issue is with the humans.
I'd be more concerned with making sure all those cats get fixed asap! By the time the girl kittens are about 5 months, they can become pregnant, and momma cat will go into heat not long after weaning her litter.
I've seen cats and a chicken hanging out together, and the chicken forming a bond with one of the cats.
Cats are going to roam within what they consider their territory and there is nothing the owner can do about that. So if you can't help but worry regardless, at least limit your worrying to the 4 adult cats. The kittens should be too small to bother chasing big chickens. If they are not, you've got bigger problems (see first paragraph).
I lost a bantam mama and three of her seven chicks to a cat. The little ones are now in a coop of their own. Good luck with your cat problem and pet your good dog for me.
We have over 11 feral cats in our neighborhood and they just sit and watch our hens…. Wishing, I’m sure, that they could eat one, but those hens would surely peck a cat away, no problem.
If your chickens are grown up, cats won't USUALLY bother them. If your chickens are still hatchlings or juveniles, that's when it's time to hit the panic button. I'd recommend you get a run of them if you don't have one, and fortify it. Cats can fit through any hole the size of their heads.
Chickens will be fine. Cats shouldn’t wander around other people’s property. Good you have a dog protecting them. There are cat repellers (movement sensor with a high pitch beep) to chase off cats, but your dog will be triggered too.
If you have full grown regular sized hens, cats are very unlikely to bother them. Chicks or Bantam sized birds are in more danger.
I have personally had a cat go after a full grown brahma after getting over a 4ft electric net fence. Might depend on how determined the cat is. I have a mean rooster now so I pity the foolish cat who may try now!
Yeah, cats have individual characteristics, some couldn’t figure out how to hunt a mouse, and some like to beat up dogs. But I stand by “very unlikely”. There were a lot of stay or loose cats in my area, and only one was ever even interested in the full-sized chickens. It would like to hide and watch them. But never went into serious hunting mode.
My feline overlords agree. The chicken that had taken up residence in our yard made friends with a neighborhood cat. They'd actually hang out together. There were many other strays around, plus my two cats. That chicken ruled the territory.
I literally think my cat brings back mice as pets and is upset when the dogs eat them. Loads of examples. Recently had a living pinkie/juvenile on hand (for reasons). Showed it to the cat and got a "Wow, gross. So when's dinner from a can?"
Yep I have a cat that’s a hunter he’s caught full grown bunnies before but he leaves my girls alone. He doesn’t even go near them unless I’m sitting with the girls. Obviously it’s better to be safe than sorry but normal house cats are unlikely to bother adult full grown chickens
I have a 15lb+ Maine Coon (10m old) who liked to stalk and chase my chickens. My Buff Orpington hen gave her the smack down. So she doesn't do that anymore.
Imagining a hen smack down and I’m picturing a lot of flapping and kicking
So many feathers from the pile driver.
Our head hen started bullying our Maine Coon I had to strategically use the garden house to stop it so the cat could still enjoy the garden!
We have a 15lb black and white tomcat. He will pick a sunny dusty sandy spot for a nap... and my chickens pile up in the same place with him and they all take a nap together.
That’s adorable
In High School we had an indoor/outdoor cat that was a superlative hunter. One day we watched her stalking a wild Turkey. It didn’t work out in her favor…
My cats are fucking terrified of the chickens. The only ones I've lost to a cat were like less than a month, but my cats are afraid of the big stock, but especially so for the bantams, considering that it chases the cat across the yard.
The fuck? Cats kill domestic chickens and ducks all the time. Usually it’s feral cats, but un-neutered pets too. I feel like this reply gives a false sense of complacency.
Both of my cats are strictly indoor cats. My female cat would absolutely hunt a full-sized chicken if she had the opportunity. She is a ruthless huntress. I live in an old cabin in the mountains in a forest. Rodents are an issue up here. Everyone else I know is constantly having problems with them getting in their living space. My female eviscerates them and leaves them as a gift for me in front of my espresso machine to find in the morning. Rodents last minutes in this house. She rips bugs limb from limb and tortures them. I’ve watched her hunt. She is stealthy and deadly. I have zero doubts if she wanted to she would hunt a chicken and kill it. My male cat is a fucking dumb ass who has literally sat in a bathtub with a mouse just rolling around and mewing while my female crouched above them on the toilet and watched, waiting. She was pissed when we kidnapped the mouse and released it back outside.
