Actually, they are not out yet.. they are/will be barn cats.

They are 4 months old (current on all their shots and will be spayed at 6 months) and we keep them in a cage when we are not down at the barn because another kitten we had got killed by a predator (who dug under a horse stall to get at them).

So we are reluctant to let them out while we are away, plus we have a hawk that hangs around the pastures looking for varmints. They are very friendly cats, so I don't know when they will be ready to take on rats, hawks or other critters.

Any ideas on when they will be too old or too big to be hawk bait? when they can just roam the barn all night?

Pete