Planning to get a barn cat - looking for advice

Been thinking about getting a couple barn cats to help manage the rodent issue on our property. Does anyone else have barn cats and if so, any tips? Specifically curious if you have recommendations for helping to protect them from predators like coyotes, as there is a pack that frequents our property.

If you let the cats roam the coyotes will try to play catch whenever they are in the area.  Even around our rural community when we start hearing the coyotes howling at night the stray cat population drops pretty quick.  At least until the next few litters from the strays pop out and start roaming.  

When I catch the stray cats in the live trap inside our chicken run at night they get relocated to a ranch/farm about an hour from here so they can chase the mice in and around the barns.  The rancher accepts all he can get because when the pack of coyotes circle around once very few weeks his cat population decreases.
I can't leave the strays here once they find our chicken area, but the ones with a collar and tag get returned to their owner with a polite warning to keep their pet at home.  I have never caught a collared cat twice so apparently their owners listen to the advice.
There are at least 6 people in our community that relocate the cats they catch in their chicken runs.  And one rabbit owner that lost most his rabbits in less than an hour because a cat killed them for fun.  

We have an Australian Shepherd and a Border Collie.  From time to time they would chase our outside cats up a tree ... maybe once a month . Then we realized, that was when Coyotes were in the area. The dogs generally keep unwanted predators off our 11 acres.   Do be aware there are other animals that can harm cats.

Even with the dogs, a cat does vanish on occasion(once every few years).   And, from time to time, a new cat will appear. I have never had a problem with a cat attacking chickens.  But then we have a couple of roosters with firm opinions.

If it is possible to keep the cats inside the barn at night, that would be the best way to keep them safe from predators.

A word of caution and one tip: if you have and like songbirds on your property and you import outdoor cats, you may affect more than just the rodent population. Cats are indiscriminate killers and they sure love Tweety.

On the tip end, if you do get cats and you have lots of predators about, do that cat a favor by choosing one with colors likely to blend in. Orange or white outdoor cats do not live long in coyote/owl country!

For us, rodents are a seasonal issue; we get a run in spring and fall- systematic trapping during those times keeps the population under control, and we don't have to worry about other populations getting disrupted. Good luck whichever way you choose!

Thanks for the replies, all. We will likely try to train the cat to go inside the barn at night to avoid the coyotes. And they will be trap/neuter/release cats, so no chance of offspring.

I was you. Got barn cats from the animal shelter. Disappeared. Then someone dumped a cat that was pregnant, she had kittens at our door. Then more. More. More. Got her fixed. Got her female kittens fixed. The rest died, honestly we hit them with our car completely by accident, they were constantly climbing inside the wheel wells. Anyway, so then we had 5 cats. 2 males and 3 females. They were pooping EVERYWHERE. Absolutely everywhere. Also acting crazy always trying to get food, even though we feed them every single day. I'd feed them before I fed the pigs and they'd still jump into the pig trough in what I am convinced was a suicide attempt. The boys were fighting with themselves and with the girls and with the dogs and with me. They were desperate to be indoor cats. So we tried giving the boys away and in the end we took them to the pound. Not ideal but oh boy they've been gone a week and it's been so peaceful. The girls get along great. They don't stand at the door begging. I have to completely dump out the kids sandbox because of crap and while the rodent population is way down so is the cleanliness of everything.

Our dogs protect our cats from coyotes, and we have lots of those.  Our newest cat is a stray.  I started seeing it when I went out to lock the chickens up at night, it would be in the chicken coop.  It was a tiny kitten at the time I first saw it.  It was very skinny, so I started feeding it in the coop.  Just out of curiosity, I went out to check later at night a few times.  Each time, it would be nestled in among the chickens, sometimes under one.  The chickens never bothered the cat, or vice versa.  This one is such an efficient killing machine, we nicknamed it "The Reaper".  As a kitten, it was killing rats in the chicken coop nearly as big as it was, and that isn't an exaggeration.  My coop became infested with rats last summer.  I would come home and see 6 or 8 drinking from the chicken waterer on hot days.  I dispatched some with my pellet gun and a few with traps, but there were a lot of them, and they were too clever to get by those means.  The Reaper took care of that.  After a few weeks, there wasn't a rat to be found.  We moved the cat into our shop when it got really cold and made it a little heated house.  I'm not sure it ever used it.  On warmer days (anything above 10 F or so), we would leave the door open in case the cat wanted to get out.  Every time, it would move back in with the chickens, so it basically lives in the coop now.  I can't get near it, but if my lady goes out to feed it, she will sit down and it climbs right up in her lap.  It enjoys having her pet it, but it doesn't like to be held, picked up, carried.  

