goats? I have been reading so many posts about raccoons, snakes and other predators getting chickens and have been wondering about this. I keep my chickens in the same pen with my goats. They each have their own houses, but share a big outdoor pen. We have been doing this for 10 years now and have never lost a chicken to a raccoon or a coyote or a rattle snake, even though there are plenty of them around. We do not have a covered run for our chickens at this time either, although we are working on building one before winter arrives. We have only had 2 losses in 10 years and both of those were dogs.
My daughter and I have been wondering why we aren't bothered even though we don't have a very secure set up and the only thing we can figure is that perhaps they are afraid of the goats. The goats refuse to sleep in their house during the nice weather and stay in the pen all night. Most of the chickens go into the coop at night, but a few like to sleep in the goat's house. They roost on top of a metal feeder that we don't use. I know we have been very lucky and are working hard to make a new run and coop and make it much more secure that it currently is for both the chickens and the goats, but in the meantime they aren't being bothered.
The only other reason I can think of is because our pen is located on the front left corner of our property so there are roads on two sides and driveways on the other two sides. It is also very close to our house since we live on 1/5 of an acre property. However, this is a very small town and there is rarely any traffic at night, perhaps that isn't a factor at all. Anyway, we are working as fast as we can to get something better constructed and come winter, they will be safe and snug in a new coop, new goats house and the chickens will have a covered run with access to the big pen as well. But I wish I knew what was keeping the predators away so we could pass the info along to others.
My daughter and I have been wondering why we aren't bothered even though we don't have a very secure set up and the only thing we can figure is that perhaps they are afraid of the goats. The goats refuse to sleep in their house during the nice weather and stay in the pen all night. Most of the chickens go into the coop at night, but a few like to sleep in the goat's house. They roost on top of a metal feeder that we don't use. I know we have been very lucky and are working hard to make a new run and coop and make it much more secure that it currently is for both the chickens and the goats, but in the meantime they aren't being bothered.
The only other reason I can think of is because our pen is located on the front left corner of our property so there are roads on two sides and driveways on the other two sides. It is also very close to our house since we live on 1/5 of an acre property. However, this is a very small town and there is rarely any traffic at night, perhaps that isn't a factor at all. Anyway, we are working as fast as we can to get something better constructed and come winter, they will be safe and snug in a new coop, new goats house and the chickens will have a covered run with access to the big pen as well. But I wish I knew what was keeping the predators away so we could pass the info along to others.
