Chicks vs. cat, round one: chicks win!!

[deltawave]

Got home from work today to find the cat sitting very guiltily INSIDE the chicken run, with the almost-4-week-old baby chicks!! :eek:

There is one corner of the coop that a clever kitty can access by making some very acrobatic jumps, and I had placed a large piece of fence panel over that area, making it impossible to reach.

Well, it was kinda windy today, and the barrier blew down. :p So Lovey (the most inaccurately named cat on earth) got in the chicken pen with the baby chicks, and left them completely alone all day. Well, let me amend that to say that the chicks are alive and well. God knows what she may have TRIED to do, but they are fine. WHEW!!! The chicks were fine, the cat was annoyed (couldn't make the jump back out) and I'm hopeful this means that eventually there will be something resembling peace and harmony between the species when the chicks are old enough to roam. :)

[JSwan]

Hey - maybe the cat suffered analysis paralysis! :lol: Soooo many chicks.... which one which one which one... :D

Glad they're doing well.

[MistyBlue]

LMAO...like a hunter getting Buck Fever! :winkgrin:

Delta, after you counted chicks and having your heart start beating again...that had to be funny as heck seeing the cat trapped in the coop. :lol: Probably all trying to look innocent too, LOL!

[deltawave]

Oh, the look on her face would've been worthy of those LOLKatz things--all scrunched up, peeved as hell, NOT looking at me, and just totally BUSTED. Priceless! :lol:

[enjoytheride]

Cat - "hey, do these things need some sort of special can opener?"

[deltawave]

Well, the cat has decided that she LIKES TO BE IN THE CHICK PEN. :rolleyes: Don't know how she's doing it now that I've fixed the access to the coop roof, but today I found her sleeping soundly in one of the nest boxes, chicks still unmolested. Could my murderous feline actually LIKE the critters? :eek: I'm not waiting to find out the hard way--spent an hour cat-proofing the dang thing today, including dusting with baby powder all around to see if I can detect cat-prints to give me some clues as to how she's getting in. Very MacGyverish of me, if I do say so myself! :lol:

[jen-s]

ROFLMAO! Baby powder! I love it. Very sleuthy. I don't think I would have thought of that. Keep us posted....... ;)

[yellowbritches]

My favorite thing is watching two of my kitties, George and Kimble, neither of whom are big by any standards, decide that maybe they WILL try and take on the chickens in the chicken coop. All 4 of the chickens are mighty big and healthy, and I wouldn't surprised if both the roosters outweigh my little feline hunting machines. Thankfully, the coop is very well predator proofed after a bad run of chicken murders last summer, so the most my little bird killers can do is sit on the chicken wire above the chickens' heads and lick their chops.:yes:

It was also seriously funny the one day a hawk didn't realize there was chicken wire over the fat chickens and dive bombed the coop...and bounced off it. He was flew away, very embarrassed. :lol:

[Sakura]

I have a friend who has cats that do their queening in her hen house... while the momma cat(s) go out hunting, the hens sit on the kittens... I kid you not... Somewhere I have a photo of a hen happily sitting on a litter of squirming kittens... I'll have to see if I can dig it up.

[Nes]

Sakura - I would pay to see that photo!

It is possible that cats and other small animals can learn to get along if they are introduced at a young age.

However, I have had cats my entire life and have found one things to be true. There are two kinds of cats in the world: (a) bird cats (b) mice cats. My mice cats have never gone after birds, and my bird cat never caught a mouse in her whole life. My bird cat used to bring starlings into the house and let them go for me to catch... she even learned how to walk around with her leg over her bell so that the birds couldn't hear her coming. Right now we have a nest of 3-4 Red-Wing Black Birds, within decently easy reach of our mouse cat, who have nested in our shed. Every day she brings us home a new shrew, and every day those little chicks live to see another.

There is of course a third category of the fat lazy house cat who never catches a thing, and has to be prompted even to chase his toys; but I prefer to think they'd return to their hunting instincts with some diet and encouragement :D

[Sakura]

Sakura - I would pay to see that photo!



http://ezdkqw.blu.livefilestore.com/y1ptbzKwUySxvAUsHfL4eZHW4TWSgbnncttQ39zQyabLsBNgsT D01bdyCzYhw65au7sik4y5SAm6U4/chicken%20%20%20kittens.jpg

Not my photo, but if you were to have the hen facing the opposite direction and one of the kittens climbing over her back you would have a pretty good idea of the photograph I have (apparently I never scanned it so there is no telling where it may be...).

[kookicat]

http://ezdkqw.blu.livefilestore.com/y1ptbzKwUySxvAUsHfL4eZHW4TWSgbnncttQ39zQyabLsBNgsT D01bdyCzYhw65au7sik4y5SAm6U4/chicken%20%20%20kittens.jpg

Not my photo, but if you were to have the hen facing the opposite direction and one of the kittens climbing over her back you would have a pretty good idea of the photograph I have (apparently I never scanned it so there is no telling where it may be...).

That is so cute!

