Chickens meet Cat

[MickeysChicks]

After the trauma of losing a leghorn this week, I was able to hangout in the yard late this afternoon and spend some time with my girls. I was watching them trying to see if I observed any signs of illness or any other upset. As soon as I sat in my chair which is right outside of their run, they swarmed to my feet. I had already checked the nests and collected eggs, checked their food and on the recommedation of some friends added some electrolytes to their water container. Luckily I had my phone with me and managed to get some pictures. The girls jumped up on the garden cart which was next to my chair and they took turns jumping from the cart to my lap for some cuddles, one leghorn even perched on my arm for a little while. While all this was going on my black and white tom cat , Patches, came up and just sat close by watching the girls getting alot of attention from me. I took this as chance to observe how the girls acted around Patches, I really didn't want to but I wondered if he had anything to do with my dead leghorn! The girls didn't even seem to realize he was there!! And apparently Patches got jealous so the next thing I know.....he jumps up on the back of my chair and proceeds to lay across my shoulder head butting me on the chin repeatedly! Well the 2 girls that were in my lap freeze but start fussing, Patches is meowing and headbutting me, I definetly was in the middle of an interesting conversation. I managed to get some pics, just not one with all 4 of us in the same pic! It was definetly surreal! After a few minutes the girls jumped down and wondered off to play in a pile of leaves, Patches hung around until a nosy leghorn cameup and and started to headbutt my hand which was propped up on the armrest.Patches decided he'd had enough and jumped down and headed back to the house.
What a day!

The girls lining up for cuddle time

The leghorn in my lap when Patches got on my shoulder!

Patches on my shoulder!

Hey mom! Where you going?

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I'm sorry about the loss of one of your leghorns. Cats are not typically the culprit when it comes to adult chickens, and it seems like you would have noticed more predatory behavior from Patches if he had done that deed. Instead he showed the typical, "Mom, I want attention." behavior. Cute photos. My cat likes to drape himself over my shoulder, too. It is one of the ultimate cat compliments, LOL.