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Chicken keepers

Meet others keeping chickens on our Mumsnet Chicken forum.

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Original poster

Are Chickens bothered by Cats ?

19 replies

WorzselMummage · 27/01/2010 11:28

We've been considering chickens for a while and have recently been ofered some from friend of MILS who is going to live in the states.

The reason we've not actually done it before is because everone in our street has cats, there are always cats in the garden and i'd hate for any chickens we did get to be traumatised. I don't want to take the chickens on only to have to have to rehome them again.

Also.. what do you do with them when you go on holiday ?

OP posts:

Berrie · 27/01/2010 11:31

Mine don't seem to mind and there are lots of cats about.
When we go away the neighbours see to them.

Hassled · 27/01/2010 11:32

You have it the wrong way round - the cats are traumatised by the chicken .

It's never been a problem for us - the cats were slightly spooked at first, then one of them had a few pathetic attempts to pounce and were scared off, and now they're just plain disinterested. Most chickens are bigger than most cats, and a lot louder.

Original poster

WorzselMummage · 27/01/2010 11:32

Wow that was a quick reply thnks

Do your chickens stay in their run all the time ?

OP posts:

Berrie · 27/01/2010 11:32

I'd think about getting some younger birds though. They only have a set amount of eggs to lay.

Original poster

WorzselMummage · 27/01/2010 11:33

Oh, do they make a lot of noise then ?

OP posts:

nickelbabe · 27/01/2010 11:33

in my experience, it's not the chickens that are bothered: it's the cats!
they don't like anyone on their territory.

persinally, i don't see a problem both being around, but i would ensure that the chickens have a decent-sized run (min 2 sq mtrs per bird) so that they don't need to be out in the garden.
and if/when you do let them out in the garden, stay out there too to supervise.

my chickens tend to stand up to anything they're not sure about, which is not always a good thing, esp as cats can be scrappy.

Original poster

WorzselMummage · 27/01/2010 11:34

Do they really ?

what happens when they have layed their last egg then ?

Bloody hel i need to do some research

OP posts:

Berrie · 27/01/2010 11:34

Most of the time they are in the run. It's quite big and fox proof so they don't need shutting up at night.

We let them out when we are out and about in the garden. We are not completely fenced and there are lots of foxes about.

nickelbabe · 27/01/2010 11:34

x-posts (that was quick hassled!)

they're only really noisy when distressed or laying.

Original poster

WorzselMummage · 27/01/2010 11:35

Do they go though the Henopause ?

OP posts:

nickelbabe · 27/01/2010 11:35

wrt eggs: they lay the most eggs in their first laying yesr (after about 20-26 weeks) then it gets fewer and fewer every year until they die.
(up to about 10 years for a hybrid)

nickelbabe · 27/01/2010 11:36

have a look at the poultry allotment website they're excellent.

Berrie · 27/01/2010 11:38

Don't know yet!

Our hens lay about 250 eggs in their lifetime. We've had them 2 years and one has stopped laying but the others are still give us some.
It's hard to decide what to do when they stop as I expect they must soon. I don't really want to increase numbers as they'll make much more poo! We are down to three now and that's just right eggs wise for us.

Berrie · 27/01/2010 11:39

Ten years!
Lordy, I'll have to let the fox have them!

Original poster

WorzselMummage · 27/01/2010 11:44

maybe you could eat them ?

OP posts:

Berrie · 27/01/2010 11:45

I'd rather eat one from the co-op!

Berrie · 27/01/2010 11:47

I don't think I could actually deliberatly let them get eaten. We did lose one during the day to the fox (or something). She was our broody too which I was peed off about. Dh had made me a broody coop and I was going to have such fun!

Original poster

WorzselMummage · 27/01/2010 11:51

i am going to have to go and peruse that website^^ i have no idea what a broody coop is

OP posts:

nickelbabe · 27/01/2010 14:29

they won't necessarily last 10 years!

we had one that was mauled by a fox and died from the injuries: she was about 1 year old (and we hadn't had her long)

another was an ex-battery hen, who just up and died (pure exhaustion from life, i think) after she'd been "out" for about 6 months (made her about 2.3? years)

others will die from disease or problems.
(we had another who had a gut problem she was born with and died at less than a year old)
but it's like human, our life expectancy is ..., but we can still die from natural causes many years before that!

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