Yes, a cat can kill a chicken, and sometimes it eats one. But if you’re picturing your neighbor’s tabby carrying off a full-grown hen, that’s not where the guides put the risk. It’s your chicks and young birds that need guarding. That’s my read of four university predator guides. A grown standard hen is a big bird for a house cat, though Maryland’s guide says cats have been known to kill full-grown chickens.
This page used to tell a story about two cats named Whiskers and Mittens, and a neighbor’s Rhode Island Red they ate, feathers and all. I can’t back any of it up, so it’s gone. So is the idea that red or orange feathers make a hen a target. I couldn’t find that in any source. The old claim that an elderly, arthritic cat probably poses little threat went too, since nothing I read supports it.
I rewrote the page from the sources listed at the bottom. Extension guides from Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech and Maryland cover which predators take which birds. So does a Western University guide edited by a veterinarian. A study of feral and stray cats in Western Australia shows what turned up in their stomachs. CDC, the FDA and the American Veterinary Medical Association cover cats and bird flu. Where something below is my own math or my own call, I’ll tell you.
The short version.
- Cats do kill chickens, but chicks and young birds are the real risk. That’s my read of the guides.
- A Rhode Island Red hen’s standard weight, 6½ pounds, is about 30 times the 100 grams a cat’s usual prey stays under, by my math. Bantams are far smaller, so I’d guard them more like chicks.
- Cats hunt by day as well as at night. Locking the coop at night won’t cover chicks out in the yard at noon.
- A roof over the run keeps feral cats from climbing in, Oklahoma State says. Don’t count on your own cat to guard the flock.
- Keep your cat away from dead or sick birds. Cats catch bird flu from infected birds, and AVMA says it’s often deadly for them.
What the Predator Guides Say About Cats
Its photographer called this photo a chicken family. The two small black birds look like young ones to me, out foraging in long grass with the bigger birds. Young birds like those are the ones the guides worry about.
Oklahoma State’s guide to predators has a table of what you find after an attack and who might have done it. Cats show up in one row out of seven. That row reads “Chicks missing; no other signs,” and it names a snake, a rat, a raccoon or a domestic cat.
Virginia Tech’s guide lands in the same place. Under missing eggs or chicks, it lists eight suspects, and the cat is one of them. Under missing adult birds, it lists a bird of prey, a bobcat, a coyote, a dog and a fox. No cat.
Maryland’s guide is the bluntest. “While most people think of cats as pets, they can be deadly predators of chicks and young birds,” it says. It goes a step further than the others, too: “Cats have been known to kill full-grown chickens, consume the meaty parts, leaving the rest scattered around.”
The fourth guide comes from Western University of Health Sciences and was edited by Teresa Morishita, a veterinarian. Under missing eggs or chicks, it lists cats among six suspects. Of predators in general, it says “younger, smaller birds are more prone to predation.” On cats and grown birds, it says cats, “if brave enough, may unsuccessfully prey upon large birds.”
So a grown hen can be killed by a cat. Only Maryland says so, though, and “have been known to” reads like the unusual case to me. All four guides tie cats to chicks or young birds.
A Grown Hen Is a Big Bird for a House Cat
The hens in this photo were shot at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell, Ohio. They look like grown birds to me, and their run has wire over the top as well as on the sides. I’ll come back to that roof.
Size is the reason chicks come first, by my read. Virginia Tech lists cats among the daytime hunters “when birds are small,” and a 2020 study of feral and stray cats in the journal Animals says “Prey less than 100 g are the usual prey of F. catus,” which is the scientific name for the house cat. A hundred grams is about 3½ ounces.
That doesn’t rule out bigger animals. In the same sentence, the authors say “they have frequently been recorded to take larger prey,” so the question is how much larger.
Now look at a hen. Wisconsin Extension lists the standard weight of a Rhode Island Red hen at 6½ pounds. That’s about 2.9 kilograms, or roughly 30 times that 100-gram mark, by my math. A Leghorn hen is lighter, at 4½ pounds, and that still comes to about 20 times. Our Rhode Island Red and Buff Orpington page compares those two, and it puts an Orpington hen at about 8 pounds.
