Can chickens live cooperatively with goats?

[berniesbiz2]

I posted this question in another category, but I think this category is better. Anyway, my brother wanted to know if chickens and goats can live in the same yard? I told him that I didn't think so. I can imagine one of my curious goats would try to eat the eggs!
I also don't know if there are illnesses they could get from each other. We'd like to raise hens. But we are running out of room.

 

[Y N dottes]

I'm sure they could live together, and if ur worried about goats eating eggs, maybe u could keep the nesting boxes away out of reach...

Oh, and welcome to BYC

 

[Scottyhorse]

Yep! They can! We keep our chickens and goats together. The goats never eat the eggs. (I don't think they would want to) Just make sure they can't get into the chicken coop! They'll eat all the food!! If you have any other questions just ask!

 

[donrae]

You'll have to keep the goats out of the chicken food, they'll gorge on it and make themselves sick. Otherwise, they're all good. The chickens love scratching through the hay and goat poop. My goats were never interested in the eggs, just not on the radar.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

We keep goats and chickens together. Though the goats are fenced, the chickens mill around them a lot and seem to enjoy visiting the goats in the barn. The chickens will even pick at the goats feed. I've had a goat step on an egg that was laid in the barn and not the coop, but I have never had the goats eat an egg! On a side not though, I have fed raw egg and formula to a kid that was rejected by its mom to help it gain weight/strength..........

 

[cafarmgirl]

Our goats and chickens share space in the barn and roam the pasture together. My coops are built into the back of the goat barn, we just made it so the goats cannot get into the coops and absolutely cannot get to the chickens feed. You'll need serious reinforcing, goats are strong and persistent! If they get to the chicken feed they'll gobble it down until it's gone and then you get to deal with a bloated goat later! This happened to me once when a gate got left unlatched.

I've never had a chicken stepped on either. When the goats are just standing around I've seen a chicken go right underneath their bellies if it want's to get past but otherwise they stay out of the way. I do have one goat who does not like the chickens but all she does is flip her head at them if they get too close.

 

[Dayna Robertson]

One concern for the goats is cocci, they have been known to get it from eating hay that's had chicken poop on it.

I keep both goats and chickens together and just use sulmet on a schedule for my goats.

 

[VespaGirl]

We have two Nigerian Dwarfs and 11chickens (plus a dog). The chickens and goats get along and the goats seem to like the company. But as others said keep the goats away from the food. You would be surprised how a goat can squeeze themselves into tiny spaces in order to get at chicken feed. In fact our goats would climb into the chicken house and eat the food. We had to make the entrance too small. But honestly I have found that the goats and chickens work well together.

 

[FeyRaine]

I have a hen who we call "The Dairy Chicken" b/c instead of returning to the coop at night after daily free ranging she up and decided to move in w/ my 2 dairy goats.
All summer we couldn't catch her.
She would slip into their pen and steal goat feed after we left from feeding them,
and she free ranged around inside the barn (w/ the donkey too) which did help keep down flies.
I don't think the goats were thrilled w/ Big Red the Dairy Chicken but since nobody was in milk I didn't worry too much about it.

I would NOT have allowed this sharing of space if I was milking , would not risk chicken poo dust getting into the milk bucket !!

I've caught Big Red and am gifting her (along w/ a point o f lay pullet, & a roo) to a friend this week to help her get started, she currently has a milk goat who we gave her as a wedding gift,
so the goat loving chicken will be happy...& I'll be getting some purebreed replacement chickens so I'm happy too.

Good Luck with your project,
FeyRaine

 

[aka Rachel]

And do be careful of the food...a full sized alpine goat CAN fit thru a standard pop door, and three goats can fit in a 8x4 coop No, the chickens were not impressed.