Believe it or not, most cats will ignore the chickens and will actually avoid them. I have several outside cats, and they give way to the chickens when they would rather have the cat food than their food. My running theory is that since the birds are larger than the cats are, the cats don't even try.

Boopster, of course you need chickens! ;-) Nothing like those fresh eggs! And they are fun too.

If you are a worrier, best to have a secure run and house for them. Those of us who free-range know that sooner or later we can expect losses. I don't think barn cats would bother full grown hens, although they might take chicks. We have a couple of feral cats hanging out around here and they ignore the chickens - and vica versa.

If you are only planning to have a couple of hens for eggs, you might want to consider a chicken tractor for their home. This is a portable house/run combination that your can easily move to fresh grass every day or two. That way your hens have the advantages of free ranging without the risks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken tractor pictures

yeah but how come I get the feeling that chickens are kind of like potato chips:) I bet they're like my koi. Start out with one or two, then 'oh look at this one, ok, just 2 more then no more...right. Now I have 16 head, or is that fins, of koi LOL. I'd probably end up with a whole heard of chickens, especially if they followed me in the garden and ate bugs.

boopster, how many do you want, and when do you want them? How old, what colors? If you want pure breds that are laying right now, I got those. If you want precious little mixed-breed (F1's!) chicks hatched mid-may thru last week - I got those.

If you want a pair of Red Frizzle banties, roo and pullet...I've got those.

White-tailed Japanese banties, (pair),...those too.

These banties are about 3 months old, about to start learning to crow, not laying yet.

I have brown egg layers, leghorns (white eggs) and Americauna (blues & greens).

I have too many chickens...I'm ready to downsize for awhile until we actually live on the farm. They are all very friendly and used to being held and coddled, even...yes, I'll admit it now...bathed.

Suzie

PLEASE TAKE SOME OF MY CHICKENS!

Hee, hee, another convert to the "dark side." Lol - Ellen

My cat was my main worry when I considered chickens. He is quite the mouser and unfortunately has brought home much larger prey. I didn't doubt he could take on a chicken. I chose large breed chickens (Orpingtons, Brahmas, and Australorps) that would not only get big, but look big (read: big feathered girls)too. I made darn sure they were locked up tight until they were about 3 months old. My cat gave it some thought when I first started letting the girls free range, but my 'alpha' hen had a face to face with him and didn't back down. It's been a non-issue ever since. In reality, most cats sleep all day when the chickens are at their most active. At least mine does---he's sleeping off his late nights.
Good luck. I vote, yes, get chickens.
Carla

Boopster, take it from me, if you have trouble controlling yourself be very very careful. Chickens are extremely addictive and if you get your hands on a poultry catalog you are truly sunk! Before you know it you'll be doing just that - oh, just 2 of these and a few of these, and look aren't these pretty. Take it from a seasoned addict, it's every bit as scary as it seems. But what the hell, do it anyway!

Whoa Nellie!!! you guys are not a very good influence that's for sure :) That's really interesting about the cats not bothering them. I would bet mine would try to kill a chick, but you're probably right about the adults, I don't think my little gatos are that brave. I just don't know...AMIZ5904, I can see myself with the catalogues right now, just like looking at heirloom vegetables, gotta try everything. So how long do chickens live? And I'm assuming if I just get hens, no rooster to fert. the eggs I won't have chicks (see I know a little bit about biology:) ) And what about if you want to go on vacation? If they have a big enough pen can you just leave them with shade, water and feed? I'm just talking a couple of days, not going off for a week or more.

I don't need a chicken, I don't need a chicken, I don't need a chicken...

Yes you do...yes you do....yes you do.........

