Keep Sheep in Chicken Coop???

[amiachicknorwat]

Coop and run, I meant.






This seems like an odd question, but we just got 2 sheep and our chicken coop is way bigger than the 18 birds we have within it. We have deep litter inside and a good sized run with lots of grass for the ruminant sheep to bring down. I'll post pics cuz I can tell it's hard to tell without a sense of dimensions involved. Just too busy right now. Thanks, Nick
BTW: the sheep are small ones, relatively

 

[donrae]

I don't know enough about sheep to say yea or nay. I know goats are a difficulty as they'll gorge on the chicken feed and make themselves ill. Horses would also....not sure about donkeys. I'm not sure how smart sheep are about what they eat.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It can work if you figure out a way to feed the chickens without the sheep getting to it, the sheep would just eat all your chicken feed and get sick.

 

[aart]

Shouldn't be a problem as long as sheep don't eat chicken feed (probably easier to keep sheep out of it than goats).
Chickens might decide not to stay in run with the sheep in there.
Combo of sheep and chickens might wear down the plants in the run faster than just one or the other.

 

[CrazyTalk]

There's two main issues in my mind - everyone has addressed the food issue. The other issue is that if these are wool sheep, your chickens are going to be riding around on the sheep, and roosting above them, pooping on their wool.

If they're dairy or hair sheep, that's not a big deal

 

[amiachicknorwat]

That's part of my master plan: The grass in the lower run is deep. The chickens have managed to tamp it down and I can trust the ruminant sheep to bring it down. For next spring our plan is to make a garden out of the current chicken run and run the chickens somewhere we next want lightly till and heavily fertilized. I can see the two species working in tandem that way. I know sheep like or need shelter and still wonder how the coop can or can best accommodate both?

 

[amiachicknorwat]

Why that's just crazy talk! Not at all! Very helpful, thanks. Cuz now I know to block off the area under the perches pictured. We do have them for their wool, not hair (meat). I was hoping to milk them for their dairy too tho. Hope that works. I posted a pic of the sheep in the "Other Pets & Livestock" forum. That back field looks too big for them and I cant seem to herd them into that barn yet and it has no door.