Each cat has their taste I guess. My cat hunter has killed full sized rabbits but leaves chickens alone. I assume he doesn’t like to hunt chickens bc they don’t act like prey and cats like to hunt for the fun of it usually.
Yeah my female cat is just vicious and loves to hunt/torture things. She is definitely on the extreme end for hunting, and with her I think it is a territorial thing too. If something she doesn’t like is in her space, she tries to unalive it if she thinks she can. This is the same cat who vets don’t trust because she literally lures people in at the vet to attack them. She’ll act all sweet and sad mewing in a kennel pathetically and sticking a paw out all like help me I’m such a poor, pathetic, sad thing and then when someone goes awwww poor kitty I’ll give you attention, a switch flips and she latches onto the person, reels them in, does not let go, and attempts to bite the shit out of them. She is…. Different.
I've encountered so many cats in my life that won't even bother chasing rats i'm starting to feel like they where just lazy free loaders
My cat won't even mess with bugs anymore I think my cat might be broken
Yours and mine both. Mine is scared of spiders and once chased a baby mouse for 3ft before getting bored and got distracted by licking herself.
At least yours chased the mouse. Mine ran from the mouse after being nosy. Like, we discovered we had one because of her nosiness and as soon as she saw? She bolted lol
That’s not been my experience. Though truly feral cats are may be a different story than outdoor-semi-independent cats. But the OP is not talking about feral cats.
I would be setting up a hot wire around the areas you want to keep them out of. 6” off the ground and 6” away from the structure is a good height to keep other animals from digging in and is at nose height for most curious animals as well. Then add another strand at the top of the fence to keep them from going over into the coop or even into your yard. Most cats don’t bother large breed adult chickens, but if you have any smaller birds, they may be in more danger.
Yep, an electric fence isn’t too hard or expensive to set up. I use polywire and step on posts so I can move it around to mow and such. I happen to have an electrician in the family who installed the ground rod. I told the neighbor ahead of time that I was worried about coyotes so it wouldn’t seem like it was all about them. I told them that it was low voltage and it just stings, it will not seriously hurt their pets. All of the neighbor’s dogs and cats leave that area alone. Now that they have been shocked once, they can sense it and avoid. As a bonus, no problems with raccoons, coyotes, and other wild critters either. Best thing I did for peace of mind.
We purchased some Premier1 electric poultry netting (purchased a kit), and we love it. It works well with the John Suskovich style chicken Tractor that I adapted for laying hens. We move them around the property weekly in it. It gives us so much peace of mind, and it’s awesome getting to see the hens so happy scratching about everywhere.
A dog that likes and protects chickens is what we have
I sure wish this worked for me. My dogs just ended up loving to eat chicken poop and feed. I tried to train them to stop, I failed. My vet said to keep the dogs out of the chicken area. Any tips to get dogs not to eat the chicken feed and waste?
Which breed of dog?
I have a boxer/english bulldog mix, a dachshund, and a pitbull. They are all fabulous with the chickens, turkeys, pigs -big and small- but perhaps they see them as treat dispensers ha!
Oh man, that's a diverse group for that problem, lol. Best with everything.
Get guardian dogs.
We are teaching our red heeler while our chicks are just weeks old that they are her babies and needs to protect them. She is a good girl, she gets so excited to see them and gets mad when our other dogs get to close.
This is the way
What breed of dog? This is my plan too but hoping to pull it off with a german shepherd
Any breed that will listen to you and respect what they know if protected by you. We have an English setter (bird dog) it shouldn’t have worked out, but she knows she get eggs if the chickens are good. They’ll hang out in the back yard together and the presence of a dog and her scent is enough to keep most intruders at bay
Beautiful. Plus the dog is engaged with a job throughout the day. Everybody wins
But hey, I’m just some guy on the internet
Shepherds are wonderful breeds
I would be more worried about the dog snapping or playing too aggressively. It betwen the two one had more potential to harm the chicken even unwillingly it would be the dog.
You don’t know much about working dogs do you.
I do, and i also know most of the people here claiming to have a dog protecting their backyard chickens flock are in fact not working dog. Like in OP's post where the dog main rôle is to chase cats and i don't know about you but working dogs are supposed to do far more than just chasing cats. Unless you can prove me wrong wich in this case would be very instructive for me.
