Goats & chickens sharing a barn

[chickengeorgeto]

A 10X10 or 100 square foot barn seems a little small for how I perceive your plans unfolding. You will likely need something bigger to store hay or other feed in for your goats, chickens, and dog, besides providing more room for your flock, (Chickens won't forage much in fowl weather) they'll stand around in the barn waiting to get stepped on by a goat. Also if you want them to roost safely they will likely need a 8 foot roost so that requires a building with a 10 foot in the clear roof. This would also be a nice place for your great mastiff to sleep [f you can keep your goats out of the dog's house, sort of a dog house housed inside of a barn. Then your mentioned large livestock. They need a lot of room just to keep them from tearing the place apart when they fight. I would advise you to look at a 30X30 foot barn and build it high enough so that in the future you can add a lean to shed on each side to house equipment or other accouterments of the rural like style.

Regardless of your dog's jumping abilities I would think of a fence to keep your goats confined as the major expense. If your dog gets along with your fowl already, a high tinsel strength electrified fence may prove more practical to keep both K9s, and goats confined. As the humorous Mark Twain once observed, "A bill goat can get out of a 10 rail tall fence." I have seen a whole heard of full sized goats walk the narrow edge of a 2X4 (1 1/2 wide) fence brace and then jump on top of a 4 inch fence post one at a time before jumping to the ground outside of the pasture fence. Do you have any near neighbors who would object to a hen or two crossing the property line? By the way, goats binge on any grain based feed, even dog food.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Wish I had some information to share but I would like to know this information too. Also, will free range chickens range that far away from their coop? I have read some information that most will only range out about 200 yards or so from the coop. I am also in the process of buying 5 acres and am trying to decide what the best way to house the chickens will be....

If your hens range 200 yards in every direction from their coop it requires almost 26 acres of ground to accommodate them.

 

[LeenaB]

In a 10X10 you'll definitely run out of room. I have a two 8x5s right now- that house 2 nigerian dwarf goats, 11 hens and 1 rooster. They only sleep in there buildings. There's no room for feed storage what so over, let alone a milking stand. All of that is stored in metal cans on my porch. For Christmas I was given a pre-fab barn brochure all wrapped up and told to pick one out. I'm thinking of going to 200 sq feet. And it's only going to house chickens and a section for feed storage- maybe a milking stand. My goats also have access to the back porch for now- but will end up with a porch of their own this spring to lounge on.

Chicken and animal math happens. So go bigger.

I'd go bigger, but we live in town on 1/2 acre so I'm limited in the size of building I can have.

 

[aart]

In a 10X10 you'll definitely run out of room. I have a two 8x5s right now- that house 2 nigerian dwarf goats, 11 hens and 1 rooster. They only sleep in there buildings. There's no room for feed storage what so over, let alone a milking stand. All of that is stored in metal cans on my porch. For Christmas I was given a pre-fab barn brochure all wrapped up and told to pick one out. I'm thinking of going to 200 sq feet. And it's only going to house chickens and a section for feed storage- maybe a milking stand. My goats also have access to the back porch for now- but will end up with a porch of their own this spring to lounge on.

Chicken and animal math happens. So go bigger.

I'd go bigger, but we live in town on 1/2 acre so I'm limited in the size of building I can have.

What a GREAT present!!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Goats seem hydrophobic. An old timer once told me that you could house 5 goats under a metal garbage can lid. Just nail the garbage can lid on a tree trunk so that each goat can get his or her head under it. Goats don't like water on their heads or feet, but don't seem to mind it on their backs.

 

[OkieMama87]

A 10X10 or 100 square foot barn seems a little small for how I perceive your plans unfolding. You will likely need something bigger to store hay or other feed in for your goats, chickens, and dog, besides providing more room for your flock, (Chickens won't forage much in fowl weather) they'll stand around in the barn waiting to get stepped on by a goat. Also if you want them to roost safely they will likely need a 8 foot roost so that requires a building with a 10 foot in the clear roof. This would also be a nice place for your great mastiff to sleep [f you can keep your goats out of the dog's house, sort of a dog house housed inside of a barn. Then your mentioned large livestock. They need a lot of room just to keep them from tearing the place apart when they fight. I would advise you to look at a 30X30 foot barn and build it high enough so that in the future you can add a lean to shed on each side to house equipment or other accouterments of the rural like style.

