Other ideas:Ah ok about the genes. This man spoke from experience, he didn't even know the word 'gene'
As for the cats - I have never had problems with cats before. Only once several months ago - another neighbor's cat ate one of my chicks, but I cougth the cat, gave it to the dog, the dog didn't harm the cat but scared it enough that it never came back. I think this time was a combination of irresponsible neighbors who left the mother and kittens without food for days (they could've asked me to feed them) and the fact that it is a mother cat trying to feed her little ones. All my chicken are free range and especially with broodies (which I have a lot) I cannot fill up my garden with cages. I already made one cage for the pheasants, they are not happy... It will be cheaper and easier to buy a large rat trap for the cat than to make another cage (plus my worker is sick now)... Any other ideas are appreciated.
1. A free range area (very large run) with a high fence with electric wiring on top . Or a fence around you’re garden. Broodies can’t prevent casualties among chicks if there are hungry cats.
2. Feed the cat and her baby’s. If the cat thinks the chicks are part of her family , she might not harm them.
We have 3 hunting cats who come into our garden every day. The cats catch wild birds like pigeons ( Dutch are the same size ) , baby ducks, mice and rats, but they leave my Bantams alone. But I wouldn’t trust them with chicks until the chicks are about 10 weeks old. So I kept them confined or was supervising until that age. If these neighbours are on a holiday I feed the cats. So they know I’m a neighbour friend.