Do cats kill bantams?

[marvun22]

My wife is a social media type of person. She has been bothering me to get what she called a "white fluffy chicken". After some researching, I figured out it was a White Silkie. They are bantams, and are obviously small. Would cats kill them? (they might not even have a chance if I can't kill the fox) I think they look cool too. MPC sexes their bantams, so I could get pullets. Is there anywhere else that sexes bantams? I would consider purchasing them.

 

[shmccarthy]

To answer your first question, yes a cat can and will kill a bantam if it wants to. I've heard of cats killing full grown hens. It may not be very common because cats will generally go after smaller prey, but they will if they are hungry/desperate enough. Not only that but cats have an extremely high prey drive. Domestic house cats and feral cats kill more animals in its lifetime, than any other member of the feline family, large or small. They will also kill for sport too. My Maine coon is an indoor/outdoor cat, she is fed catfood indoors and sleeps indoors, but usually spends the day outside. She kills a small animal almost every day, and only eats about a quarter of the animals she kills. She is really well fed too, almost bordering on the chubby side.
Bantams are smaller, and depending on the breed of bantam, they can very well be more suceptible to cat attacks. I don't let my bantams out to free range because of this. Sometimes bantams are more flighty and *may* be able to eacape because of this, but I wouldn't put too much faith in it, unfortunately. :/
I have never owned a silkie, but from what I've heard, they are usually more suceptible to predators because of their docile nature.
I haven't heard of any other places that sex bantams. Silkies are supposedly pretty difficult to sex at a young age.

 

[marvun22]

My cats are well enough fed where they woudn't be hungry.

 

[shmccarthy]

My cats are well enough fed where they woudn't be hungry. 

My cat is extremely well fed too, but if given the opportunity they will still hunt and kill other animals. :|