How do your cats a chickens get on?

[MogTheSleepyCat]

Hello wise ones.

We are thinking of getting some ex-commercial chickens, more as pets, rather than because we want lots of eggs. We also have two 12 year old cats who will occasionally rob wild bird nests and bring home a hatchling.

If we go ahead, the chickens will live in a large walk-in fully enclosed pen and they may get supervised occasional free range time in our garden.

Am I being naive in thinking we can have both cats and chickens? Do any of you manage it and if so do you have any tips?

My cats bring dead mice to the chickens. They love hunting, but somehow the chickens (who are free range apart from being put away at night) are off limits

@CMOTDibbler - that's reassuring, thank you! (Love the name btw)

This is my main concern, we have 3 cats, all seniors (youngest 7, oldest 15) but one is still a fairly prolific birder/mouser. Is it cruel to introduce chickens to our garden?

Our cat is very wary of the hens. Hens are quite feisty and in our experience, can definitely see off cats. They ignore the dog and she isn’t interested in them although they live quite happily together 😊

Our cats are terrified of the hens even though they are prolific hunters. The hens puff themselves up and chase the cats if they get too close and I mainly have small bantam hens.

My cats and chickens take no notice of each other. A couple of neighbouring cats like to stalk the hens but the hens see them off easily. They will gang up on the cat if it gets too annoying.

I have 4 cats, 9 hens and 16 ducks. The cats show absolutely no interest in the poultry other than to use the roof of the run to sunbathe on!

My cats sleep in the chicken coup! We've just hatched some chicks so the cats are not impressed that they've been banned from the coup. The chickens were here first and the cats have never shown an interest in them. Not prepared to risk the chicks though

Our cats are scared of the chickens! Quite comical really

I have an enormous cat who is a prolific hunter and he’s never so much as sniffed at my hens.

The cat’s job is to catch rats, so I see chickens and cats as a symbiotic relationship (chicken feed etc attracts rats, but I’ve only ever seen them in my cat’s maw).

Our cat spent the first week stalking the chickens, the second week the chickens spent chasing the cat.
Now they ignore each other - the cat actually turns her head away if they come near her!

Our chicken are usually quiet but loudly complain when neighbor cats 🐈‍⬛ are passing by.