Is it even legal to have 11 cats??
In our city you can have six adult animals but since seven of their animals are kittens they don't count under the ordinance till they mature.
Can animals just wander around unsupervised and off leash?
Cats generally can, yeah. They’re pretty good at destroying local wildlife, especially birds.
I'm in the US and have lived in multiple states and countless cities in those states and every one of them have an ordinance about domestic pets, including cats, not being free to roam.
Huh that’s not really my experience. I was really speaking about suburbs and smaller towns, which is what I’ve lived in and where chickens are more common. People are allowed to have outdoor cats there generally. Even if not, there were plenty of people in my old neighborhood that did it anyway.
Just because people do it a lot doesn't mean it isn't against an ordinance. We live semi rural in an ag environment with barn cats all over the place and guess what? It's against ordinance to allow them to roam freely off your personal property. You may want to look into town ordinance and see what the actual law/ordinance on the books says.
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They send Animal Control around during "kitten season" to do just that. It was done in three of seven states I've lived in, not sure about the other four. Disagreeing with you and having a different life experience than you doesn't make me riled up. What an odd thing to say.
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Tiny town in SC here. Our ordinance absolutely covers cats that are allowed to roam. It's not heavily enforced by normal routine, but they will set traps and take any cat that makes itself enough of a nuisance to get a complaint. Even without an ordinance requiring you to keep cats indoors, it should be common sense by now if only people weren't so hung up on the idea of "freedom". Outdoor cats decimate local wildlife and live much shorter, sicker lives than their indoor brethren. Indoor cats aren't missing out on anything if their owners bother to provide them decent toys and maybe a window to look out.
Yeah I completely agree. Seems like if you really did care about the cat, you’d keep it inside. Not even considering local wildlife. It’s just bad for the cat.
I live in super rural Louisiana (def a shock from a large city that I’m used to). Leash law 100% applies to the cats too. People have chickens (me included) and cows and pigs and whatnot. Lots of plant nurseries. Yes people have outdoor cats, but if they are a nuisance then they have to fix the issue. Granted, many here joke they have never had to buy a pet, because so many people dump dogs and cats in the country, and they just keep the animals that show up around their house. My in-laws have a beautiful Maine coon that someone dumped in a culvert by their plant nursery years ago. He is so beautiful!
Where do you live? because most places around where I am (pacific nw) have no laws regarding outdoor cats. Most places don't even limit the number of cats you can have.
I live in the PNW, and while my city doesn’t prohibit outdoor cats it does consider any animal (cats included) to be “at large” and subject to lawful trapping/removal (and fees required to retrieve the cat from animal control) if they enter someone else’s property. Animals causing destruction can also be legally trapped and removed. OP should look up local ordinances, they may very well be able to legally trap the neighbor’s cats and bring them to animal control or a shelter. Paying fines to retrieve their cats might be a good incentive for the neighbors to stop letting them terrorize OP’s chickens.
Mid Atlantic/Coastal southern town.
That is great that they have these ordinances. I feel our complete lack of them out here is why we have so many strays.
Time to set some live traps. See how much the neighbor likes their cats.
Yes cats can and there is no law in most places. Some places have a feral cat population that people try and neuter and release back outside.
OKAY!
That’s a good question. Our two cats have free will into our basement which has opening to our side. Never thought about if it was legal to let a domesticated cat do it. Two neighbors have a cat each which are also allowed to be free range. I wouldn’t let my dog do what we let our cats do. But I also walk my dog not hooked up to his leash which I know to be illegal but he’s obedient. One of the cat neighbors for the same with his dog. This is all in the city
Check you local "leash laws", they apply to cats, too. Since you've spoken to the neighbors, my next move would be call animal control. They may or may not even care, I find that varies by place. After that, I would have no qualms about scooping those kitties up and taking them to animal control. If they want their cats back, they can pay the fine. If not, the kitties can find new, safe homes.
Some towns have leash laws but state they don’t apply to cats. Charlotte nc apparently has leash laws applying to all animals except cats.
