brooding chicks with cats in house

[shakerchickens]

We are ordering our first set of chicks ever. We will need to brood them in the house for a bit, and we have two cats. Not sure how the cats will react. What is the best way to brood the chicks and protect them. We have a 55 gallon aquarium. Can we put them in there with a screen top?

Our other option would be to enclose them in an brooder in an attic bedroom, but we want them to get familiar with our kids and all of our voices. We want friendly hens.

Any suggestions on how to do this with cats in the house?

 

[chicmom]

The aquarium is a great idea! They will be warm and safe from the cats, and everybody can watch them grow. Having them in the attic will be a real pain, plus they need to get used to seeing all of you so they will be tamer.

Sharon

 

[shakerchickens]

Sharon, thanks for your response. I see you are an Ohioan, too. Have you ever ordered from Meyer Hatchery? We are thinking of doing mail order, and I wonder how that works out (and if we should order an extra one, assuming one might perish along the way).

 

[Chickety Charcoal]

I recently hatched three chicks from my first set ever. I also have two cats and we keep the chicks in a small side room that the kids can visit whenever they want. One of us is a lookout for the cats while we play with the chicks or we just close the door to the room. We handle the chicks at least once a day and they seem pretty tame already. They roost and nap on my arm.

 

[GardeNerd]

As long as the chicks are in a cat proof brooder, they should be fine. My cat loves sitting next to a brooder and just watching. When she first realized after a few minutes she couldn't get to them, she just watched the chicks like it was TV. I think it actually helped acclimated the chickens to the cat. Because my chickens have grown up around the cat, they don't see her as threat and don't act like prey. Now, as adults, the chickens actually go after the cat.


I tried to edit to add a couple of pictures of my cat with the chickens, but it didn't work. I have one picture of her in my BYC page about our brooder.

 

[kefiren]

I have lots of cats. You know the white wire shelving that goes into closets (closet maid etc)? I use that for the top of my big brooder. (My brooder design is long and thin, accordingly) I think it would work very well for an aquarium. It is very sturdy--could even support a cat if it had to. If I'm really worried I tie it in place with string.

Places like home depot will sell you a specific length of wire shelf if you ask, I think.

Once you have a length of it, you'll find it also comes in handy as a screen to dry garden produce like sunflowers, or to cure garlic.