Cats Are Afraid Of Chickens & Object To Harmful Rumors About Killing Birds

If you listen to the wild talk about cats slaughtering billions of US animals, birds and mammals, let's set the record straight.  It just isn't true.   You can read more about this pack of lies under Cat Stuff, which is just below Dog Stuff.

You can easily read this cat's body language.  He is being very cautious of the 2 hens who are sharing a perch on the straw.  There is no question that cats will not only leave the hens alone, they don't even make an attempt to bother their chicks.

 

Cats are afraid of chickens. Make that domestic cats, even feral.

Country chickens are big and well fed, they eat all of our organic and garden produce trimmings. No waste.

There is nobody more protective than a hen, who is ready to rip the face off of any cat that might show any interest in her chicks. I've never seen more than a slightly curious cat looking at the chicks. Most move away from mama!

Mama chicken will ruffles those feathers and fly feet and claws first at any cat showing too close of an interest! That goes for dogs who are too curious too. Oddly enough, she'll become very comfortable with her humans around and make nice cooing sounds of contentment.

There's a whole lot of inter species communication taking place here on a daily basis.  Stuff you won't hear or see if you sit inside a concrete box or cubicle.

The feral cat population tends to be kept somewhat in check by the owls, hawks, eagles, dogs and bigger cougar type kitties. They have a very rough life. Some are easy to make friends with and others will never get close enough for you to touch them. We have our own cats, that started out as youngsters who were born in our barn. Their mama must not have been very smart, she walked into the forest one day and never came back, leaving behind her little ones.

They had no choice but to get to know us. What we didn't realize was that cats can begin breeding very young. So these few kittens very quickly turned into a mass of 21 total cats & kittens. That's how we met the President of the Feral Cat Coalition, a vet who performs low cost spay and neuter or trap and release programs in her area. There may be free spay and neuter programs for feral cats, check it out.

We spent one New Years day helping shave, inject and pass and wash surgical instruments while she neutered all of “our cats.” We were able to find employment for all but 7 of them who truly became our employed cats. They are well fed, but what country feline doesn't appreciate nice fresh mouse? They do a great job keeping the rural field mouse population greatly diminished, and even the snow doesn't slow them down!

Guest cats do periodically show up and they aren't spayed or neutered, they are looking for potential mates and frequently find them among themselves. If you have a place where they can bed down, they may move in. They don't hurt anyone, some move on to other neighbors, some stay with you but don't become friendly and they also keep the mouse population in short supply.

They are always there for the groceries and deserve kitty food for doing a good job working for you!

Eventually everyone learns to get along great and you can see cats and chickens wandering around together or drinking from the same bowl at the same time. Everyone learns their respectful boundaries and there is eventual peace in the animal kingdom. Cats also do not hunt or stalk birds. I've never

seem them kill a bird. I'm quite sure that if there were an injured bird, nature would take it's course.