Trace Oswald wrote:Our dogs protect our cats from coyotes, and we have lots of those.  Our newest cat is a stray.  I started seeing it when I went out to lock the chickens up at night, it would be in the chicken coop.  It was a tiny kitten at the time I first saw it.  It was very skinny, so I started feeding it in the coop.  Just out of curiosity, I went out to check later at night a few times.  Each time, it would be nestled in among the chickens, sometimes under one.  The chickens never bothered the cat, or vice versa.  This one is such an efficient killing machine, we nicknamed it "The Reaper".  As a kitten, it was killing rats in the chicken coop nearly as big as it was, and that isn't an exaggeration.  My coop became infested with rats last summer.  I would come home and see 6 or 8 drinking from the chicken waterer on hot days.  I dispatched some with my pellet gun and a few with traps, but there were a lot of them, and they were too clever to get by those means.  The Reaper took care of that.  After a few weeks, there wasn't a rat to be found.  We moved the cat into our shop when it got really cold and made it a little heated house.  I'm not sure it ever used it.  On warmer days (anything above 10 F or so), we would leave the door open in case the cat wanted to get out.  Every time, it would move back in with the chickens, so it basically lives in the coop now.  I can't get near it, but if my lady goes out to feed it, she will sit down and it climbs right up in her lap.  It enjoys having her pet it, but it doesn't like to be held, picked up, carried.  

I'm not at all a "cat person", but if I were to have one, that's the kind I'd want.  Trouble is, you can't train them to be like that.  It's luck of the draw.

A livestock guardian dog would protect your cat as well as any other animals or children you may have. With a pack of predators it would be good to have more than one LGD to help back each other up.

I can’t imagine having an indoor cat (makes me sad to even think about) but outdoor cats do decimate local songbird populations (billions each year in the US). The problem is that the cats get fed enough to continue reproducing even if the wild food sources are being depleted. In nature, most small predator populations are also kept in check by larger predators. Wild cats are hunted by coyotes, and wolves keep coyotes in check. When we kill off the pinnacle predators, the smaller ones expand in numbers to fill the void. Nature’s control for coyotes are wolves. Livestock guardian dogs fill the wolves’ niche in many ways, while reducing livestock losses by 90-98%, to the point where the predators’ ecosystem services (reducing leg breakages from burrowers evicted by predators, increased watershed health and fertility by moving herbivores out of wetlands and allowing beavers to return) economically outweigh their greatly reduced predation on livestock.

Singing Frog Farm in Sonoma also described their approach to getting farm cats at a conference they spoke at a few years ago. They got a group of brothers that were extremely active and aware of every little thing moving around them. They the feed them minimally (while of course keeping an eye on their health), so that when they hunt, they are doing so for food, not sport. Rodents are much more dense and substantial for their trouble. They said anecdotally they’d see a gopher or other rodent displayed at the barn door daily, but only saw them get a bird once a year or so. Ive tried something similar with my cat, who grts fed only when she begs. She catches rodents all the time, and has yet to get a bird as far as we’ve seen in the two years we’ve been in our national forest adjacent property. I think suburban birds were slower and softer, kindof like the people!

If you give a cat enough room to run around outdoors, it will generally find its own food, and won't need you to feed it as frequently as every day. And in my experience, the more ground-running rodents you have, the less cats will chase birds.

With the right temperament of feline, you can gently massage their belly to find out if they've eaten anything lately. One old lady I knew would "turn 'em out" and refuse to feed them when she learned they had already caught their own breakfast. She wouldn't force them back out hungry, especially in the colder months, but never left food out for the cats to eat on a regular basis. Personally I'd be more friendly than that, but that lady ran a tight ship and knew what she was doing.

Outside cats will not only wipe out songbirds, but also many other beneficial critters, including lizards and toads - if it moves, they'll hunt and kill it. That's why I don't want any. The pollinators, the earth movers, the eaters of mosquitos, flies, and other pain in my butt insects are all fair game, as far as a cat is concerned. I'll deal with just repelling the mice, chipmunks, and squirrels in other ways.

In our area you can get feral cats for barn cats, a local group will work with you to get them acclimated to your property. Ground squirrels are a huge problem here, the cats help. We have 13 feral cats, never seen them with a bird, just rodents. Honestly the dogs are worse with the lizards and snakes. Our chickens don't seem afraid of the cats although they've never gotten inside the coop or run. The cats just lie next to it. I think that the cats view them like the wild turkeys, not worthy of interest. They do get killed by predators periodically but that's just life. We don't seem to have much of a coyote problem, but this year, lots of cougars and bears.

I will recommend one specific breed of cat that might be perfect for a barn cat—the Main Coon.  Main Coon cats are HUGE, long haired, incredibly gentle and friendly yet are still fierce hunters.  

My experience is that they tend to get along well with other animals and are generally left alone by those critters that otherwise might be cat predators such as coyotes, maybe because they are intimidated by the shear size of a Main Coon.  Our Main Coon Mix was 15-18 pounds yet not at all overweight!  A full breed Main Coon easily tops 20 pounds.

Years ago we had a Main Coon mix and it was probably the friendliest, most gentle cat we have ever had in our lives.  We also had absolutely no mice!!  That cat got along well with our other cats and out dog and was a genuinely great pet.  I realize that you are not exactly looking for a pet, but I think their disposition might be ideal to be around chickens but still rid your barn of rodents.

This is all my experience based on one cat, but Main Coons are generally considered to be among the most “doglike” of all the cats and still retain their full mouser qualities.

My two cents, maybe they are worth considering,

Eric

The only advice I'm going to give is to look at this book:  https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Barn-Cat-Rescuing-Raising-ebook/dp/B09JHPBC94/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2D78P5AUQ1ZYY&keywords=Melodi+Grundy&qid=1645112038&s=books&sprefix=melodi+grundy%2Cstripbooks%2C267&sr=1-1