do cats kill chickens?

planetX

I had the dubious pleasure of discovering a headless chicken in my garden this morning. I was wondering if it could have been my cat, as the body was left in an area the cat likes. He's a great hunter, but is not very big. I don't know if he could've carried a chicken home. Obvious suspect would be a fox I suppose, though I've never seen any signs of one around here. Would a fox just eat the head though?
Anyone heard of a cat hunting chickens?

Rabbitandcavy

My cats have never showed any interest in harming my chickens but I have heard of cats doing it before. It is unlikely a fox took the head off it and left it there. A fox would it eat. Eating the head off it is like something a cat would do, they do it to other birds, if he is a good hunter and a big cat he could have done it. I'd be careful and keep him in the house altogether if you can, to be on the safe side. Most farmers would have no problem injuring or killing a cat that is tormenting or killing their livestock

morganafay

The cat probably could if they tried. My cats killed a hare one time, have no idea how, since it was way bigger than any of the cats, if must have been sick or something and moving slow. It's not the cat's fault though, so I think that if your cat likes being outdoors and if it doesn't happen again, then it mightn't really be fair to stop him going out.

planetX

No I couldn't keep him in, he has work to do out there - we have a rodent problem. I'm trying to figure out where the chicken could have come from, it has to have been at least a mile away. It's hard to believe that my cat would have carried it that far. If it was a fox I'm a bit worried that it's hanging around right up against the house where the cats are. I've heard they sometimes kill cats.

The Sweeper

Decapitation is more of a fox thing than a cat - foxes decapitate chickens to shut them up.

Morganna

my cats used to kill my chickens

n0brain3r

My cat used to kill wild rabbits and drag them at least half a mile you could see her with her head held high coming up the fields dragging the body and deposit there headless bodies on the doorstep! If yours is taking someone’s fowl you'd want to be careful of poisoning that’s how it was dealt with where i grew up fox, dog or cat if they where somewhere they shouldn't you can't prove who laid it either.

Magenta

My cats never touched any of our chickens, and they have never touched any of our rabbits either as they were raised with rabbits.
It depends on the cat. Some just love hunting and a challenge whereas others are too lazy to go after anything they think might put up a fight. Mine are the latter.

patwicklow

i have 2 chickens and a westie dog and a black, i got the chickens last aug
i built the coop myself ect so just before xmas i noticed that the chickens were looking in very bad health and i was putting it down to the cold weather as one of the chickens necks was like sorta barish looking so i was telling the farmer all this and he said to me is there any holes in or near the hen coop. as i was telling him about the neck of one of the chickens and he told me that can be done by a rat it picks on the chickens neck when there asleep to weaken them and he said if you dont move them you will find the head of the chicken near the rat hole as the rat just goes for the head. so after all this info i moved the chickens into a 12fx12f shed and i put rat poisen all around the hen coop.that was at xmas
the hens are still in the shed there in full health again and laying ect and i let them out every day in the yard and with the dog and cat to. so i would check for rat runs/holes ect i dont think it was the cat.

LisaO

I would also think it more likely to be a fox rather than a cat. We have around 20 chickens and 7 cats, plus a thriving feral cat colony close by & all the cats are very wary of the chickens, even the bantams, which are smaller than some of the wild birds that the cats would hunt. Just a thought - we lost some chicks last year to mink - could that be a possibility?

planetX

Damn, it seems it is possible that it was my cat then. I'm terrified he'll get shot, but I don't see what I can do about it. Hopefully it's a one-off. I'm keeping a look out for signs of a fox, but I'm pretty convinced now that it was the cat. He's always been a superb hunter

Demonique

Our little bantie was killed by a cat

babychuckles

Mink will always bite off the head of a small creature such as a chicken.
Mink are common throughout the country thanks to the idiots that released them from mink farms but thats another topic.
Mink have very small bodies and can get into places that seem secure. Your best bet is to find his trail. Go to the nearest water and look for signs. This could be something as inconspicious as a drainage ditch. Mink prints will look like tiny kitten tracks.
ps: I have 20 cats some tame some feral and the hens/chickens scare the hell out of them.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Think of wild cats and apply it to your pet...

How the hell can you have an animal and know that little about it?

