Chickens in with the Horses

[suenrob]

I have chickens and ducks that decided to live in the barn instead of the coop. The horses could care less, and so far, no accidents.

However, I am not happy with all the poo on my tack boxes!!!

 

[HorseFeathers]

The stable I ride at has the chickens all over the place. I guess it depends on the horses and the chickens.

 

[farmerlor]

Eh, my horses couldn't care less about chickens and the chickens LOVE the horse manure. I have drafts though and I worry about squashed chicken patties.

 

[CMB]

My chickens wander around the horses pretty much all day long and love horse poop and whatever grain the horse drop while they are eating! The horse could care less, in fact every once in a while I will find one of them perched on the back of my 22 year old mare

 

[FunnyFarmer]

My chickens free range in the pasture with the horse & donkeys and they get along fine. Occasionally when my mammoth donkey gets in a grumpy mood he'll pin his ears back & chase a chicken or two, but he's never caught one!

The chickies really love the horse manure.

 

[wishin4chicken]

We have wild turkeys that hang around our horse at feeding time. They do a good job of cleaning up spilled feed and are pros at spreading manure. Alot less work for me in the spring.

Michele.

 

[azelgin]

Our chickens free range out with mules and love to rummage through the manure piles. I think we actually had fewer flies last year because of them spreading everthing out for it to dry. The mules gave up trying to stomp the chickens. The chickens don't run in a predictable route when escaping and the mules just gave up in frustration.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Personal experience: My coops are against the back wall of the main barn. Stall windows open above them and are inside the wire chicken run. I had a cute little hen who liked to fly up to the windows and escape into the barn. But she always came back.

One of my mares started eating poorly. At first she'd just leave a little feed but after a week or so, she wasn't eating at all. Never occurred to me that this had ANYTHING to do with my little hen, but one night the hen did not come back to the coop and instead roosted high in the barn. I climbed up and caught her and carried her back to the coop to keep the rat snakes from finding her. Then I nailed screening over the stall windows she'd been escaping through.

And the mare started eating again--ravenously.

The little hen had been laying in her feeder and I never gave it a thought, just collected the egg and poured in the mare's feed. After I closed off those windows with screening, the mare never went off her feed again. Maybe she didn't like the scent of the hen or something--I haven't a clue.

Point of all this? For every horse you find that does or likes something, you will find one who does not like the very same thing. You've just got to see what works with YOUR crew.

HTH

Rusty