You can buy very large feeders and waterers (sp?;) so you could go out of town for a couple days. You'd also be surprised how willing a neighbor will be to hang with your girls while you're gone. Especially if fresh eggs are their payment.
I can't tell you how long chickens live. I know I've heard of someone losing their 10yr old rooster to some predator, but I think that advanced age is unusual.
It is possible to have a handle on the addiction. My DH helps with that ;). I also really don't want to deal with the "meet and greets" that would have to take place. I'd hate for anybody to end up bloody. My 7 girls get along peacefully and I'd like it to stay that way.
You need chickens, you need chickens, you need chickens...
Carla

youneedchickensyouneedchickensyouneedchickens...*evil laugh*

By all means, jooooiiinn uussssss.......we of the Chicken Addicted welcome all who come over to the Dark Side. :)

Chickens are wonderful, and all of mine are pets. They are great for keeping the garden weeded and free of bugs (ya gotta watch 'em though), for fertilizer, to clear up table scraps, for eggs and for free entertainment and comic relief. Mine are amazing stress relievers, if you have a bad day go sit in the yard for a few minutes with a chicken in your lap. Works like a charm. :)

As for going away, yes if you have a sturdy pen and leave them plenty of food and water it's possible, but chickens are like any other pet, they assume that: you gone=you dead. They rejoice on your return and then get mad and snub you for leaving them. :) There are several automatic feeders out there that would be a good idea, or have a friendly neighbor check them.

The most important thing with chickens is to protect them from predators, especially at night. If you worry about your cats I'd go with large breed chickens at first that can intimidate the cats. Later on you'll fall in love with banties and can add them. If you click on my 'My Page' link there is tons of chicken info there that might help you. :)

Oh and by the way...you can tell yourself NOW that you'll only get a 'few hens' and no rooster, but I warn you that eventually you'll feel sorry for your girls and want to round out the chicken societal structure, and will just HAPPEN to see the cutest, sweetest roo at the feed store one day--! Just so you know, it happens to all of us and we've found ways to justify our roos to ourselves. :)

After THAT comes the inevitable broody hen you'll feel sorry for, and you'll let her have a clutch of eggs...

Eggbid.com has tons of eggs, chicks and adults up for auction so you can get an idea of what's out there, also feathersite.com has tons of pics of the breeds.

Velvet :)

Boopster, as you can plainly see, you don't stand a chance now! I love Velvet's description - that's exactly how it happens. Have fun with your new chickens!

Face it, Boopster, your feathers have been plucked.

I have a farm neighbor who's really big into horses, driving (the horses) and her Doberman puppy. She's single and doesn't want more...has a crises counseling practice at her home and uses her horse, or garden, at times in therapy. She really enjoyed eating the eggs, but thought I was nuts-o with all the chickens...UNTIL...one evening at our farm she watched one chick come out of it's shell, and the interaction with it's mother and other chicks. She came over three days later and sheepishly told me that watching the whole scene had haunted her all weekend, and she'd like to try one chicken...
...got to have more than one
...okay, two chickens
...how about one chicken and her 5 chicks?
...OH MY GOD YOU'D REALLY DO THAT???

You'd have thought I'd given her a million bucks.

And I thought MY chickens were spoiled. Now she, and all her neighbors are facinated with them, and of course she's wanting "at least 6 more, and one rooster"!

The most facinating thing, to her, is how much she's drawn to spending time sitting in the little coop talking to them, studying them. Also, her clients are more drawn to the chickens than the horses!!! (No backlash, please, it's just new to them, where horses aren't)

My father is in the process of building his secretive coop at his house, and his lake house. He'll do back flips for green or blue eggs.

It is hilarious, and SO MUCH FUN to introduce a newbie to chickens. We got chickens to have a more natural way of "cleaning" up after the cows. And bugs, 'cause if you haven't noticed...I don't like 'em. Eggs were just...gravy. Now I sell the extra eggs to a local feed store...pays for the feed almost...but the best part is giving a basket of eggs away...and making new friends...and introducing the beauty (and the ease) of chickens to all the neighbors!

All that aside, there is nothing more relaxing that sitting back with a drink (of whatever!) and just watching them. For my hyperactivity, it's probably the first thing in my life that's actually made me "stop and smell the roses."

