goat with hens???

[BettyBlueSilkie]

how about pigmy

 

[cafarmgirl]

how about pigmy

How about pygmy what?

Edited to add: I understand your talking about a pygmy goat but what is your question?

 

[LilRedRoo]

A pygmy in my opinion would be fine socially with the flock, but you will have the same challenge in keeping your goat out of the feed. Then again, if you're feeding them the same thing and you are only re-filling the feed based on the one pygmy's diet (ie, free range flock but with supplemental feed), it's simply a matter of preference.

Here is my experience when we got our first goat (we still have him). We got a nigerian dwarf and whethered him; he was well behaved with the flock, but his appetite was voracious and messy, and he tended to glut himself when offered free choice access to the chicken feed. When we finally got our milkers home and they were finished with quarantine, we moved him with them and it was much better. We feed the layers free choice (they are free range, so they don't eat much anyway) and let the goats roam seperately, offering them feed during milking. But in our case, we feed different feeds, so it's in our best interest to keep them apart regardless.

Bottom line, I think the concern you'll have is the goat over-eating, and depending on the feed this can be very bad for the little fella's rumen. My personal suggestion would be to keep them apart, and find a small roomie for your pygmy. Wish you were closer to Texas; I had a runt whether who'd have been perfect as a companion animal. He was recetnly adopted by a home with lots of children.

 

[cafarmgirl]

I was thinking about a pigmy goat

Even harder to keep out of the chicken coop due to their small size! Most of them will squeeze thru a pop door like greased lightening.

how about pigmy

Again, same as above, and what LilRedRoo said. If you are very well set up so that you can keep your goats out of the coop and the chicken feed then yes, go ahead. You will likely find it to be a hassle in the long run as goats are very persistent in getting at feed and the smaller the goat the smaller the opening they will squeeze through. And I do mean squeeze. They will get down on their knee's and squeeze their body through an opening piece by piece if they have to! Once inside they will gobble all the feed down and then you may well find a bloated goat shortly after.

 

[Stacykins]

It sounds like several people are keeping goats alone. Why? Two goats hardly cost most than one.

I will repeat this since it seems to have not gotten through,goats are herd animals, and any Google search will back this up if you want to think otherwise. A chicken is not a replacement for another goat. I consider it quite cruel to keep any herd animal without a proper companion. This extends to horses, sheep/lambs, llamas, alpacas, etc. For example, I have a neighbor who keeps a horse alone, and refuses to either sell the horse or buy a companion. You should see how much that horse freaks out if someone rides their horse past the pasture, trying to find a place to go over the fence and follow.

My goats move as a herd, live as a herd. Nobody goes off on their own. If I have to remove a goat from the herd, that goat becomes highly anxious until they are reunited. My goats are super people friendly, but they're goats, not people.

Maybe I'm a better breeder than the folks you guys are buying from, because I will NOT sell a goat to be a single goat. No, they must either have other goats already or buy a pair of goats from me. Actually, no good goat breeder I've met or done business with will sell a goat to live singly. They either require kids be sold in pairs, or to homes with goats already. And it is a good practice, I wish more people did it. I'd rather my goats live a happy, healthy, well adjusted life than alone and stressed.

 

[BettyBlueSilkie]

How about pygmy what?

Edited to add: I understand your talking about a pygmy goat but what is your question?

pigmy goats are they better with hens than other goats??

 

[Stacykins]

pigmy goats are they better with hens than other goats??

No breed of goat is better off alone. So no, pygmies are not better of being kept with chickens and no herd animal companion.

 

[dragonlord483]

Just because they are a herd animal doesn't all ways mean they are a herd animal. We have one horse place we got her from said that she was never with the others.but goats are very social wen my gf had 1as kid and it other goat died from staying in the sun to long didn't want to go in she ate dinner with it it screaming wen she left and would get out by running around the sides of stall until it could get up to top of door about. 6'

 

[cafarmgirl]

No breed of goat is better off alone. So no, pygmies are not better of being kept with chickens and no herd animal companion.

X2. Goats are not an animal that should be kept singly.

 

[Stacykins]

Just because they are a herd animal doesn't all ways mean they are a herd animal. We have one horse place we got her from said that she was never with the others.but goats are very social wen my gf had 1as kid and it other goat died from staying in the sun to long didn't want to go in she ate dinner with it it screaming wen she left and would get out by running around the sides of stall until it could get up to top of door about. 6'

You don't seem to understand the sociological need of a herd animal to be part of a herd. Just because a few individuals don't outwardly appear to be suffering from lack of a herd, doesn't mean the aren't suffering from stress. They evolved to live as part of a herd. Keeping a herd animal alone is incredibly cruel, given the intense stress they suffer from as a result.

You want some proof? I am finding it difficult to find research articles available as full text that confirm the social need of herd animals like horses and goats, so I will settle for ones that are close.

http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/80/7/1771.full A few quotes from the article: "The novelty of environment during preslaughter holding, and social isolation may be more potent stressors than feed deprivation in goats, although shrinkage may increase with increasing feed-withdrawal times." "The results show that isolation of goats from their social group can cause increased emotional stress, reflected by elevated cortisol concentrations. When social isolation was not combined with holding treatment, the stress levels were significantly lower in goats that were able to maintain visual contact with other animals."

That is about goats. Now horses, horses suffer greatly when not kept with other equids as well. One of the biggest problems they face is sleep deprivation. In a herd situation, horses sleep in shifts, some keep watch for predators while other rest. To actually reach REM sleep, which is required for proper health, a horse has to lay down to sleep. When kept alone, with no other horses to keep watch, they don't get the sleep they need. They're too agitated and wary of predators in order to actually sleep the amount they need. Don't believe me? Look up horse sleep patterns and the consequences of horses kept in isolation.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/003193849290144Q Not a full article, but this abstract basically sums up goats and isolation well: "Eight Nubian and eight Alpine dairy goat does were used in a crossover experimental design to determine the effect of 30 min of isolation on behavior and plasma concentrations of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), cortisol, norepinephrine (NOR), and epinephrine (EPI). Isolation was hypothesized to produce an emotional state analogous to fear. Focal animal behavior was recorded for the initial five min of isolation. Blood samples were obtained via jugular cannulae at 0 (immediately prior), 10, 20, 30 (during isolation), 40, 50 and 60 min (after return to their group). Response to isolation was characterized physiologically by increased plasma concentrations of NOR (p<0.01), but not T3, T4, cortisol or EPI, indicating a sympathetic discharge. Isolated goats also vocalized more frequently (p<0.01) and spent a greater amount of time sniffing, trotting and rearing (p<0.05)."

I can go find more articles if ya'll aren't yet convinced.