I would never, ever let my guard down and never give them the chance. Make sure everything is cat-proof. I brooded my chicks in a brooder in the sunroom and made sure that sucker (brooder) was tight. Any tiny little place I thought even one little cat toe could stick through, I covered over with hardware cloth. My high-prey-drive cats sure did sit there and observe the chicks a lot. The cats would look at me every once in a while like, "OK, aren't these snacks warm enough yet?"
Now that the chickens are full size the cats leave them alone (except for one that likes to run through a crowd of them when they free-range, just to see them squawk and scatter).
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