Except it doesn't actually smell like roses...

Suzie

Hhahaahah!!!! OMG we're all so alike. A couple came out over last weekend to buy a baler we advertised. I gave her two dozen eggs, told her "buy a baler, get two dozen eggs for free!!!" LOL
We got talking about chickens, she had some years ago, didn't have any now, so she appreciated the eggs. She always got hers from Murray MacMurray, too, was very happy with them.
They came back towing a trailer to pick up some parts for the baler, told me they "traded a dozen eggs to their neighbor to borrow the trailer" LOL LOL!!! Said their neighbor was overjoyed to get fresh farm eggs.
We went on to swap chicken stories while the little critters wandered @ our feet jabbering to each other.
We're "down" to 26 chickens right now, I'm a'hankering to dig out my MMM catalog and start the painful "picking" process LOL - Ellen

There are descriptive phrases for people like you all! Enablers.

Yeah, I too have the chicken bug and find their hilarious antics fun to watch although I draw the line when they want to get in my flower beds! Big feet on plants is not a good thing!

Ha ha ha, you guys are too much. And very evil. And now I've been sent a web site with all the little darlings for sale, with info about them all as well, gerrrr. The Sultan was the one that first cought my eye, what a cute little hat he/she's wearing.

Velvet I can just picture you sitting with a chicken in your lap, having a chat about your day. LOL

Suzie, you say you don't live on a farm now, don't you live in Houston? Where do you keep all these chickens? Love your story by the way, using the chickens as therapy animals. My BOrder collie is a Delta dog, and I know they use all kinds of animals for therapy, gunea pigs, rabbits, hadn't heard of a chicken though.

So what chickens are usually the most friendly? From the looks of that site there are quite a few to choose from (not that I'm getting one, or several mind you) The other thing I found interesting was the game type birds, the quail, pheasant, turkey's etc. What can you tell me about them? I do draw the line at Guinea's though, hate all the racket they make.

I've found others disagree with me, but I like the heavy egg layers for being calm and quiet: Buff Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Australops, all the "rock" breeds. Leghorsn, while being egg laying fiends, I've found to be very hyper and don't seem to handle very cold weather well. - Ellen

I agree with you Ellen. I had Black Sexlinks, Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshires, Blue Cochins, Buff Wyandottes, Gold-Laced Crested Polish, Houdans, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Aracaunas & White Leghorns - just off the top of my head. Out of all of them, except for my extremely tame & friendly hand-raised White Leghorn rooster, the Leghorn hens were flightier & their combs were more prone to frostbite during extremely cold weather.

Well I can assure you there will be NO danger of frost bite around these parts LOL. More like how do they handle the "Africa like heat", It's like a furnace out there right now, everything is burning up, and I don't even want to see what my water bill is going to be:(

It's so entertaining to see the interactions of their personalities. I have a mixed flock of 12 chickens, all about 15 weeks old.

One is a leghorn pullet, and, contrary to what everyone says about leghorns, she is very mild-mannered and calm.
I hand-picked her from the store. She was the only one that hadn't been involved in any fights...I could tell the others had been fighting, because the workers had put a purple dye ointment on their sores. Apparently, I picked a "nice" leghorn.

I am new to chickens, but of my 4 varieties the Buff Orffs are by far the most personable and sweet (not sure how they'd do in the heat though), second would be the barred rocks also very people friendly. The Rhode Island Reds would come next and then the Americanas (mine are more aloof and need more coaxing for people interaction). One of my Americanas I had named Rosie (after my beloved cat), she was so cute and fat when she was a tiny chick...I doted over her and loved her and she still is very standoffish. Well she has grown out of her cute chick coloring and has become much more adult like and some what cranky....we have re-named her "crabby Patty", she seems to like it! I just accept her for who she is and love her just the same:)

Living in the burbs outside of Boston having chickens in your backyard is a real conversation piece and neighborhood attraction not to mention a joy to us! and we haven't any eggs yet :)