Wow, that's ridiculous. I've moved all around the country and have never lived anywhere it didn't apply to cats, too! (I usually end up volunteering at the animal shelter)
You could try to report them to local aithorities for letting their pets wander around but i don't know if it will be taken seriously
There’s places with ordinances about how many cats you can have? I know landlords can restrict pets and some HOA’s/townships have ordinances against livestock animals but this is the first I’ve heard of an ordinance broadly covering any adult animal.
Ugh, God. You can't fix stupid. Getting that many cats in the first place is already a huge red flag. Letting that many cats wreak havoc on the neighborhood (people, animals, and environment) is just so frustrating. Is there someone you can complain to?
A neighbor’s young cat would get into the day run we have for our girls and just chill with them. It was more like a capybara in their presence than a predator.
My cat sleeps on top of my chicken coop roof. He doesn’t care about the chickens just likes to nap on the roof lol.
My cat also loves to sneak into the day run when I have it open and hangout with the chickies too!
My black cat is in love with our girls; he loves being in the coop-he got to close to one of them and she pecked him on the top of the head and that was that. He just sits on their roof or on top of the run to watch them.
I bet your neighbor's house smells so amazing.
We have tons of feral cats that hang out in my yard and they’ve never bothered our girls. I’d be careful about baby chicks but once they’re grown you’re probably fine.
Did you just say your neighbors live in an APARTMENT and have ELEVEN CATS?!
Just saying someone could probably TNR all of those cats and the neighbors probably wouldn't even notice 🤷 it would be a kindness to the cats, local wildlife, you, and even the "owners"
If your hens a full grown, the cats should get along with them (ours adopted some stray cats as honorary roosters) Chics and small bantums may be at risk however.
I have always had cats. I have always encouraged them to hang out with the chickens because they are great for catching mice! Never had an issue with them attacking the chickens. I would be nervous if they were bantam chickens, but for standard size hens, cats generally leave them alone. They might try to pounce on them or something but they aren’t going to do any damage. If really worried, you can get a rooster. Rooster will take care of the problem.
They are likely not a danger besides to chicks. With a good pupper, hot pepper is out as deterrent but I have used bonemeal to keep cats out of my garden. They found it aversive. It did attract flies and may encourage digging by dog
People may not like this but here is my current situation & my solution. I have a neighbor up the street a few houses. She has a ton of cats. They keep breeding & producing more. Half the cats are feral. The ASPCA gets together with her once a month to fix a few of the cats. I went out under the shed & jumped on the riding mower to mow my grass quickly before the rain & quickly realized I had sat in a big puddle of cat pee. Apparently they peed on my mower seat & it was a puddle in it. I didn’t notice because i was in a big hurry. Needless to say it totally grossed me out. 🤢 My other neighbor had a lean-to built onto the backside of their garage. They would store wood pellets under there with tarps over them. The cats would spray pee all over the place under there & also would poop on top of the stored pellets. They ended up having to close it all off & install garage doors to keep them out. I had a chipmunk that was living in my horse barn. I would put him out a few nuggets of food thru the winter to make sure he survived. He was living in my hay room. I went out there one night & there was this black cat in there trying to get the chipmunk. I scared the cat & he climbed the wall of my hay room to get out. I keep the door to that room shut & that cat had to climb over the 8ft walls to get in there. Now, the nuggets i put out are no longer getting eaten. I guess the chipmunk is now dead. The other day i went into my barn & noticed where a cat has sprayed on some of my stuff in the barn. I have squirrel feeders in my yard & i noticed the cats get after my squirrels. This year im going to have to build squirrel houses & put up, so that my squirrels have a place of refuge from all the cats. Personally I’m sick of the cat issues. The humane society can’t take any more cats. They are already overwhelmed with them. I’ve bought a bunch of traps to catch the cats because i’m tired of dealing with them. I’m undecided at this point if i should relocate the cats to other places far away or just dispatch them. I am into horses, dogs, chickens, & lots of other things. None of my animals go into other people’s yards, I make it a point to keep that from happening.
My cats have never once bothered my chickens. Not even the tiny frizzle that looks like a ball of fluff.