[Calvincrowe]

Yes, each kitten we've gotten over the years has "taken on" the chickens. Usually, the cat ends up begging to be let out of the pen as the hens peck the hell out of him or her.

Now, baby chicks? Our year old male cat was thrilled when that box of babies arrived. "For Me?!!" Ah, Mom, you shouldn't have... He sat on the baby gate I plonked down on it and dangled alternate paws in in an attempt to snag supper. I have locked the cats out of the barn to protect my 9 week old pullets from him... but my damn Aussie is the real problem. He killed a Delaware chick the first night... argh.

I've seen that hen on the kittens photo! There's a video that goes with it on Youtube...the cat leaves her babies and the hen climbs aboard. So, so cute.

[deltawave]

dangled alternate paws in in an attempt to snag supper

Mine did exactly the same thing when they were smaller! :lol:

The dog is all bursting with LOVE for them, and gets SO upset when the cat is in there! Latent Lassie instinct, or jealousy? I'm not sure. She's a Lab who never got to be a mother and it's really sort of funny the way she wants to love them and squeeze them and pet them and call them George. :D

[Equino]

http://ezdkqw.blu.livefilestore.com/y1ptbzKwUySxvAUsHfL4eZHW4TWSgbnncttQ39zQyabLsBNgsT D01bdyCzYhw65au7sik4y5SAm6U4/chicken%20%20%20kittens.jpg

Not my photo, but if you were to have the hen facing the opposite direction and one of the kittens climbing over her back you would have a pretty good idea of the photograph I have (apparently I never scanned it so there is no telling where it may be...).

WOW! That is just so adorable! When we got baby chicks three years ago, I was VERY concerned about my cat, the hunter. She was very concerned and unsure what to think about the baby chicks, but once they were old enough to leave their crate and live in the coop, she never bothered them, would just perch on the fence and watch. They milled all around the farm, and there was one Polish chicken who seemed to like her, headed to the barn every AM, so they'd hang out. My Sheltie thought it was his mission in life to keep them in one area, and the Aussie thought chasing is FUN! We only lost one to dogs, and that was because he ran it over. We ended up giving them away after three went missing, and I saw the neighboring fox realized they made great supper, watched them take off with 4 in broad daylight. I couldn't handle that.

[JSwan]

She's a Lab who never got to be a mother and it's really sort of funny the way she wants to love them and squeeze them and pet them and call them George. :D

:lol::lol:


Just for you, Deltawave!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlVqfC8-UI

[deltawave]

J Swan, you rock! We are so on the same wavelength sometimes it's scary. :D :D :D

[Nes]

Got this in an email yesterday:

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu269/knitness/image029.jpg

[RacetrackReject]

One year, during a hurricane, my mother was worried that her chickens were going to blow away in the hen house, so she sent my father out to check on them. When dad was inspecting the chickens to make sure they were all ok, he noticed heads poking out from under hens in the laying boxes. Yep, it was the farm cats. They were all curled up nice and cozy from the hurricane.

I just bought some baby chicks this weekend.. woot! Ameraucanas. I am a tad worried about them as I have a barn cat who is a birder, so I have their small coop in one of my stalls with shavings underneath it and a light on them. I think they will be fine when they are older, but you never know. I have one barn cat that catches rabbits!

[deltawave]

Oh God, Nes, that is THE CUTEST picture! :sadsmile: The poor little chick looks PEEVED. :D

[JSwan]

Shhhhhhh.......

Be vewy vewy quiet.

I'm hunting wabbits.

[gypsymare]

That one is on Loldogs, too!

http://ihasahotdog.com/2008/11/09/funny-dog-pictures-wtf-mom/

[starrysky]

:D These photos are adorable! I certainly wasn't expecting that when I opened this thread!

[razalter]

Got this in an email yesterday:

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu269/knitness/image029.jpg

OMG, :lol::lol::lol: Look at the expression on that baby chicks face!

[chancy deal]

I have 12 hens that roam freely. And I have two male cats. The cats are affraid of the hens. If the cats get too close, the hens go after them.
Both cats are big hunters, but they know NOT to mess with the chickens.
The hens rule.

[Leather]

Yup, at my barn the cats give the chickens and ducks a wide berth.


Don't mess with chickens:
Rooster Kombat (not cockfighting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z6XTwM_9j0

[Auventera Two]

My hens beat the ever loving CRAP out of my dogs and barn cat. :eek: When I trim hooves, they all fight over who gets to eat the shavings. The hens always win with the dogs retreating to the feed room with tails tucked!

[Nootka]

Yup, at my barn the cats give the chickens and ducks a wide berth.


Don't mess with chickens:
Rooster Kombat (not cockfighting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z6XTwM_9j0

wow that was great! I never in my life thought I would see chickens fight a rabbit...lmao or even a turkey..:lol:

[TB or not TB?]

Here is the YouTube of the chicken on the kittens. I about DIED of cuteness. You can see the chicken so befuddled, like "why won't these squirmy chicks settle down?!" and the little kittens are like "why are we being stepped on?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2njqzx-clto

[Nes]

Snuggled right in there with the eggs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfhknthKeZM&feature=related