Sheila

Uh-oh, you've moved to the second level of chickenness--asking about breeds. ;)
I have Buff Orpingtons, Light Brahmas, Black Australorps, and one Americauna (sp). They are all "heavy" breeds, but the little Americauna. Like Sheila, my Americauna is a little stand-offish, but sweet just the same. The other girls are friendly as can be. Being heavy breeds I think they suffer some from the heat here in Austin; but their coop and yard are in the shade and I provide them will cool snacks from the fridge and fresh water. I have wetted down their yard twice this summer. The evaporation has a cooling effect for the girls.
Carla

I ordered the heritage breeds for my first go around. I have moltled? java, dominiques, buckeyes, delawares, and a bantam silver seabright. The chickens are young and have not started laying yet so I can't say which lays better. They are all suppose to be brown egg layers. The bantam I have had longest and she lays six eggs a week. She is very small compared to the dominiques, they are huge (roosters) the hen is not as large but she is larger than the other hens. Of these, I'd say the buckeye and the delaware are my favorites. The javas seem skittish and the dominiques, I think might be too large for my city lot! If they were free rangers without worrying over where they will tred they'd be great because they would definitely not be an easy meal for anything. As for their tolerance of the heat, I think, the delaware is the only one I have witnessed a panting like cooling technique. Since they have gotten larger I have not had to worry about any cats bothering them. The cats would definitely still try for the bantam if the other larger chickens weren't around to give the 'protect yourself hurdle across the yard'.
Anyway you look at what you can get with the breeds, each one will have give a smile to you.
Roxann

ok--perhaps this is the best place to ask a question-all the chicken folks are here. theres 2 weeks difference in my bantams, and reg. sized pullets. oldest are about 2 months--(and have a baby guinea too)--when can i turn them together?littlier ones are in a cage inside the bigger house, so they know eack other. wouldnt want to rush it--but its getting soo hot here daytimes.

try it, but when you can stick around to watch. If ther is not a great difference in their size I would not worry too much. There may be a little sparring so they can sort out the pecking order. Just watch for a while to make sure it doesn't get out of hand.

I had a single bantum-frizzle cochin chick and it was a few weeks younger than quite a few standards and when we turned her out there all the bigger ones would run up to her and just get in her face then stop like they were froze, she would come up to some of the others and take food out of their mouths and soon I never worried. I still have her- "Sweetpea". And she is still very sweet comes right up to you to be picked up. Stays broody most of the time now!

Ceresone, I am by far the least experience here but I'd say do it now. I put my chickens in with the bantams at this same age. The bantams were bigger and older than the chickens at this point and they did get picked on but they learned to get out of the bantams way and some instincts for preservation kicked in. I realize your situation is different and you don't say which is the oldest the bantams or the pullets but I'd say that the sooner they get merged together the sooner they will bond. Guineas I understand need to be locked in their coop to form a home base so that they will come home to roost and not simply roost wherever they are at the moment. And, geez, they begin to smell strongly inside at this point and I did not have a garage to put them into and the weather was cooperating.
Again I state I am not a chicken efficienado! and with some of the remarks from other threads , I am not apologizing if my advice is way off the mark, it's from my viewpoint and what I have seen! grin.

Hope everyone enjoys the summer and their peeps.
Roxann

thanks, leslie, and chickadee, and hope i'm not hijacking the thread, since its something we all must learn.my pullets came 5/16, this year, and my banties 2 weeks later. lol-- i bought the guineas as "guard guineas" after losing a chick to a snake.another recommendation from the forum. banties just look so little, compared to the others. everyone, about, has been so nice and helpful on here.

Just dont get a rooster!! Everytime I get one, he ends up turning mean, and tries attacking me with his spurs! It's not a fun experience having one attack your legs when your wearing shorts..LOL!!

Now that's just not true.