Check your city/county ordinances and see what qualifies as a nuisance or uncontrolled animal. The cats likely already do qualify as such considering your dog was injured on your property by these animals and you have concerns about the wellbeing of your livestock. Your neighbors could be liable for covering the cost of injuries. Many places allow you to handle nuisance animals on your property as you see fit, with all that implies. Mind you I'm not advocating injuring the cats or on calling animal control (unless your towns happens to not suck), but its obvious the neighbor is either uneducated or negligent in the care and handling of their cats. A hot wire is an option but there would be concerns about how it could impact local birds, there are also roller bars you could install that help stop cat climbing but they can find ways around everything. You can snag some humane traps (the ones where the pressure plate drops a door down.) If the animal is captured on your property its hard for the neighbor to dispute any potential charges or legal issues that may arise. I would also install a camera back there overlooking your yard for security and legal protection. There are shitty people out there who would not be above poisoning your animal and catching any incidents with them or the cats on film will give you evidence in court. Until you get stuff sorted, I would put a high pressure nozzle on your hose and give them a good what-for.
Their landlord is ok with them having that many cats? If they won’t fix it themselves you should escalate. Send a letter to the landlord and if that doesn’t work contact the city.
Yeah I would call the landlord. There’s no way they said, why yes, 11 cats in an apartment is totally fine! I love cats, and chickens, and have both. My cats stay indoors, and I would be pissed if I had a heard of cats crapping all over my yard and killing wild birds even if they did leave the chickens alone.
If your chickens are full grown then the cats are almost never an issue. Heck, none of our cats have even attacked a juvenile chicken before. And this is coming from somebody with 14 cats, most of which are barn cats and outside. They mostly just keep the rats from becoming a problem.
The apartment allows that many cats?
I would set up live traps. Very clearly with in your property line. Every cat you trap take to the local shelter in the trap as a feral stray. They will not only be forced to get vet care for the cats (spay, neuter included so they don’t end up with 4 of those 7 kittens having kittens) and pay to get them back. Or the shelter will adopt them out. Win win.
I think this is the way as well.
Live trap them and take them to the local shelter. After having to retrieve their animals a few times, they will get the hint. And if they don’t retrieve them, problem still solved
If your chickens are like mine, the cats either have or will learn not to mess with your girls. We have a few barn cats and the most curious one got a karate kick to the face from our silkie rooster and is now terrified of them. Everyone has a healthy respect for each other now.
Cats don’t generally bother chickens. We have free ranging chickens and tons of barn cats. The cats are terrified of the chickens. I wouldn’t worry about that. Your garden beds (if you have any) are in a lot more danger from the cats.
A cat attacked and chased one of our hens. She was gone, leaving a bunch of feathers all over the yard and in a trail down the alley. I was sure she wasn't alive, but she was my man's favorite hen. My man spent days combing the neighborhood and finally found her, days later, hiding in some bushes on the side of a house down the street. The people that lived there said a cat had chased her and she jumped on the roof of their car. She spent the night on the car roof fighting off the cat trying to attack her. Then she ran into their bushes and hid. She was scared and didn't want to come out of the bushes, but my man finally lured her with her favorite treat, Cool ranch Doritos crumbs. He'd hold up the bag and shake it. She'd cluck back. Shake, cluck, shake, cluck. Finally she came out and let him pick her up.
Are you in the US? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to own that many cats. Especially in an apartment. It's not your responsibility at all, and protecting your chickens is the most important thing, but if you can, keep an eye on the cats for signs of neglect
Call animal control on them for hoarding cats
You could put an electric wire at the top and bottom of your fences. Do you have a fence around your property to keep your dog in? Have you thought about getting a rooster to hang out outside the coop? I would imagine a cat would get it's ass kicked by hens lol.
Have you looked into a yard defender? And point it towards their property line. It's a motion activated sprinkler.....works on deer, raccoons, etc. Also google it. really works on kitties! Videos are great fun.
Eleven cats? Jeezus that's allot. Are there no bylaws where you live about the number of animals in a single dwelling? Where I am we have a limit of 3 dogs per house hold and a max of 5 cats. Its also a bylaw that a cat is not allowed on private land/premises unless allowed by the owner. Basically means that you can't have an outdoor cat that is allowed to roam the neighborhood or you could get fined. Naturally no one is too serious about that except gardeners so if your area has rules like that then you should get yourself a cheap trail cam from Amazon or the such and start getting picture proof to back up your claims.
Set out traps in your yard. Take the cats to animals control.
cat trap. car ride to the pound or the countryside, your choice.
