Chickens, goats, and bunnies - Oh My?

[kukupecpec]

Hello there!

I am new to chickens, but I am fast on my way to having my very own backyard farm. DH wants a small ranch property where we can have a couple pigs and cows too but for now, we are starting with the small animals. We have 6 chickens, 5 different breeds, and would like to start a collection of Malaysian Seramas. My question to toss out there is - can I house chickens with goats and bunnies?
I have heard wonderful things about having a couple goats and think it might be a fin miniature way to start milking before we have the space for a couple cows. The idea is that the chickens would have their coop and enclosed run (the Seramas would be house separately and probably rarely come in contact with the larger animals), the goats would have a little covered sleeper stall/barn, the rabbits would run free in the yard (or course having an open coop like hutch for shade and weather protection) and then during the (temperature permitting) hours of the day, let them all have free run of the yard. Has anyone else housed these kinds of animals together? Or set them free range together?
The rabbits are Flemish Giants, if that makes any difference -

 

[fried green eggs]

I think you need to think about a safe enclosed area for nights for bunnies and chickens. Good fencing to keep out dogs and other predators during day and night.

 

[kukupecpec]

The chickens have a nice safe coop, but the bunnies are VERY large, they seem to do just fine in the yard. It IS fenced, and they have a hutch that they get closed in to at night when they can be bothered to get back inside it, but they usually just roam freely and only use the hutch to get away from the sun.

What I'm really wondering is if the bunnies can go in the coop/run at night? the coop is definitely safer. Locked up tight and a strong run with deeply buried anti-dig wire around the base, but the hutch for the bunnies could easily be opened.

 

[inthesticks]

Hey there,

I have 2 bucks that have free roam in my fowl yard(chickens, ducks, & guinea fowl), they all do very well together. It really depends on your animals, you could give it a try and see how they do. You would just want to make sure your chicken feeders are in a place where the rabbits wont have easy access to them due to the protein & such & a special spot for the rabbit feed where the chickens wont get into it really.
I keep my rabbits food dishes under their hideaway where the chickens can't get under. I would be a little more cautious when it comes to letting the rabbits out and about with larger livestock, even tho the rabbits are big I would worry about them getting stepped on - again something that will depend on the larger animals and how they react to them.

Do keep us posted on how everything goes -always good to hear how things work out with different scenarios

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I see no reason why they can't, even a billy will usually be fine with both species of animals.
Get them young and let them grow with the flock

 

[iFairyx]

Yes and Noooooooooooo, well they can't be housed together in the same pen - but if they are all housed correctly they can live on the same land if that makes sense.

Goats can be nasty and will (given the chance) headbutt other animals. I (and many other farmers/hobby peoples) wont even house
goats and sheep together. They are escape artists and love to climb (I had two goats once). Some goats are very tame Golden Guernsey's are perhaps one of the most tame. Pygmy goats are sweet and as long as you raise them correctly are not as troublesome.

Chickens (if housed with rabbits) will scratch rabbits which can cause infection, injury and is really horrible. They may not mean to do it in a nasty way, but the results can be horrific. They will need at least a fence separating them. I know some people will say they have the too living together but one of the children recently left a rabbit hutch unlocked and the bunny got out. Although he was enclosed in a massive run (its fence is 8ft high, dug into the ground and would hold over 100 chickens easily) and there was only about 30 hens in there at the time one of the chickens scratched him, this resulted in an abscess and its really horrible (I could attach pictures but they are horrible). Please think carefully before risking this.
On the other hand rabbits could roam with ducks as they seem to ignore eachother My rabbits now are allowed to take turns in running around the duck enclosure (its similar to my chicken in enclosure but has a pond) because the enclosure is far bigger then any run we could build.

Chickens and rabbits will both need protecting from predators, in England we have issues with foxes. Their enclosures need to be secure to ensure predators cannot climb over the top or dig underneath, the bigger area the better and enrichment would ensure they have a great life, but allowing them to roam free can result in them being captured by predators.

If you do venture into cows can I suggest you buy them from a calf and halter train them (halter training adult cattle is much harder), this makes them easier to handle and if you intend to milk them having them on a halter will make it easier. Don't forget you need to breed them to begin the milking process - good news is diary cows are not as strong as beef cows.

I have loads of farm animals etc so if you need any help please feel free to PM me and I'll help where I can.