Roosters definitely differ in personality just like any other animal. During many years of chicken raising & having a number of different roosters, I've only had one that I had to get rid of because he was mean - a Rhode Island Red. However, my Blue Cochin, Buff Wyandotte, & White Leghorn roosters were as tame & friendly as could be. In fact, the White Leghorn used to like to sit on my shoulder while I did garden work.

Oh, my, boopster--you're lost! i "toyed" with the idea of getting chickens for 20 years, or more. decided each time NO, I DONT NEED THEM!! went to a relatives, saw her babies--came on here, and read--and now i'm lost too. i ordered 75, yes, seventy-five pullets--then to compound it, i ordered 25, yes, twenty-five more bantams! THEN, someone told me, GUINEAS would guard my chicks--so, i now have 5 of them! i've had them in the dining room for 3 weeks-- like to have killed myself remodeling a place for them, got them moved, fought snakes, coons, and a red fox, so far--and you know what?? I LOVE IT!!--get chickens--get chickens--lol--join me--

We have three different age groups of chicks in our fenced in yard. The youngest have a separate pen with an intrance only they can fit through. We keep their food and water in there otherwise the larger birds do not let them eat. There was a lot of pecking at first but the smallest just ran into their area to get away. Its been 3 weeks now and everyone is sharing and getting along although the younger birds are still low in the pecking order. The ages are 12 weeks 10 weeks and 8 weeks.

I'm right there with y'all. Started a year ago with one sweet Buff Orp (Carrie). Decided she was lonely, got a Cochin about the same age (Daisy). They get along beautifully. Somehow (oops) ended up with 5 chicks from TSC this spring ... raised 'em but now want to find homes for the three RIR's because I'm in love with Orps and Cochins.

Some of you might remember (Velvet ...) about my broody-hens post. Carrie and Daisy are currently setting on a nest full of Buff Orp eggs ... and I have two more Buff girls coming this week ...

It definitely gets out of hand but I adore them. I begged my husband to let me order 25 banty chicks from MMcM this summer ... he just rolled his eyes and said, "Are you out of your mind?" Well ... um ... yep.

I don't have a lot of experience with different breeds, obviously, having been doing the chicken thing only about a year, but I love the Buff Orp best and think for now I am going to focus on that breed. Very sweet with my three kids, too.

Ceresone, you had 100 chicks in your dining room????!!!! Dang, I can't imagine the sound of that, plus 5 keets and their funny noises. I'm sure you know first hand the smell a 100 chicks can put off.;) You, my friend, jumped right off into the deep end of the pool (big smile).
Post pics if you can, I really want to see the set up for that many chicks in the house.
take care,
Carla

If you get different breeds, do you need to keep them separated, especially if you want to breed them true to breed? I would think so, but it seems like a hassle.

"Erdolphin" - if you want to breed chickens that are true to breed, then yes, you must keep each breed separately.

I have a question. I have chickens for years and years you would think I would know it all by now?? LOL Nope ....I have about five chickens that have lost their feathers on their rear ends. This has been going on for about six months. I thought it was cuz of the roosters but I got rid of them and they still have no feathers....anyhow I enclosed a picture so if any of you know what is causing this please let me know. I have dusted for mites several times so i can't be that??? Thanks in advance(-:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:41143}}

We're all CRAZY! And don't we LOVE it!?
About cats and chickens. This is how it is at my place. I love cats and have always had cats. My chickens are the large Buff Orp's and Barred Rocks. I've always had a variety of the larger breeds. I have NEVER (knock on wood) had trouble with my cats bothering my chickens, in fact it's the other way around. You know how cats go around with their tails held high in the air...? Well, I've never met a self respecting chicken who hasn't been able to resist that little pink "bulls eye" at the bottom end of that raised tail! LOL My cats actually run from my chickens! All it takes is one hit from the end of the chickens beak and the cat will do it's best to stay far, far away from the chickens. I have made sure that the cats can get away from the chickens when they need to, but I really don't think you'll have any trouble if you get the larger breeds.
I hope you have chickens by now. :)