Housing goats and chickens together

[sierraboots]

Currently I have 17 chickens about 5 months old outside in a coop. We built a bigger building to house goats in (just an open space.. no stalls, slanted roof, well ventilated, about 8 ft tall) and then chicken math happened, so I’ve got more birds to move outside in about a month. I’ve been trying to find as much info as I can on housing goats and chickens together but not really coming across much.
Does anyone have real life actual experience with this? I know you should keep their feed inaccessible to one another but is there anything else that would make it so the two couldn’t be housed together?

 

[HuskerHens18]

I keep my goats and ducks together nothing bad has happened. Sometimes they will even cuddle up to eachother. But yes, definitely keep chicken feed away or it could kill your goats.

My vet told me Eimeria(type of coccidia) can spread from chickens to baby goats, but not adults.
Other than that I haven't found a downside to housing the two animals together.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

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My ducks poop every 30 seconds. No way would I expose my herd to a bio hazard risk. I have too much time and money invested in my livestock to willfully subject them to duck feces exposure.

 

[megsmum]

I’ve owned goats for many years now, they share roaming with chickens and ducks but have their own night shelter. The most important thing to remember is chicken food is very very BAD for goats so they have to be fed separately which means you can’t leave chicken feed out at all . Goats will get into anything in search of food.

 

[sierraboots]

Thanks guys! I have the option of keeping them separate or keeping them together but we have ducks as well so I was also considering using the coop as a duck house if the chickens and goats live together in the bigger building, so was just trying to weigh the pros and cons of each option.

 

[ldawntaylor]

Just an observation here. If you were to go the route of housing goats and chickens together... they would likely need an integration period.

My goats and chickens share a fence line. This morning the goats ran in panic when the chickens approached. Then of course the chickens panicked and ran/flew away. This bit of fence has been shared for almost three years.

From a personal perspective it was hilarious seeing the goats run from a bird that doesn't even weigh in at one full pound yet.

 

[harmonymw]

Following because I desperately want goats

 

[CJClucks]

We have 5 boer goats & 5 chickens that free range full time on a fenced acre. I would recommend having your coop completely inaccessible to the goats. We ended up having to anchor our coop to some trees after the goats knocked it over (thankfully before we had chickens in it) but they continue to jump up with their feet on the side of the coop trying to reach higher tree branches. They've chewed on the wood corners and use the ramp & pop door (side opening) as back scratchers. I've had to reattach the ramp numerous times using different methods. I had to give up on using a feeder for my chickens after several failed attempts ate keeping the goats out of it. Sigh. We are about to build a new coop with a fence completely around it so the goats can't get anywhere near the coop. But other than the goats being a nuisance they all seem to live in harmony together. The chickens have had to learn to get out of the way if the goats are running toward the gate when I walk up but no one has been injured.

 

[Birdsong 82]

I have 4 Boer goats and the few times the broke it chickens run they have destroyed or broke several things. Along with eating all the feed which isn’t really good for them. They try to squeeze through pop doors and broke them Tried to butt chickens away from own food and jump on anything possible cause that’s what goats do. When I let the chickens free range the run directly to the goats area which I’m ok with that maybe they feel protected there. Even when the goats are out. My opinion is goats should have there area for only goats. Hanging together when their out is fine but should have separate living quarters. Goats don’t do this to be mean... they’re just being goats. They get along fine but it seems like more trouble than it’s worth to share living quarters with how destructive goats can e

 

[aart]

That is hilarious!!