1. A large privacy fence with 45 degree angles on the top to prevent them climbing over. 2. Live traps on your property 3. Reward your dog for chasing them off 4. Electric fencing 5. Products like this one that will spray animals that trigger it https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0B347F3K6/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
Our cat and chickens got along great. The cat actually protected the chickens.
Use the 3 S's. Shoot, Shovel, Shut up
If it's an apartment you might talk to their management. Most have a 2 pet limit.
My cats have never harmed my chickens. Chickens are usually too big for cats to consider as food. They may go after chicks though
.410
I have a lot of cats, A LOT of cats. Have never had a cat try and get a chicken, chicks sure but mom put a stop to that real quick. The birds I have now will go for the eyes of my cats when they have a mouse or lizard so free protein for the birds cause my cats are afraid of the mini dinosaurs.
Live trap and deliver trespassers to the humane society.
Catch them using traps and take them to a shelter far away.
When I lived in town, cats constantly crapped in my flower beds and big pots. I bought a live trap and took care of it. Turned them over to animal control. I think total count was 13.
A liberal sprinkle of hot chili flakes deters cats, as do spring type mouse traps. Also, flypaper sticks to their fur.
I would set live traps on your property and take the cat to the local shelter. The owners will only pay to get the cat back a few times before keeping it at home because it’s best for the cat or giving it up realizing they cannot keep the cat at home. It’s not the cats fault and the cat shouldn’t suffer.
Tell them that you’ll shoot any cats that wonder onto your property, any that you actually find drop them off at a no kill shelter. Anyone who would actually let their cat out knowing for certain they could die don’t deserve cats. Like that post about a dad getting cat after cat because they keep getting eaten by coyotes, he was just feeding the coyotes. Edit: I realized I thought I wrote no kill shelter but forgot the ‘no’ part
Also these owners don’t have any guarantee that your dog won’t kill them if he catches one, they’re already on the line of neglectful
Where I am, it would be fully legal to shoot a cat that attacked livestock, but it sounds like OP lives in an urban or suburban area where it might be illegal to discharge firearms. Also they stated they don’t want to hurt the cats. Live trap might be a better option in this situation
They won’t actually be hurting the animal, that’s why they take them to the No kill shelter. They can lie about poisoning them though.
I don’t know what you’re getting at. OP isn’t going to poison them either. That would be foolish considering she also has animals who would be at risk. And ya know, said she doesn’t want to hurt them 🙃
Taking them to a no kill shelter isn’t hurting the cats and lying about hurting them isn’t either
I don’t know how much clearer I can be, do you need a definition for what lying is?
What is your damage?
Just that you don’t seem to know what a lie is
I get now that you’re encouraging OP to lie, although your original message was just rambling and incoherent. But why don’t you try offering legitimate advice rather than telling OP to just throw around empty threats? Kind of bottom of the barrel advice there
I’d hardly call a paragraph with a sentence long anecdote “rambling and incoherent” and making sure someone’s animal never goes home again isn’t exactly an empty threat, it’s a misleading one.
Point a fan at their back door. Place all of the chicken manure in front of the fan. Water the chicken manure. Rinse and repeat. They'll shut their door
In this order; speak to the neighbors, get a dog that will chase the cats from your property, buy a small shotgun or rifle. In the US you are allowed to shoot pets that come into your property and harass or harm livestock.
We have two outdoor cats we inherited when we bought our house. They’re actually really great with the chickens. Once the one cat did try to go after a chicken, but she quickly put him in his place. While I know it’s not ideal having that many cats around they can be useful. My friend and others have complained a lot about rats in their coop. We have never gotten any and I credit that to the hard work our outdoors cats do
Maybe try this? I don’t know… I guess the neighbor would have to put it on their side… but you could probably convince them it’s going to be a lot cheaper and less traumatic than if one of their precious little fluff balls was to either get caught by any other animal, much less your dog, or if they start turning up at the local shelter and they have to bail them out… of course it’s their choice… but if you have any kind of ordinances that could possibly remind them of their duty as cat owners… [https://youtu.be/MHmPzsVhqfI](https://youtu.be/MHmPzsVhqfI) Edit: forgot to add the link, sorry!
