cats and farm birds so confused

Hello

Okay I just had a question I will first explain.


I have 3 cats right now and they spend most of their time in the backyard lounging around prowling in the grass climbing trees etc...They hate it inside because its so nice out! The thing is they share there home with domestic ducks. The two species suprisingly co exist very well both just ignore each other neither shows fear towards the other.

These ducks are big ducks tho about the same size as a cat roughly. (like the size of a herring gull)

OK we are thinking about getting some bantam chickens. I am not sure if you guys know what this is but they are like mini chickens about half the size of a standard chicken.

Here is where I am confused. My cats get along so well with the ducks do you think they get along so well because they get the picture that the ducks are part of the family??? Or is it the size? I know if one of the cats ever put effort into it they would be able to kill a duck as a duck really doesnt have that much of a defense.

Recently One of my cats brought home a full grown grouse that it caught in our woods, this grouse was bigger then a bantam chicken but smaller then a duck.

IT got me thinking maybe getting bantam chickens is a bad idea since the cat clearly showed it will attack and kill prey larger then it?

Or with a bit of work once the cats realize are they usually smart enough to realize what is wild game and what are family pets?

the cats ae obviously showing they can kill anything if they set their mind to it.
I woudn't say no to getting the chickens, but maybe if you created a fairly big 'cage' to put the chickens in? my friend has the same problem as you and she keeps her chickens in a huge cage, so there's room for them to run around, and they won't be harmed by the cats.

what are your cats' names??! i have a tabby cat called tabitha. he has no tail!!

The cats might be more likely to go for the chickens because even big chickens are really exciting. They cackle and make tons of noise, and when scared flap a lot and make a lot of noise.

My dog found the chickens really exciting [LiLo did] and took it too far and killed on of my girls... and she's a dog who knows better than to mess with my chickens. So I would definitley be leery about getting chickens, especially bantams.