Keeping Chickens & Goats together

[FlockEweFarm]

My goats are both Boers, about 4 months old and about 50lbs, and I swear those things are the most determined critters on Gods green earth when it comes to getting the chicken food. I have a bantam coop that is only about 2ft high, and the entry hole is bantam size, we are talking 6x6. I have the lid that I lift up to put the feeders in when the goats are being piggy, and one day, after feeding everyone, I went into the house to take a phone call. I came back out and could not find the goats! I looked all over, panicking, because I was afraid that they had gone out and were now hound chow, when Xena, the most stubborn of my girls, stuck her head out of the door of the banty coop! She came crawling out of the 6x6 hole on her knees, followed by her still chewing, sister!
I have to lock the goats in the barn, feed them in there, and then feed the chickens. I hope to have a new goat pen built in the next week, because chicken feed is waay to expensive to be feeding to the knothead twins!

If you are in the market for Flagstaff property, I would sell you mine in a New York minute, but, you have to take the neighbors that go along with it!LOL

The monsoons finally started and its 63 right now....whew

 

[Calebs Acre]

What I have discovered, at least with my goats, is that I can keep them "away" from the duck/chicken feed if I throw it on the ground. Sure, they eat a few pieces, but it's just too much work and they hate to eat food off the ground for the most part.

Several of my friends in upstate NY (REAL farm country) have been mixing goats with chickens/ducks/geese/turkeys for years and years and never had problems with goats getting sick from the chicken feed.

But, I don't want to tell you that and then have your goats die. My goats might just be spoiled and prefer to eat from a bowl or feeder. They also won't eat the hay when it hits the ground. Picky, picky. They love the turkey, chicks, chickens and muscovies. They all get under the run in shed and hang out together. You should see them all napping in the hot afternoon at the same time.

The goats have finally learned to stay out of the baby pool (for the most part). And, the chickens have learned to perch on the side of the trough to drink water when it gets low in their waterer.

 

[SilkieCRZYness]

i have my chickens and goats tog sometimes, and i through some cracked corn down for the chickens and i believe my billy goat eat it all up, because he now has diariah, and i was wondering if he will come around from it. its nasty and badddddd, every where, i dont think he can control it. obvoisly i wont do this again, but until then what should i give him to help him out without driving an hour to the closest feed store?? thanks

 

[FlockEweFarm]

Quote:
Do you have any electrolyte solutions? Like the stuff they give babies when they are sick? Also, check out the Alabama Meat Goat website, they give an pretty complete listing of medications that you can give goats that are also used in humans, I am not sure if Peptobismol is one of them, I will go look and see, but offer lots of water and make sure he stays hydrated. If you have any probiotics around, I was told by my go to goat expert that giving probiotics is the best way to go in almost any situation. good luck.

 

[SilkieCRZYness]

well, i dont really have any of that stuff, i could purchase some peptobismol at the store or something along those lines, im 19 and if i had a kid my mom would kill me hahaha, but i would definitely appreciate the advice on what to give him that wont hurt him? thanks

 

[FlockEweFarm]

According to the Goatworld website, you can give Milk of Magnesia, but give it like you would a person,ie; according to weight and age. If its a kid, give a childrens doseage, and if its a adult, give slightly less than you would take. Monitor closely and make sure its drinking water and moving around, offer hay and just keep and eye on it. Good luck.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

We used to have sheep and our chickens shared the pasture with them. The chickens had their own coop. It's run was up against the pasture fence, with a small chicken sized door that could be locked closed, leading into the pasture. That way, we could let them out into the pasture or keep them locked in. Who needs chickens underfoot on sheering day?

I think there was a thread on here last year about somebody trying to deal with small goats getting into their chicken coop and eating the chicken feed. I think there was some discussion about using a baffle arrangement for the door. A small goat and a large chicken may not be that different in diameter, but they are very different in length. The idea was to make a sharp turn or two on the way in. No problem for the chickens, big problem for the goat.

 

[tvtaber]

We let the chickens out with our pygmy goats sometimes, but the goats can fit through the tiny pop hole. We put two fence posts in front of the pop hole and that solved it. One post did not work but two, offset a bit so the goats cannot get a straight shot in the hole, did. It is amazing how small of a space goats can fit through! The only problem I see is the chickens have wreaked havok on the grass in the goat pen. I've been trying to keep grass going in there to keep the dust down and have been pretty successful. However, DH decided to leave the hens in the goat pen permanently and the grass started disappearing! Needless to say the hens were moved back into there own space.

We have the pens adjcent to each other and one coop pop-hole leads to the chicken run and another to the goat pen. We still do let the hens in the goat pen when we clean the coop, and I have an EE who is getting picked on and her and her companion may move to the goat pen permanently.

 

[ravenfeathers]

while i, too, would worry about the goats eating the chicken food, i can tell you that one of my 200 lb. nubian/sanaan cross wethers recently got into the grain shed and ate about fifteen pounds of layer pellets with no adverse reactions. unfortunately, it hasn't caused him to lay eggs yet.

it sounds like you plan to have separate "living quarters" for all the species? that would be my next concern: chicken dust making the goats sick.

lastly, depending on the breed and temperament of the goat, i'd worry about chickens getting squashed or smashed. i'm pretty sure my goats, who chase dogs and cats (and have prodigious horns), would crunch my hens. of course, my goats are baaaaaaad.

 

[Chirpy]

Their Other Mother asked:

So what's the design to keep the goats out of the door?

Woodlandwoman had the right idea - here's some pictures of what we did that finally stopped my goats from getting into the pop hole door. I did have a ramp on it outside but my smallest goat (she's very small - only 3 months old) was able to use the ramp to still get in with this arrangement - once we took the ramp away so that they and the chickens had to jump up to the pop hole it did the trick.

from the outside...

from the inside just before we put the last 2x4 on the right side...

one of my hens using the door...

The reason it works is that the goats backs can't bend down to under the first 2x4 and then immediately back up to get over the 2x6 and through the little 'maze'. We had to add the four 2x4s on the sides as they would just worm in on their knees and go through the sides. (Little twits!

)

My chickens figured out how to go in the first day, no problems. It took three days for a couple of my girls to figure out how to get out from the inside. I had to help them several times before they learned to jump up and then crouch down. Now they are all doing great with it.​