They hunt birds, small rodents and rabbits. Wouldn't be surprised to hear of a lamb being killed by a wild cat.

The Sweeper

planetX wrote: »

Damn, it seems it is possible that it was my cat then. I'm terrified he'll get shot, but I don't see what I can do about it. Hopefully it's a one-off. I'm keeping a look out for signs of a fox, but I'm pretty convinced now that it was the cat. He's always been a superb hunter

Look, if he's a known hunter it could well be him.

One of my cats loves chickens. Where we used to live, there was a flock of mature chooks, isa browns and such like - some quite large birds. He used to try and befriend them (as they huddled in the corner, regarding him suspiciously with their mad little chicken eyeballs).

My neighbour's big male cat kills rabbits, and ignores chickens, but his little female russian blue will murder every chick and chicken she can find, but only under a certain size.

So it could be your cat, but I wouldn't discount a fox or a mink.

Magenta

Aubrie Great Verdict wrote: »

Think of wild cats and apply it to your pet...

How the hell can you have an animal and know that little about it?

They hunt birds, small rodents and rabbits. Wouldn't be surprised to hear of a lamb being killed by a wild cat.

These are not wild cats. These are domesticated cats that receive regular meals from their owners. The hunger in their stomachs and need for sharp hunting skills is greatly diminished. It depends on the individual cat and how "game" it is. Mine don't bother with chickens or rabbits, someone else's might be ferocious with them.

planetX

Aubrie Great Verdict wrote: »

Think of wild cats and apply it to your pet...

How the hell can you have an animal and know that little about it?

They hunt birds, small rodents and rabbits. Wouldn't be surprised to hear of a lamb being killed by a wild cat.

LOL - a lamb. Well I'll let you know if a headless one turns up in my garden.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

planetX wrote: »

LOL - a lamb. Well I'll let you know if a headless one turns up in my garden.

It seems you know very little about wildlife in general. That's ok, not everybody knows these things.

Magenta wrote: »

These are not wild cats. These are domesticated cats that receive regular meals from their owners. The hunger in their stomachs and need for sharp hunting skills is greatly diminished. It depends on the individual cat and how "game" it is. Mine don't bother with chickens or rabbits, someone else's might be ferocious with them.

One must understand that domesticated animals still have a wild spark in them. Stray dogs grouping up and hunting sheep and the likes. This is not by chance, but it is their very nature.

Regardless of how well you look after your demosticated animal, remember that they are still animals and they have instincts.

I know what you mean by saying not all cats hunt, this is true, but most cats would hunt small birds, mice, rats amoungst other things that you will never know about.

My girlfriend has a blind cat that is morbidly obese, this thing is massive. Yet he hunts mice... How? I have no idea, but he does it. He doesn't eat them either, as far as I know.

planetX

LOL and double LOL

Rabbitandcavy

I guess we can all agree that none of us know for sure if it was the OP's cat or not, but it could have been the cat.

OP- I guess all you can do now, is keep your fingers crossed and hope it wasn't him, and if it was, he doesn't do it again.

FlutterinBantam

Demonique wrote: »

Our little bantie was killed by a cat

:eek:

:eek:

:eek:

bogman

Remember seeing a Tom Cat "Tom Bush" in west Cork hunt and regularly bring home rabbits, used to get a great kick out of it

iguana

planetX wrote: »

Damn, it seems it is possible that it was my cat then. I'm terrified he'll get shot, but I don't see what I can do about it. Hopefully it's a one-off. I'm keeping a look out for signs of a fox, but I'm pretty convinced now that it was the cat. He's always been a superb hunter

Keep your cat in and lay traps for your rodent problem. Cats are a huge problem for chicken owners, I know more than a few who have had their chickens killed by cats. You are allowing your animal out to wander knowing that it could kill someone's livestock/pet (and some people love their chickens like pets), that is horrible, selfish behaviour.

You are terrified your animal will get shot but feel ok that he has possibly killed someone else's? If you continue to let the cat out it is likely someone will shoot it, poison it or trap it and take it somewhere else.

planetX

iguana wrote: »

Keep your cat in and lay traps for your rodent problem. Cats are a huge problem for chicken owners, I know more than a few who have had their chickens killed by cats. You are allowing your animal out to wander knowing that it could kill someone's livestock/pet (and some people love their chickens like pets), that is horrible, selfish behaviour.

