OT Cats vs Rooster

[Farmall Don]

In all my years I have never heard of cats killing a chicken, but would like your opinion. There are four cats living in my barn (rodent control) and I supplement there diet with food for proper health. Today I found a half eaten rooster near their feeding area. Do you think four cats would have killed this rooster or would something else done it and the brought it to their feeding area? There are feathers outside the door. When I went out there I found another rooster with its head in one corner and a hen in another corner shaking, otherwise I would suspect it was a chicken fignt that the cats finished. I never had a wild animial come near the barn with large live stock roaming around (that I know of).

 

[Anonymous-0]

Years ago living at home we had a all black tomcat named Sam. We went rabbit hunting one time and he really must of enjoyed the taste of rabbit. So a few days later I saw somthing way out in the field and coming twards the barn. It was Sam with a rabbit twice the size of him. I dont know how he killed it, or how far he dragged it. But yes it is entirely possible.

 

[Patsdeere]

I guess there is a chance, but my cat would always bring me things that she found around. She would bring them to me as presents, even though I know she didn't get them. She once brought back a dead squirrel, but there was no obvious trama to the body so she didn't kill it.

I guess you need to feed them more.
I know orange peels work to repel cats, but have no idea what would happen if you put them around the chickens.

 

[Coloken]

Maybe not your cats, but a "wild" tom cat. When they go wild, they get pretty tough.
Once walking across the yard in foot deep snow, I had my cat jump on and kill a full grown Colorado jack rabbit hiding in a snow drift.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I remember blaming the dog for killing chicken. Locked the dog up and found out it was a tom cat doing the killing.

 

[buickanddeere]

It was the kat. They will kill young piglets too.

 

[old]

Possible but not likely. I'd say a coon or opuisson got it instead. Most of the time a cat hunts alone and its pretty hard for a cat to take on a chicken. I find my out door cats in the chicken pen all the time and I have yet to loose a chicken to a cat
Hobby farm

 

[Lanse]

saw one of my (mean) free range roosters nail a cat once, and a (meaner) coop rooster fight off our dog. roosters aint helpless!!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Never had a farm cat kill anything but a young chick. After they put on some size,(1/3 grown, it seemed the cat would realize they were chickens and not wild birds.
Found a sure fire way to break the cats of killing young chicks. We had old cluck hens raising batches of chicks, and there is no more fierce or brave creature than an old hen defending her chicks.
Had a chicken wire fence about 4 ft high X 4 ft square attached to the coop, and found that the one fast and permanent lesson to the cats was to toss one into that little pen with a mother hen and chicks in there. The cat would hit the ground and the hen would instantly attack at full emergency battle speed. The cat would bounce off the screen pen walls like an insane pin ball for about 15 seconds until he managed to climb the screen and escape. I don't think I ever had to give one a repeat lesson, as they instantly and permanently associated chicks or hens with a most unpleasent near death experience. ;-)

 

[Andy Motteberg]

Lock the cats in a cage and see if the killing continues!

 

[Leland]

We had a big 15-20 lb tom with 6 claws on each foot ,he would eat anything that would not eat him first .never even heard a bird sing in any near by trees as long as we had him .

 

[scooter01922]

I'm gonna guess that the cat didn't kill it unless you got a mighty small rooster :lol: Sorry couldn't resist. I used to have a tough ol cat that attempted to catch damn near everything that entered the yard. One time i found a very dead young groundhog on the porch where the cat usually left whatever was the special of the day. Still not sure how a 10 lb cat managed to drag a groundhog that weighed at least 6-7 lbs up the flight of stairs.

 

[Bob Kerr]

We had a female tabby cat that was a great hunter. She had a litter of kittens one time and she ran across the hiway at rush hour heavy traffic with a full grown duckthat was as big or bigger than her, that she killed at the lake across the road. She made it across and was very hiway savy plus she "was on a mission". Most cats don"t like the wing flapping, but if they are a determined hunter like a female with kittens, all the flapping, scratching and pecking won"t stop it from giving it a go. But here is the deal if it was a female cat that did the dirty work, she would have dragged the carcass to her kittens where ever they are. If it was a male cat he would eat it close by the kill area unless there was another animal (cat , dog, possum, coon etc.) around and he would have dragged it off somewhere to enjoy a peaceful meal. I have never seen cats team up to hunt (unless one sees another already stalking, but they usually are out just to get the meal for themself), so it most likely would have been just one if it was a cat. Not to say that it is impossible, just unlikley.

 

[IH2444]

My vote would be a racoon, who like cat food pretty well too.


Is there a cat water bowl there and is it messed up some after the killings ? If so it is a racoon.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Could have been one of your cats, but most likely a coon or weasel has came acallin.
we had 30-40 brown and blue layers and 2 mean azz roosters, went on a 4 day trip with the folks checking on the chckens for us. Weasel got int the coop, guess because it was quiet and no one around and killed every one of them.
Caught him a few days later though, him and the live trap went for a swim