birdlover2
Crowing
My mother has 3 cats currently and has had others in the past. The first time they see a chicken they do stalk it, but the chickens quickly notice THEM and run at them and peck them. Or a roo notices, warns his hens, and flies at them spurrs ready! The cat never bothers the chickens again. We found one of our cats as a kitten in the chicken coop. She hadn't hurt any of the chickens, but was huddled in a corner terrified of them, she probably got a beating. She now is scared of even chicks, and keeps a wide bearth. We do worry sometimes, especially with the bantams, but the cats still seem just as scared of even these smaller chickens as they are of the cats. Chickens are as big as most cats, and some chickens may even be bigger than some cats. Cats aren't stupid and once they get a good peck they'll look for easier prey. If you can I'd suggest getting a good roo. He'll deter cats and maybe even other predators, or at least warn his hens of trouble. This is the same principle for teaching cats and dogs to get along, get the dog young, and have it get a good scratch across the nose from your cat. Our cats were wusses and ran away from the dog instead, and the dog didn't learn it's place in the pack, (of course the best way to get animals to get along is raise them together, which we did not do seeing as our cats were already grown).
