Goat Proofing My Feeders and Coop

[UnttouchableRose]

My chickens free range on our farm with a centralized coop with nesting boxes, roosts, feeders and waterers yada yada.

I have one slight problem though...

The lead instigator is in my avatar- the GOATS!

They have destroyed my hanging feeders, roosts and whatever eles they can. They have torn down the doors just to get into the coop. We haven't gotten around to fixing them so I am just feeding the chickens once a day when I can stand there and run gaurd over them while we are working at the barn.

I tried running the electric fence around it but they are just disrespectful brats and walk through it. I had a nice screen door on my coop that they destroyed when I shut it. I tried making a 'doggie door' for them and came home to one of the nannies stuck in it, Then I found the pygmy going through it.

I don't care for the goats going in there really I don't but I get very aggravated when they eat their feed so I have racked my brain trying to think of something to fix so that the goats can't get to it but the chickens can, yet still be easy for me to access.

I know I am not asking much LOL but if anyone has any ideas I would GREATLY appreciate them and so would my chickies!!!!

 

[Acre of Blessings]

Not sure exactly how your setup is, but my coop has a 16X32 run attached. I also have another 16x32 pen attached to that pen. When I feed the chickens, the goats can't get in and when i feed the goats the chickens can't get to them.

They are each in their pens while feeding. After they feed I let them out into the fenced in half acre for free ranging. All my critters are together at this time. Goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, guineas and even my cat goes in with the critters. LOL

 

[peeps and quacks are me]

Good Luck! I think a goat can get almost anywhere she wants. My fat goats have pushed in the side of the coop by rubbing and then get their heads stuck. Makes me sooooo mad. Now - they all get feed at the same time. I lock up the goats 1st and then the hens. Thats it for the night and then in the am the have free run. The hens stay close to home and the goats have 80 acres to travel. But no matter how far away they are if I feed those hens the goats will come. I also keep the hen house door closed during the day-unles it raining.
Good Luck ----Trial and Error

 

[picklespickles]

here is what i do. it is more working with the situation than anything else. i ALWAYS feed the goats first. USUALLY in a place around the corner from the birds. then feed the ducks and chicks. the goats don't care right then. later they will come around and eat any thing they can find, but at least the birds get most of it.

it is pretty amzing what goats can destroy. everything can be fine and then one day they get a mind to get somewhere and bam, a thousand foot high brick wall is crumbled. very old testament, they are.

 

[snewman]

I don't have goats, but am having a similar problem with my llamas. I have two of them and they have discovered that chicken feed is pretty good. They come running when I come out to feed the birds and will walk right into the pen to clean out the pan. I wanted to put the feeder inside the coop, where the llamas can't go, but the ducks also have never reentered the coop since the first day they were let out. Sooooo, I have to come up with some sort of gate that chickens and ducks can pass through but llamas can't so I can keep feeding inside the pen. I didn't think that the llamas (who have never been a bit of trouble in any way before) would be the hardest thing about raising chickens...

 

[tamemeg]

LOL I can't stop laughing!

I have the same problem, but not for too much longer cause we are getting the chickens their own coop. Right now I'v been just throwing their feed on the floor, Jack and Jill (pygmy goats) are too picky to eat off the floor...LOL I hope that is OK, if not, please someone tell me!!! Pam

 

[picklespickles]

omg. mine used to be too picky to eat off the ground. but not anymore. i got a billy who was a bad influence on them. now they will all go around eating tiny little chicken pellets off the ground. it was easier when they were ocd.

 

[UnttouchableRose]

LOL My goats are not picky at all! They are more like PIGS than goats. They will eat ANYTHING. My vet has had me put them on a diet MORE than once, but they can get fat on air...

The goats have gotten smart, I mean I should tkae these brats to school, seriously, they refuse to come in to eat so I can lock them up. They lay up at the gate and sit around waiting on me to feed the chickens and then to go on cleaning stalls then they one by one sneak in and run the chickens out. They are so slick!

I won't tell my current cure for them. Ya'll may think I am cruel...

However they are so destructive and seem to never get full. They can tear down any door, gate or find a way through it regardless of what is tried. They will take 10 shots from our extremely hot Gallagher fence charger just to get in the chicken food....

Anyway, we do feed the goats first but it's just like an appetizer for the main course... CHICKEN FOOD!

I have been feeding some of my chickens on the back porch where I know the goats can't get. That is pricesless because they watch but can't eat and get oh so mad!

 

[tfpets]

My chickens dominate my goats, I dont have this problem! Yeah, right!

I've used several things that work for a while, then they figure it out, Goats are really smart. I have to keep on top of it and change my set up.
I have wire 10 x 8 Dog Kennels as coops, I leave the doors partway open when we're gone, and there are 5 gallon feeders inside, I put a wire shelf across the door, just high enough for the chickens to get under, too high for the goats to get over, too low for the goats to get under.....it's wire and it totally confuses them. I use a really tight bungee cord and several zip ties to keep it in place...the chickens have auto waters inside the kennels also...they have access to the whole yard, but to their coops and private feeders too....I use alot of zip ties, but I dont mind, I like messing with the goats!

 

[picklespickles]

i hear what you are saying about the destruction and about the appetizer bit. hmmm........ thinking along other lines.......... is there anything you could change in their (yard/pen/field/whatever) to make it more interesting for them and distract them more? give them something to investigate?

i dont' know. like even mine LOVE when i put piles of tree limbs back there. both to eat and to climb over. sometimes their mischief i think is when they start to get bored. my neighbors know to give me hedge clippings, limbs, etc. it gives the goats something to gnaw one which seems to be one of their genuine pleassures in life. much better than the porch, anyway, at least in my opinion.

anyway good luck. lol