The same study gives the weights of feral cats in Australia. Females generally weigh 2.5 to 5 kilograms, and males 3.4 to 7.3. That’s about 5½ to 11 pounds for females and 7½ to 16 for males, by my math. So a Red hen at her breed’s standard weight, about 2.9 kilograms, weighs about what a small female feral cat there does, by my math. The study’s own female cats averaged 2.57 kilograms, a little under that standard weight.
Bantams are another story. Wisconsin says a bantam “should weigh about one‑fifth” of the large bird of its breed. By that rule, a bantam Leghorn hen comes to about 0.9 pounds and a bantam Red hen to about 1.3, by my math. Real bantams can run a bit heavier. Our Buff Orpington and bantam page cites a Wisconsin bulletin that puts adult bantams at 16 to 30 ounces. That’s still well over 100 grams, but it’s a fraction of a standard hen. If you keep bantams and a cat hangs around, I’d treat them more like chicks than like big hens. That’s my call.
The Cat Study That Found Chicken in Eight Stomachs
The two cats in this photo are out in an open field. Nothing on the photo’s page says whether they’re someone’s pets or strays.
That 2020 study is the closest thing I found to a count. Patricia Fleming and three colleagues looked at what feral and stray cats in southwest Western Australia had eaten, from what was in their stomachs. Of the 294 cats with animal remains inside, 8 had eaten domestic chicken. That’s under 3 in 100, by my math.
Here’s the catch. The researchers flagged chicken as a species that “could represent scavenging of carrion,” so some of those cats may have found a dead bird rather than killed one. That’s why they left chicken out of their analysis of prey size.
The study did find something worth knowing about which cats take big prey. Older cats took larger prey on average. The link was weak, though, because “even small cats ate large prey and some of the largest cats ate small prey,” the authors write. So I wouldn’t count on a small cat or an old one leaving your birds alone.
Keep in mind what this study covers. These were feral and stray cats in Australia, living off what they could catch or find. It doesn’t tell you what a well-fed pet next door will do.
How to Tell If a Cat Took Your Birds
The tabby in this photo was shot crossing a field in daylight, in Belarus.
Missing chicks alone won’t name the cat. Remember Oklahoma State’s row: chicks gone with no other signs could be a snake, a rat, a raccoon or a cat. Maryland lists a rat for missing chicks too, along with partly eaten ones.
What’s left behind helps a little. Maryland says cats “will eat small chicks entirely but leave the wings and feathers of young birds.” With a grown bird, it says a cat eats the meaty parts and leaves the rest scattered.
Tracks help more. “Cat footprints will lack claw marks, while raccoons and opossums have hand-like prints,” Maryland’s guide says. Soft dirt or a dusting of snow by the run is where I’d look.
The time of day is a clue, too. Virginia Tech says most mammal predators hunt at night. “Yet owned and feral cats and dogs may prey on birds or eggs in the flock any time of day.” Its list of daytime hunters has “Cats (when birds are small)” on it, next to dogs, birds of prey and snakes. So if chicks vanish while the sun’s up, a cat belongs on your list, along with a hawk or a snake.
If you want a better idea of what’s coming around, set up a camera. “A wildlife camera could be just the tool to identify potential predators near your flock,” Virginia Tech says. Maryland suggests game cameras for the same job.
Keeping Cats Away From Chicks and Hens
The cat in this photo is diving off the top of an iron railing. A cat that climbs and jumps like that is why I’d put the roof first.
Ranking the roof first is my call, but the guides do back a roof. Oklahoma State says a cover over the run will “prevent snakes, raccoons and feral cats from climbing into the run.” Virginia Tech also says to use a fence or an enclosed run with overhead cover. Our chicken pen ideas page walks through covered runs.
Don’t leave gaps, either. For windows and doors, Oklahoma State says hardware cloth or screen “should have holes smaller than 1 inch.” It also says that burying the fence, with the lower 12 inches set straight down, helps keep animals from tunneling into the run. Maryland goes at least a foot deep and then turns the wire outward for at least another 8 to 10 inches.
Lock the birds in at night, as Maryland advises. Our pen vs. run page explains why they should sleep in a coop that locks, unless the pen is predator-proof all the way around. But remember that cats hunt by day as well. Chicks need a closed brooder or a covered run all day long, not just a shut door after dark. That’s my call, from Virginia Tech’s note on daytime hunting.
