cats/4 week old chicks

[theclucku]

will our cat go after our bb chics?

 

[Imp]

Depends on the cat. I'd be cautious.

Imp

 

[drumstick diva]

sure they will

 

[reneemellor]

In a heartbeat! At least they will if they're anything like mine. Supervision will be needed. Good luck!

 

[BlazeJester]

Depends on the cat and depends on the chicken. My 13wk pullets still haven't figured out that pecking cats is to their advantage, but I haven't pressed the issue (cats live inside, chickens out)...

 

[Manningjw]

I would say definitely in most cases. At 6-10 weeks of age our chickens were frequently visited by local cats. Luckily they were in a predator proof run/coop and not at all at risk. The cats came by daily. Now that they are full grown, we don't ever see those cats anymore.

 

[adgcountrygirl]

My chickens stayed in the predator proof pen until they were a bit bigger than the cats. Sometimes one of the cats will get on top of the coop while the birds are out as if they are going to pounce, but they just watch for awhile then get back down. They also get in the yard with the birds and just lay down and watch them. It's pretty funny to watch.

 

[Toshi]

Yes, they will, one of my cats she is a bird hunter. When she saw my chicks at first she went nuts and tried to get hold of them. Scared the snot out of them too.

Funny thing now is, now that they are older. The chickens chase my cat

she runs like heck to get away from them.

 

[jtbrown]

Our cats were drooling over the chickens, until the chickens were bigger than the cat. Then the chickens en masse decided to stalk the cat. Now he has healthy respect for chickens that peck and goes about his business like he does with our other pets (not paying them much mind at all). However, when they were small, he SO would have had a chicken nugget snack. Our other cat is not much of a hunter and has been scared of them for quite some time.

 

[teach1rusl]

Have the cats been around the chicks before now? I always brood my chicks inside and expose them to my cats and dogs from day one (well...more like day 3 or 4). So when my chicks go out to the coop (I've always moved my brooder to the coop by 3 weeks), the cats and dog are use to them. However, neither would be allowed with the chicks unsupervised until they're about 5 or 6 weeks (LF) or 8 weeks for bantams. My two younger cats (3 yrs) will still sometimes mess with them - just to startle them - jump out and then run away. My older mouser cat - and birder cat

- totally ignores the chicks even when they are tiny, for some reason. Maybe she's the smartest and knows they're part of the family pack???