Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

edmund_blackadder

lostinrates wrote: »

I have three sighthounds, two very keen hunting cats, who never trouble the chickens or chicks. I find a rooster good for mking it clear to thecats that chickens are family not food. Your collie might even be a help, two of our dogs are not allowed in the chicken paddock alone EVER, but one has become very good and helps me gently round up if I want to put away early. One of the cats loves it when the girls go broody and curls up with them, but we put new hatchlings in a broody coop usually, just in case. When they are more mobile and the mother wants them moving more I find our chickens to be good protective parents.

Thanks lostinrates ... that is reassuring! Although I'm not particularly interested in getting a rooster at this point!

Does anyone else have differing experiences? My cat is always chasing things but has never caught anything (that I know of) and he is quite small ... just a little nervy that he'd pounce on a chicken and get lucky with damaging it (or worse). Or are chickens (not tiny chicks) likely to front him out and show him who's boss?

steady__eddie

"a small cat (who has never killed anything in 4 years ... or certainly not brought us any presents (other than a mouse in a mouse trap - the lazy swine! )) and a toddler? "

I can understand the mouse pre-wrapped in a trap, but pray tell me E_B, a toddler ?. Was it of the human genus ? If so I would sggest that you could easily get it a job on a holiday beach where small people do tend to wander off and get lost quite often.

lostinrates

edmund_blackadder wrote: »

Thanks lostinrates ... that is reassuring! Although I'm not particularly interested in getting a rooster at this point!

Does anyone else have differing experiences? My cat is always chasing things but has never caught anything (that I know of) and he is quite small ... just a little nervy that he'd pounce on a chicken and get lucky with damaging it (or worse). Or are chickens (not tiny chicks) likely to front him out and show him who's boss?

We have a cream legbar hen who chases the cats. Chickens can be feisty

I'd be interested to hear how bantam/small fowl owners feel though. we'd like some quail, and I don't think I'd be as confident with our cats with quail, so that i on hold for a while.

edmund_blackadder

steady__eddie wrote: »

"a small cat (who has never killed anything in 4 years ... or certainly not brought us any presents (other than a mouse in a mouse trap - the lazy swine! )) and a toddler? "

I can understand the mouse pre-wrapped in a trap, but pray tell me E_B, a toddler ?. Was it of the human genus ? If so I would sggest that you could easily get it a job on a holiday beach where small people do tend to wander off and get lost quite often.

Er... feel free to re-arrange my words in an order that do not imply that my cat is actually a child-catcher (I think he only dreams of such abilities!) :rotfl:

edmund_blackadder

lostinrates wrote: »

We have a cream legbar hen who chases the cats. Chickens can be feisty

This is the sort of reaction I would be hoping for too.

steady__eddie

"I'd be interested to hear how bantam/small fowl owners feel though. we'd like some quail, and I don't think I'd be as confident with our cats with quail, so that i on hold for a while."

I cannot comment on quail but as far as bantams are concerned, I used to keep them years ago and on one occasion a cat strayed a little too close for comfort near the hens as far as the c0ck was concerned. Without any hesitation he despatched it to meet its maker. I will spare you the gory details as I am aware that people do like cats. I never lost a hen to a cat when they were without a mate. There would always be one who was on "meerkat" duty.

Frugaldom

Hi chicken fans, I've had cats, dogs and chickens and the chickens were always the first to make it perfectly clear who was the boss. However, one of the farm collies here killed a chicken just not so long ago when both were trapped within a small area and the hen had nowhere else to go. So in answer to the collie question, I'd say everything is fine as long as the human is in control of the dog, especially if either dogs or hens are flighty by nature. Next door's cockerel, on the other hand, chases small children and my own banties do tend to torment my grand daughter as she insistes on feeding them all the time. This results in them crowding round her as soon as she goes outside and their beaks are about hand height to a 4 year old.


But I do have quail and hope to have more one day soon. They are nothing like rearing & keeping hens, though. You cannot freerange them and a cat could easily do a lot of damage if it got in among them. Quail are gamebirds and are extremely strong fliers compared to poultry breeds. In the wild, they migrate, so not the best creatures to attempt to freerange. They need to be completely enclosed on all sides and up above, as they can take off practically vertically.

Summary - most cats, dogs and small children will mix fine when supervised but always expect the unexpected, as none of them can be trusted to behave exactly as you'd like of all the time. But that's just my opinion.

Forgot to say - I had a single Silkie chick hatched out and had to rear her alone until I found her company at about 8 weeks of age. She was a bit of a pest, following us everywhere, even indoors! She is fine now, but still tends to think she's more human than chicken and goes to meet the postman most mornings, despite everything else going the opposite direction. :rolleyes: She also comes and begs food off anyone who happens to be sitting outside with a cuppa. I think we spoiled her too much when she was the lonesome silkie chick.

DON79

edmund_blackadder wrote: »

Hi folks,

I'm sure this has been covered before but 30 pages is a bit much to find my answer...

So what is the general consensus about getting chickens when I already have a Border Collie, a small cat (who has never killed anything in 4 years ... or certainly not brought us any presents (other than a mouse in a mouse trap - the lazy swine! )) and a toddler?

Hi, we have two toddlers and two border collies! The Border Collies don't bat an eyelid at the chickens and they roam free range in the garden together.

The toddlers are interested but don't chase the chickens either.

xnatalie81x

I have had my hens for 1 week. Still no eggs. Have come to love em now so even if never lay am stuck, but how long d'ya think till i might be able to have egg and chips cos obviously partner will not allow me now due to my argument for getting the hens!!!!!!!!!arghhhhhhhhhhh men!

DON79

Hi natalie, how old are your hens? Our hens started laying at about 20 weeks but they won't lay one every day right away, they started laying but we were getting one or two every other day to start with. We have three hens now who are about 28 weeks old and we are regularly getting two eggs a day.