A few small things help too. Oklahoma State says to “Remove all dead or dying birds promptly,” because some predators scavenge. Virginia Tech says to clear out debris near the coop where predators can hide.
Don’t hand the job to your own cat, though. Maryland’s Prevention of Predation page and Morishita’s guide carry the same warning. Using “dogs and especially cats to scare off predators can create more problems,” they say, because those animals mix with wildlife and can carry disease to the birds. For free-range birds, Oklahoma State does recommend guardian dogs. It says breeds like the Great Pyrenees are great for controlling bigger predators, and it names the domestic cat among them. A trained guardian breed is a different thing from a pet cat on patrol, to my mind.
Why Your Cat Shouldn’t Eat a Dead Chicken
The black cat in this photo is resting by a calf on a dairy farm in Federalsburg, Maryland. USDA took the photo in 2019, before bird flu turned up in U.S. dairy cattle.
There’s a second risk here, and it runs the other way. A cat that eats a sick or dead bird can catch bird flu. CDC says that if pets “go outside and eat or are exposed to sick or dead birds” infected with the virus, “they could become infected.”
It’s serious for the cat. AVMA says that since the bird flu outbreak in U.S. dairy cattle began in March 2024, “dozens of cats are known to have contracted the virus, including barn and feral cats, indoor cats,” and big cats in zoos and the wild too. It also says “Cats appear to be particularly susceptible to severe illness, often resulting in death.” There’s no vaccine for cats yet.
Food is a big part of it. AVMA says investigations point to food “most often unpasteurized milk and raw or undercooked meat (e.g., poultry).” The FDA says the virus can pass to cats and dogs that eat products from infected poultry that weren’t cooked, pasteurized or canned. CDC’s advice is simple: “Do not feed pets raw pet food or unpasteurized (raw) milk.”
Fall is a time to be extra careful. The FDA says detections in wild birds “typically increase” during the fall migration, with potential spread to backyard flocks.
So if a hen dies, get her out of reach before the cat finds her. CDC says not to touch sick or dead birds without protective gear. AVMA says to keep cats indoors, and to keep them away from poultry “especially in areas with known H5N1 outbreaks.” It also says to wash your hands after handling your cat and after any time with poultry.
If you think your cat was exposed, here’s what to watch for. CDC’s list of signs in pets includes fever, tiredness, low appetite and red eyes. Others are discharge from the eyes and nose, trouble breathing, and tremors or seizures. AVMA says to call your vet right away if you see signs or think your cat was exposed.
Sources
- Dana Zook, Oklahoma State University Extension: Protecting Small Poultry Flocks from Predators (AFS-8221, August 2020).
- Leonie Jacobs, Virginia Cooperative Extension: Predators for Free-Ranging Poultry (APSC-192P).
- Jon Moyle and colleagues, University of Maryland Extension: Identifying and Preventing Poultry Predators in the Mid-Atlantic Region (FS-1132, updated November 2022).
- Jennifer L. Rhodes, University of Maryland Extension: Prevention of Predation (updated June 2022).
- Teresa Y. Morishita (ed.), Western University of Health Sciences: Predators of Poultry (PHR 2019-12, PDF).
- Patricia A. Fleming, Heather M. Crawford, Clare H. Auckland and Michael C. Calver: Body Size and Bite Force of Stray and Feral Cats (Animals, 2020).
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension: Chicken Breeds and Varieties (A2880).
- CDC: Bird Flu in Pets and Other Animals (March 2025).
- American Veterinary Medical Association: Avian influenza A (H5N1) in cats.
- FDA: Cat and Dog Food Manufacturers Required to Consider H5N1 in Food Safety Plans (updated September 2025).
- CDC: Backyard Flock Owners and Bird Flu (March 2025).
Sources checked November 3, 2026. The weight comparisons are my math from the sources’ own numbers, and so is the share of cats in the study. That chicks are the real risk is my read of the four guides. Guarding bantams like chicks is my call, and so is keeping chicks covered all day. I didn’t find a source that reports watching cats with a backyard flock. We aren’t vets. If a hen looks sick, call a vet who sees poultry, and if your cat ate a dead bird, call your own vet.
