Goat proof feeder?

[duck&chickencrazy]

I have 5 ducks and 5 chickens with my 2 goats and I need to make a feeder that the birds can get food out of but the goats can't. The goats are little pigs and would eat all the birds food. So please help!

Here are a couple pics of the little trouble makers lol

 

[Ariel301]

Good luck with that one...

Your best bet is going to be having the food in an area that the birds can access but the goats cannot. A chicken coop or pen where the birds are fed once or twice a day with the goats not present, or if you want them to have free access to the feed, it needs to have a door that the chickens can get in and the goats can't--which will be a major challenge with small goats if they can get to the door and know there is food behind it. You probably already know they can squeeze through small spaces where they don't look like they would fit. The easiest thing to do would be to put the birds in a separate area.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I have to agree with this.

 

[duck&chickencrazy]

Ok I came up with a kinda hillbilly thing to do lol...I took an old basket with large holes in it (big enough that both the ducks and the chickens can reach the food) and put that over a tub of feed and made sure the goats can't knock it over and get to the food...so far it's working!

 

[kuntrygirl]

duck&chickencrazy :

Ok I came up with a kinda hillbilly thing to do lol...I took an old basket with large holes in it (big enough that both the ducks and the chickens can reach the food) and put that over a tub of feed and made sure the goats can't knock it over and get to the food...so far it's working!

Any pics?​

 

[Me & Jack]

I wish I had pics, but someone I know built a kind of "creep" feeder for chickens. It was a wooden box, closed on three sides, on 4 x 4s, and on the front the wood panel (plywood in her case) came to within about five inches of the ground. The front also had latches and hinges on it so she could get the food in and out. The chickens, even the standard breeds, could get under the panel but the goats, even trying to lie down on their sides, could not get their heads/necks far enough in to get at the feed. There were also heavy duty wire panels about three inches wide around most of the top to let light in but not so the goats could get at it. As far as I know she never had a problem, and it kept the rain and sun off the feed and water. If I could draw I would post a sketch, but my skills as an artist are pretty bad!

 

[Me & Jack]

I forgot to mention, though, that she didn't breed her goats, so if you have any older kids they'll probably be able to get under the panel. Not sure what you'd do then. I had to create a separate pen for my chickens to keep the goats out of the feed -- tired of knocked-over waterers, too.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Goat proof chicken feeder!

I'm sorry, got carried away, was just seeing in my mind what my goats have gone through in their attempts to get to my chicken feeder! And mine are standard size goats, yours are itty bitty ones, even more trouble since they can fit into so many more places! I have not yet devised a way to accomplish this that is acceptable to the chickens other then just keeping the chickens feed inside the coop/run where the goats do not have access. So I will be following this thread to see if there are any fantastic ideas out there. Good luck, hope you figure something out. Your goats are adorable by the way!

 

[donrae]

How did you make sure the goats couldn't knock it over?