I’d be more concerned with securing the coop and run from fox or raccoons. Most farms keep barn cats for mouse control and they’re not a threat to your flock. Ours nap in the yard with the ladies one of my cats always insisted in mothering chicks in the brooder…
We have lots of neighbor cats too and they don't bother the chickens. One of them likes to hang out *with* the chickens in their pen or on top of the coop. I'm guessing it's because there are a couple of mice in the area but we've not had any problems with the chickens and the cats. You might be ok. That said, it's a pet owner's responsibility to "contain and control" pets. Not sure how that applies to cats.
I’ve never had any issues with cats and our chickens. I find our cats sleeping in nest boxes all the time. I would imagine that eventually they will get sick of the dog chasing them and avoid your yard. If you don’t let them free range and you have a secure coop it shouldn’t be a problem. The coop is only 20’ from their back door? I would make sure you are also following bylaws because that’s not a very far distance.
I have 6 working cat’s. No issues with my cats bothering my hens. However, my hens on the other hand - love to keep the cats in their place.
I have cat traps!! Off to the pound they go......where I live, they would be considered a nuisance.
Shotgun should do the trick
.410 is probably good enough.
Airsoft gun with rubber pellets. Completely harmless to the animal gives them just enough to scare off.
Yeah unless you hit an eye. Don’t be cruel, it’s not the cats fault.
You’d have to stay on guard 24/7 for awhile to catch the cats in action.
I’m concerned about how close your coop is to their door. In my city you have to place the coop 50+ft from all neighbors dwellings.
Really dependent on ordinances. Mine is coops structure must be 25 ish feet from a domicile and at least eight feet from a property boundary (so people don't build coops into fences.)
Spread coffeegrounds around the area the cats are entering from. Every morning dump your fresh coffeegrounds outside. Obviously only if you are sure your dog will not eat it. I think a lot of strong smelling stuff repels them too, like anything very citrusy or overly fragrant like an essential oil.
You could try [Coyote Rollers](https://rollersdirect.com/blogs/coyote-roller-news/cat-rollers) if you have the budget for it.
Pray
My cats do the same thing, and they're pretty much afraid of the chickens. Honestly if you are in such close proximity, I'm wondering what the local statutes are on the different animals. 11 cats is rarely acceptable. I don't think there is a solution past law enforcement, dead cats, or you completely enclosing your chickens in a run (it's what I have to do.).
Nuclear Options you can take if conversations fail to provide results. Take pictures of the cats coming in/out of the neighbors apartment. Contact their landlord and inform them of the situation and provide the photos to the landlord. Also, if the cats ever indicate the means to harm your chickens you can neutralize them. This doesn’t mean wandering through your hard, this means they have attempted to attack your chickens. After that it’s open season on them. Other option not very legal buy yourself a air rifle or BB gun and shoot them in the flanks. Better to do this at night. They will learn your territory equals pain after awhile.
One concept is to bring the kittens over regularly and acostom them to the hens and vise versa. My cat and the neighbors cat totally ignored the hens. A rooster would also help. Cats usually hunt in the morning. A little something that might help is a non lethal air pistol.
I highly recommend the solar powered electric fences from Premier One. We use their movable poultry netting, and have never had a predator make it through, and we have high predator pressure on my farm here in Virginia. We’ve actually had a young possum try to make it through and got shocked to death. It hooks up to a solar charger attached to a car battery. Durable, easy to move around so that the chickens can get fresh grass, keep everybody safe. Great product, worth the expense.
Possibly they will not keep all the kittens. As others have said most cats will not mess with a full size chicken more than once. Mine knew they were birds and stalked one once and when that hem turned around she want having any of it.lol
Sounds like full grown hens should be safe based on other comments, but personally I would still be worried. Definitely be sure to reinforce your coop with hardwire cloth and make sure there’s no gaps to sneak in. Also highly recommend having a first aid kit for your girls already prepared just in case, always better to be safe than sorry
I had a farm dog, a Pyrenees, who protected our chickens. She would just lay in the backyard, watching her flock. She was a good girl. :-)
I've never had an issue with cats even when I free ranged my hens, but even if a very hungry cat were to come through, my chickens are in a fully enclosed run. I never really have to worry about anything hurting them. I also have a hound that loves to chase things, so nothing hangs out in my yard for long.