Regardless of your dog's jumping abilities I would think of a fence to keep your goats confined as the major expense. If your dog gets along with your fowl already, a high tinsel strength electrified fence may prove more practical to keep both K9s, and goats confined. As the humorous Mark Twain once observed, "A bill goat can get out of a 10 rail tall fence." I have seen a whole heard of full sized goats walk the narrow edge of a 2X4 (1 1/2 wide) fence brace and then jump on top of a 4 inch fence post one at a time before jumping to the ground outside of the pasture fence. Do you have any near neighbors who would object to a hen or two crossing the property line? By the way, goats binge on any grain based feed, even dog food.

Yes, 10x10 is the minimum size we would consider. This barn will be for animals only. No hay or feed storage. Chickens don't need an 8 foot roost. However, most barns have 10 foot ceilings so that will probably be the way we go. A 30 x 30 barn would be awesome but I don't see that in the budget! I can house them separately if we decide we need to.

Our dogs will not be in the same area as the livestock. Our mastiff won't bother the birds but likes to chase larger livestock. The little dogs like to eat the birds. Electric fencing doesn't phase our mastiff. They have a very very high pain tolerance. This is a major reason for his fencing being priority. Our dogs and family pets, not working animals. They all spend most of their time indoors but we also give them free access to a backyard area with a doggy door (except the mastiff, he has to ask to go out).

The food issue between goats and chickens is one problem and haven't totally figured out yet. I have a few ideas and have been doing lots of research. We'll see what I can come up with for that one.

 

[LeenaB]

If your roosts are too low in a shared barn you're going to have goats playing on them. My goats climb everything. In spite of being little. If you're going with full sized goats I could easily see you needing 8 foot roosts. If you're going with a smaller breed (dwarf or pygmy) I think 5 foot roosts might be high enough and out of the way. If you're getting bucks you're going to want to house them on their own.

 

[4 the Birds]

I am surprised that your Mastiff can go over a 6' high fence! As a rescue, we have had hundreds of dogs here at our place and only certain breeds with athletic ability were able to climb tall fencing. A 4' high perimeter fence will be fine to contain your goats; Yet, it will need to be 4x4 goat fencing or 2x4 no-climb horse fence since goats lean on fencing and like to stick their heads through small openings. Your chickens and goats will for sure need separate quarters but they can range together. Our chickens love to hang out with the goats in the goat house but it would be a disaster if the goats were able to get into the coop or run and eat chicken feed! The size of your coop and goat shed will all depend on the numbers that you are planning to have. The coop and run will need to be well built and the run will need to be strong fencing since the goats will have access. What I have found works well to keep the goats out of the run is a tight turn obstacle in front of the chicken run access door. This way the chickens can come and go but it make is difficult for a goat to navigate. Goats are extremely limber and you would be surprised at the openings that they can go through. Our full size Alpine/Nubian goats can go through a 9"x 9" opening pretty easy! Good Luck!

Run obstacle.. No-climb horse fence on the chicken run.






We have 7 dogs. One is a fence climber but she stays on the property (4' high field fence on the property perimeter) and will not bother the chickens/goats

 

[LeenaB]

4thebirds- I love your run obstacle. I'm going to have to make one so the chickens can have more ranging territory. It looks like it would keep my goats out and still let me chickens through.

 

[Rosaleen]

I have 5 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 17 chickens and one horse. In fair weather, they all free range together within my acreage. The first place the goats check out of course is the chicken coop so I hang the feeder out of goat range but where the chickens can still access their food. This time of year though the chickens stay close to the coop if there is snow on the ground and the goats and horse stay in the paddock area. The goats don't particularly care for snow either but they do have a huge run-in area to play and jump around.