You are terrified your animal will get shot but feel ok that he has possibly killed someone else's? If you continue to let the cat out it is likely someone will shoot it, poison it or trap it and take it somewhere else.

I disagree fundamentally. I'm very sorry if my cat is taking someone's chickens, but I am absolutely not going to keep an animal confined to a house for his life because of it. My cats are outdoor animals, they do a huge amount of good service by killing rodents - why on earth would I want to put down traps? I would rather take our chances with all the risks outside rather than imprison them, they'd be better off dead.
And there are plenty of other risks to chickens, secure runs are the only way to ensure their safety. IF it was my cat he may pay the ultimate price, there isn't anything I can do about that. I once had a guinea pig who was taken by a cat - I was heartbroken, but I didn't go over demanding the death of the cat. I secured my guineapigs run better. That's nature.

FlutterinBantam

iguana wrote: »

Keep your cat in and lay traps for your rodent problem. Cats are a huge problem for chicken owners, I know more than a few who have had their chickens killed by cats. You are allowing your animal out to wander knowing that it could kill someone's livestock/pet (and some people love their chickens like pets), that is horrible, selfish behaviour.

You are terrified your animal will get shot but feel ok that he has possibly killed someone else's? If you continue to let the cat out it is likely someone will shoot it, poison it or trap it and take it somewhere else.

I doubt very much that cats are a 'huge problem'

Where do you get that info from.

Sorry now but I don't believe it's as bad as you paint it?

iguana

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

I doubt very much that cats are a 'huge problem'

Where do you get that info from.

Sorry now but I don't believe it's as bad as you paint it?

I know a lot of chicken owners and every last one of them has had cat problems. I also know that every single one of them ended up snapping and dealing with the problem to varying degrees. Unfortunately this has often ended up with dead cats, either poisoned or killed by dogs. One person I know traveled a lot for work and ended up trapping the cat, taking it to Wales and releasing it there. They did that with each cat.

Foxes have occasionally been a problem, so have squirrels, rats and roaming dogs occasionally, but I don't know any chicken owners who haven't suffered from cat problems.

Graces7

iguana wrote: »

I know a lot of chicken owners and every last one of them has had cat problems. I also know that every single one of them ended up snapping and dealing with the problem to varying degrees. Unfortunately this has often ended up with dead cats, either poisoned or killed by dogs. One person I know traveled a lot for work and ended up trapping the cat, taking it to Wales and releasing it there. They did that with each cat.

Foxes have occasionally been a problem, so have squirrels, rats and roaming dogs occasionally, but I don't know any chicken owners who haven't suffered from cat problems.

Interesting; only once in many years of keeping hens have I known any problem with a cat. That was on a small island where there were no foxes etc; black-backed gulls would predate any unprotected small chicks.

So it was out task to protect them.

But there was a family neglecting their cats ie not feeding them and one of them attacked a hen and then half -grown chicks. The creature was starving simply.

My own cats there were kept in line by the hens; pecked if they got too close.

And this has been the pattern here also.

I have lost grown hens to mink and no longer keep them.

Maybe you need to differentiate between ferals and domestic pets?

And I speak from three decades of experience.

No way will I confine my two cats; they do a great work in rodent control and are healthy and thoroughly happy to be free to come and go.

Opposite here there are hens loose also; I have no doubt he loses to foxes etc. Or mink..

And the real way forward is surely to work with those who are trying to neuter/release ferals, rather than poisoning, and to make sure that hens are properly penned also.

I hope that the person who relocated neutered first?

doctor evil

Both feral and kept cats hunt.

The advantage that kept cats have is that they are generally well cared for, fed, vaccinated, neutered/spayed which keeps them in tip top condition for hunting. A well fed cat will still hunt.

Son Of A Vidic

Cats - otherwise known as the serial killers of the animal world. The domestic cat usually kills for fun/play rather than survival.

The Sweeper

medicman2009 wrote: »

Cats - otherwise known as the serial killers of the animal world.

..........................and, that's today's dose of hysterical exaggeration. Chrstxbye.

planetX

apparently raw mouse tastes a lot better than expensive brand cat food, according to my cats.