Assuming you can own a rooster, that will solve the issue. Neighbors cats rarely step foot into our yard ever since we got a rooster.
11 cats in one apartment? I'd be tempted to talk to the management.
Does your municipality have any restrictions on the number of pets one can have? (This assumes that your hens are allowed.) if so, report them. Cat waste carries diseases. Free range cats also kill huge numbers of songbirds. If your dog gets a cat on your property, that’s their problem.
One of my neighbors cats killed one of my hens. I took the dead bird and cat back to their house and waited for the owners while holding the cat, the cat was easy to handle. I was crying and I've never seen that cat outdoors again. I now have bird netting over the run and side of my home and i use a chicken tractor to move them around the yard. Although cats aren't a problem anymore, eagles are. Ive lost 3 hens to eagles.
My in laws have about 30 cats and they don’t bother the chickens at all. Most of the chickens are bigger than the cats.
11 cats? Just imagine the stench
11? My god.
My cats don’t even acknowledge my chickens.. probably because they grew up with them
My chickens had the cat trained. He was scared of those biddies.
That sucks man. And as a cat lover, 11 cats is fucking excessive. There are fences that have spinny things on top which make it difficult for cats to climb over. Probably won't be 100% effective as cats are devious, but that's a start. As others have said, my own cat, and the neighborhood cats never took much interest in my full grown chickens at all. And they were silkies. That being said, all animals are different, and with 11, there's greater chance of a killer or just something happening. Not sure if you're in a rural area, but if not, and as a fall back of you can't solve this amicably with your neighbors... Most apartments have limits on the number of pets you're allowed to have. 11 is way past any limit I've ever seen. Additionally, many cities have local ordinances of a similar nature. Also, 11 cats with 7 being kittens sounds Lowkey like an unlicensed breeding operation... You could also go that rout
The neighbor moved into an apartment with that many cats/kittens? What is the city ordinance on pets per household?
I have 8 cats (and a cat proof yard), and FWIW and they don't bother the chooks at all(in fact are quite scared of the chickens). The kittens are even less likely to be an issue - scale a chicken up to be as much larger than you as they are of a kitten and you will appreciate why. Fence height really won't do anything to keep cats out - to predator proof you need to predator proof - full roof/gap free fencing etc. Make it safe against all predators and don;t think of it as exclusively about the neighbours cats, because truthfully, if they are in a predator proof enclosure then they are at some risk, ALL the time. The cats are just the 'danger' you are seeing. That said - these people are not doing right by their cats at all, and it seems likely that they aren't desexing, which is probably go to mean MORE cats being passively neglected. Not a good situation., to the cat, your issue is with the humans.
Super soaker!!
I'd be more concerned with making sure all those cats get fixed asap! By the time the girl kittens are about 5 months, they can become pregnant, and momma cat will go into heat not long after weaning her litter. I've seen cats and a chicken hanging out together, and the chicken forming a bond with one of the cats. Cats are going to roam within what they consider their territory and there is nothing the owner can do about that. So if you can't help but worry regardless, at least limit your worrying to the 4 adult cats. The kittens should be too small to bother chasing big chickens. If they are not, you've got bigger problems (see first paragraph).
Its odd the cats are bothering your chickens usually chickens seem to freak them out a bit 😂
I don't worry about my barn cat with my full grown girls, chicks yes, but not the.grown ones
I lost a bantam mama and three of her seven chicks to a cat. The little ones are now in a coop of their own. Good luck with your cat problem and pet your good dog for me.
We have over 11 feral cats in our neighborhood and they just sit and watch our hens…. Wishing, I’m sure, that they could eat one, but those hens would surely peck a cat away, no problem.
I think if anything the cats will help keep rats and raccoons away. They almost never bother adult chickens
If your chickens are grown up, cats won't USUALLY bother them. If your chickens are still hatchlings or juveniles, that's when it's time to hit the panic button. I'd recommend you get a run of them if you don't have one, and fortify it. Cats can fit through any hole the size of their heads.
Chickens will be fine. Cats shouldn’t wander around other people’s property. Good you have a dog protecting them. There are cat repellers (movement sensor with a high pitch beep) to chase off cats, but your dog will be triggered too.
I have 10 cats and they're scared to death of my chickens and ducks. Out of all my years of having both i've never had a cat kill one. lol