06-29-2020, 03:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2020, 03:02 PM by Chiefsmom.
Edit Reason: addition
)
I had brothers (lost one) for about 5 years now.
1) Try to get them from a farmer that had barn cats with kittens. They make the best barn cats.
2) Getting them as kittens, with adult chickens, is a good way to start. Never lost one chick to my cats, and they lay out in the run with the chickens.
3) I have never provided a littler box for them. They must go somewhere outside, as I haven't seen a "pile" anywhere in the barn, and ours has a dirt floor.
4) I feed our remaining boy 1/2 a cup a day of dry food. He still tears up the mice, and sometimes baby bunnies.
5) Yes, getting them fixed is a must.
The one we lost, grady, was not real friendly, but you could pet him while he was eating. His brother, Lester, is a beast. And super friendly, to the point that he follows our twin grandsons when we go for a walk in the woods, like he is protecting them. He will come out if I'm in the garden, and try to lay all over me to be petted. Not fun on 80F days!
Oh, and for those in cold climates, like ours in MI, we put a whole bale of straw under the nesting boxes outside the coop, and lester made himself a nest.
1) Try to get them from a farmer that had barn cats with kittens. They make the best barn cats.
2) Getting them as kittens, with adult chickens, is a good way to start. Never lost one chick to my cats, and they lay out in the run with the chickens.
3) I have never provided a littler box for them. They must go somewhere outside, as I haven't seen a "pile" anywhere in the barn, and ours has a dirt floor.
4) I feed our remaining boy 1/2 a cup a day of dry food. He still tears up the mice, and sometimes baby bunnies.
5) Yes, getting them fixed is a must.
The one we lost, grady, was not real friendly, but you could pet him while he was eating. His brother, Lester, is a beast. And super friendly, to the point that he follows our twin grandsons when we go for a walk in the woods, like he is protecting them. He will come out if I'm in the garden, and try to lay all over me to be petted. Not fun on 80F days!
Oh, and for those in cold climates, like ours in MI, we put a whole bale of straw under the nesting boxes outside the coop, and lester made himself a nest.