I have a DUMB problem...and need advice

Alright, so I'll try to get pics a little later when it's not freezing outside. But here goes...

My husband got to a point with our chicken house (AKA the chicken shack) so that we could put a broody in there and try to start getting the other chickens to go in there. Everything is fine where that is concerned. But last night, I looked through the windows before locking all the chickens up in their preferred houses...and I saw our biggest goat (who is still a baby) in our top nesting box . The smallest goat is in the bottom nesting box with our broody chicken . And the medium goat is under the roost. I just don't think this is going to work out My problem is I keep the baby goats in the fence with the chickens until they're old enough to be set out to pasture. I feel most comfortable with this arrangement since we have so many random dogs in this area and the goats are still babies. My goats (I can't imagine they're any different from any other goat) can fit they're bodies through tiny holes. They're like RATS in that fashion. HOW do I keep them from getting in the door to the chicken shack? They do have proper housing. They have goat houses, and dogloo's, and hay for bedding in them. THye're just SMART and know that there is a lil more heat in the chicken shack. (I have a light on in there). This is just ridiculous. What do I do?

 

That's a good idea but our goats are so curious that I would be afraid that they would mess with the light and start a fire.


What are the measurements of everyones chicken doors? How small can a chicken door be for standard chickens and roos? hopefully we can scale it down a bit.

 

Well...We have "sorta" solved our problem The fenced in area for the goats and chickens has had a "Daycare or Nursery" area for the chicks who were old enough to go outside. We just moved THAT kennel infront of the door. So now I can go out and open the chicken door but there will still be a small area fenced in and then when they all get out there, I can close the chicken door and open the kennel door so they can go to their main yard. It's not Perfect, but it's all I can think to do right now. I have lights in the chicken shack and a heater for the chicks...and HAY. Too scary to have those crazy goats knocking around in there. And yes, one of the goats did break open an egg that a broody was cooking and the little chick was found dead This is a temporary fix untill we can figure out something else. I'm thinking of having my husband put a chicken door pretty high with a small skinny ladder that ONLY a chicken could get up and down. But that probably won't be for AGES because he's already so busy.

 

Quote:We're relatively new to goats. I understand that you can't just out and out feed goats chicken feet. But I thought that if they got to it every now and again they were ok. So long as they had plenty of hay, ruffage and their feed...like say Dumar goat feed. I can't remeber which breeder I heard this from, But I did hear it from one of them. I appreciate any input you have on this subject. Thanks