Barn cats

[britguy33]

Does anyone have any opinions on barn cats and quail populations. I have one cat and am wondering if he will hurt the quail across the road from me. I like him for mice but when they are all gone will he go hunting chicks. The hatching season is near and wondering if I need to relocate him or not.

[Reeves]

Catch 22. Darned if you do, darned if you don't. Can you fence in your cat?

[Fivehollers]

Got to love a good mouser but...are you attached to the cat emotionally cause that could be a problem. Frank, the house cat, likes to go outside and bring mommy presents, moles, mice, the occasional small snake and got pretty sick once when he ate a lizard, (skink, I believe) anyway, I drew the line when he brought mommy a little bunny. The population of wild birds, rabbits etc..is getting smaller and cats are part of the problem. They will eat the little buggers (quail) if given the chance. Frank  is grounded for the rest of the spring season until the little woodland creatures get faster than he is. I do not think it is wrong to have an outdoor cat all things tend to balance out but if you are worried about the little birds... :?

[Fivehollers]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention Frank the cat is declawed in the front so climbing trees is out of the question, so unless he can catch it on the ground he does not eat many birds.  

[stewaw]

I have two barn cats.  They (against all natural instinct) have one unique trait that has kept them from the great litter box in the sky.  If I introduce them to something in a cage be it a quail chick, rabbit, squirrel etc.. for three days I can then turn it out into the yard and they won't touch it. I believe it came from conditioning at the feet/beak of a banty game hen.  Anything that has not been introduced to them (rats,mice, gopher, snakes, lizzards etc....) is fair game.  As Reeves said, it's a catch 22- if you have barn cats you WILL have an impact on local native mammal and bird populations. Some impacts will be positive, some will be negative- it's up to the "feeder" to determine which outweighs the other when it comes to cats.

David

[coveyrun]

Cats are probably one of the worst enemies to all wild gamebird chicks! Any hunter can tell you the numbers of wild cats you will see when out on a hunt.  Personally when I am bird hunting I also help control the wild cat population.

[britguy33]

thanks for the info all. I will probaBLY try introducing the cat to my next batch of chicks and see what he does/ then see what I need to do.

[Reeves]

:lol: When I tried that it took all I had to hang onto the cat  :lol:

[britguy33]

I will probably have him on a harness. Thanks for the tip.

[Fivehollers]

Don't mean to disagree but I raise rabbits and have one that lives in the house with us, litter trained and everything, I was hoping that Frank would see all rabbits as the same but he does not, he won't bother the ones outside in the pens but if they are in the yard or surrounding woods then I guess that is a different story. Good luck and let me know if your experiment works.  

[Sterling-Ranch]

Even our cat who relishes his marshmallow paws loves to go after my younger birds.  He has no front claws and he can still catch & kill if I didn't stop him first.

[redlevel]

Shoot the cat.  It doesn't matter how well fed it is.  Cats are predators.  They are genetically programmed to hunt.  Quail chicks  (even adults) are easy prey.  A state game bioligist recently told me that he figured that house cats running loose kill more wild quail than hunters.  With all the other dangers quail face, they don't need  somebody's pet hunting them.

[Fivehollers]

Amen to that!  Frank the cat stays inside now. He is very mad at us but I don't care. He is my daughters cat and one of these days he is going to have an "accident" and be gone. The funny thing is that he kills like a mad man outside but is afraid of mice inside  :?

[Reeves]

Two years ago I was staying at a work camp. Lots of mice running around, so one person brought their cat to camp to clean them up. Well that lazy cat would just lay on the floor & watch the mice run around the floor ! I don't think it ever harmed one all summer !

[Redhorse]

My wildlife management professor stated that "domestic cats kill more wildlife in the state of Ohio than all our natural preditors combined" Don't know if he is right, but just goes to show how serious it is. When I purchased my little one acre of paradise in the country, there were cats all over. I ran a trap line that year, got 3 coon, 2 oppossum, 11 muskrat, and 14 cats all within 100 yds of my house. Second year 9 cats...third year 3 cats...now I get 1-3 a year. Cat populations need controlled also. Season before last I got 9 coon, 15 muskrats, and no cats. Rabbits are doing much better here too. Didn't trap last year...oops...hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the butt. Will have to hit it hard this coming season to give my quail better odds. Might switch to lead instead of steel! 8)

Sitting here listening to my birds "Bobwhiting" in the back yard. Need to get out there and finish my second Johnny house. Started yesterday, still need to put the roof on and the door. :)