HELP! Goat got into Chicken Grower/finisher and possibly in labor OR Bloat?

[Rhandi74]

I live in KY, so I'm not sure. 

And as for mineral needs I have a salt block outside. It's the red mineral one. They said it'd work for goats, so that's all she has. 

She gets a lot of varied foods, too. She gets pasture plus I'm often tossing out scraps for the chickens that she'll munch on. She gets tree leaves, brush, grass, flax seeds, flax grass, all sort's of weeds and dandelions (which are a great source of calcium). I have really high quality pasture grass that she gets free access too. And of course my 'treat' feed is oats, whole corn, sweet feed, and alfalfa pellets mixed all together. 

Salt blocks are very hard for goats to eat, they are not bad to have but they really need a good loose mineral that is easy for them to eat.

 

[Rhandi74]

I use manna pro goat mineral from TSC but there are many good ones out there and even some cow ones are good.

 

[Stacykins]

Blocks actually don't have what they need do really well.

The problem with a block is that in order to hold it together, it is mostly made of NaCl, also known as sodium chloride or plain old table salt. So when they eat off that block, they are ingesting a lot of table salt and not enough of the other minerals such as selenium, zinc, copper, etc. at levels they need to be healthy. Basically, the goat fills up on salt and not much else. If you read this article, it actually explains it a lot better than I do. An important thing it notes is that table salt is a limiter.

By the way, the reason I am specifying table salt when I refer to 'salt' is that the other minerals in a mineral mix are indeed in salt form. I just don't want to confuse because sodium chloride (table salt) and sodium selenite are both salts. Yay chemistry!

Anyway, a loose goat mineral has higher levels of the necessary minerals a goad needs, but very little table salt. So the goat gets more of what they need!

It is easy to feed a loose mineral. I attach a pan to a wall in an area that is out of wind and rain, and top it off as they lick it up. It works great!

A note, do not get a mineral that says it is for both goats and sheep. It will not have enough copper for a goat to be healthy. Goats need copper at a level that would give sheep copper toxicity. So if a mineral is made for both of them, obviously they leave out most of the copper!

 

[Rhandi74]

Blocks actually don't have what they need do really well.

The problem with a block is that in order to hold it together, it is mostly made of NaCl, also known as sodium chloride or plain old table salt. So when they eat off that block, they are ingesting a lot of table salt and not enough of the other minerals such as selenium, zinc, copper, etc. at levels they need to be healthy. Basically, the goat fills up on salt and not much else. If you read this article, it actually explains it a lot better than I do. An important thing it notes is that table salt is a limiter.

By the way, the reason I am specifying table salt when I refer to 'salt' is that the other minerals in a mineral mix are indeed in salt form. I just don't want to confuse because sodium chloride (table salt) and sodium selenite are both salts. Yay chemistry!

Anyway, a loose goat mineral has higher levels of the necessary minerals a goad needs, but very little table salt. So the goat gets more of what they need! 

It is easy to feed a loose mineral. I attach a pan to a wall in an area that is out of wind and rain, and top it off as they lick it up. It works great!

A note, do not get a mineral that says it is for both goats and sheep. It will not have enough copper for a goat to be healthy. Goats need copper at a level that would give sheep copper toxicity. So if a mineral is made for both of them, obviously they leave out most of the copper!

Great article, I was always told a salt block is ok if offered with a loose mineral. I do not do this because it just seems strange to offer a goat something I was told is hard for them to eat. I do have a Redmond Rock from TSC that was suggested when my young kids were licking sweat off our arms all the time. They used to use it a lot but now it just sits there, do you know if this natural rock is bad too?

 

[cassie]

I always offered a salt block to all my livestock. The goats also had access to loose minerals in addition to the salt bock. Most breeders I personally know do the same. Needs vary with the time of year and other factors. Sometimes they will consume a lot of minerals and lick the salt block a lot, Sometimes they will consume one or the other or even ignore both.

 

[Icedangel11]

I'll have to look into that, for sure.

And DRATS I THOUGHT for sure she went into labor. She was on her side and grunted and it LOOKED like her Vulva was pushed out where feet would follow. She seen me and quickly got up and walked away, as normal as could be. :T

 

[Icedangel11]

At this point her Vulva has swollen to the point where it meets her tail when she lays down. She wont stop looking at her belly and she seems very uncomfortable. She makes a couple soft grunting noises, too.

Think today will be the day?

 

[Stacykins]

At this point her Vulva has swollen to the point where it meets her tail when she lays down. She wont stop looking at her belly and she seems very uncomfortable. She makes a couple soft grunting noises, too.

Think today will be the day?

Only she knows that! She'll probably stick to her doe code of honor.

 

[Icedangel11]

That darn code of honor.

I think I'll pull her Doelings and raise them with the dogs so they never learn it!

\

On the news of babies, one of my Australorp hens has been possessed by the devil. I've never heard a chicken make such horrid noises. I think she sold her soul to hatch a clutch of eggs. So far she's sitting on two, since only two of my hens had a date with a rooster. Adding an egg a day wont cause her to abandon the rest of the clutch when the first chick hatches, will it? She's got one egg of her own and one of her sisters. (By the way, her sister conveniently took a break from laying eggs until her dear little sis went broody. Lazy hen. XD )

I've got a couple of her eggs in the fridge that should be fertile. Been there a couple days, though.. Think she could hatch them? It seems like such a waste of a good broody to just have her incubate two eggs.

 

[farm n louisana]