Chickens and ducks and goats, oh my!

[Badhbh]

No time to elaborate- walking out the door..
But, how irrational is my dream of having chickens and goats and bantam ducks sharing roaming space? Separate quarters at night, but ranging around during the day i'd like to have them all milling about together.
Suggestions? Pitfalls? Ignore the sky borne predator issue- i've got that one in consideration.

 

[picklespickles]

mine do that. i don't know if it works out for everyone but it does here. the only pitfall i have seen is that the roosters may hurt the drakes. me i got rid of the rooster.

 

[helmstead]

The biggest problem you would have is that poultry feed is basically toxic to goats, so you have to make absolutly sure the goats don't have access to it.

 

[Haviris]

I do it and I agree the feeding issue if the biggest problem, but if yours are separated at night, then you can just feed them then! I think one of my chickens thinks she's a goat, she loves hitching a ride on my buck Pie!

 

[Badhbh]

Groovy. I didn't know about the feeding problem. They're going to have their own spaces for general habitation, but since i'm fencing of a nice biiiig area for the goats, it'd be nice to let the chickies and ducks out there for some supervised play time every day

What about the ducks and chickens? Can they share general quarters? Aside from the whole chickens-are-going-to-poop-up-the-water thing, I would think that they'd cohabitate happily...

 

[Chatychick]

I have geese, chickens and goats all roaming together...as long as you have your layer pellets where the goats cant get to it at all then it should be fine...the goats will try their best to get to it too. I made my chicken door small enough so my roo's and hens can go thru but the goats cant. Also if you have atick problem it does help keep the ticks down where the goats are located also...this year didnt have a problem at all where the chickens roamed...anywhere else you were free game to the ticks...I love my chickens and guinneas as they keep the ticks down to almost zero...the ducks do make a bigger mess than chickens and mine all sleep pretty good together. The ducks are just messier...and they do have to have water they can stick their heads all the way in too...I have to change the goats water twice a day because of my geese but its not a probelm...

 

[picklespickles]

the water fowl do um, foul the water. truth in advertising, no?

becaues the goats do prefer the cleaner water, i keep a five gallon bucket for them that i just keep maybe two fifths filled with water so that the geese and ducks can't get their heads all the way in there and dirty it up. if chickens have a choice of dirty water and clean water, they head for the dirty. lol. total opposite.

i handle the feeding similarly. all fed in the same area at the same time, but just according to their natures. i feed the water fowl their food in a cat littler box with water. the goats HATE messy food of any sort, so food share is not a problem. they will go investigate every time, bend their head down, really see what they're getting into and then decide yeah, not for me. i think part of it is a dominance thing too as they are the barnyard bosses. so they may need first choice at everything.

for the chickens, i don't do a centralized feeding place. i put the food about five or so places around. that way the lower echelons get fair shake. also, similar to the water fowl, i always make mash with their feed. which the chickens LOVE but again, goats are not so much into mush. also, if i walk in with hay, the goats will mob me for that and after they spend a moment or two reminding the others they COULD take their food just go off and eat their own. i will also sprinkle some sunflowers seeds on the pallet where their hay is, too, which they like.

once the goats have eaten what they want, the chickens come and poke around as do the geese and see yum what's left. well, that is, except for the duck, who once he eats with the geese in the water runs over and sits with the goats and play eats hay with them. he has learned to walk between the two cliques with true finesse.

here, the geese and duck are boss of the chickens. the roosters can get into fights but here at least not the chickens.