Lets talk about goats!

[chickengirl1193]

I successfully kept my goats and chickens together all winter. There was a separate goat shed and chicken coop but they shared a pen. I was able to make it so the goats couldnt get into the chicken coop and thats where I kept the feed. But.they shared a heated water bucket all winter as well as kitchen scraps and treats and they would spend colddays huddled in the shed together and the chickens even ate hay out of the manger lol. They are sepseparated now but for the winter we were able to make it work and everyone was fine. But now my goat started to chew the chickens tail feathers. Im not sure why, but I separated them and they are.okay. im just glad that problem didnt start over the winter when I wasnt able to build a second pen...

 

[chickengirl1193]

Adding to that, would a goat eat feathers to get more protein(similar to why a chicken would be eating an other chickens feathers?) Or is that just because the goat wants to chew on everything? They also eat the fur off of each other, almost helping to shed the other goat out if that makes sense. I feed them a 16% pellet(with a handfull of BOSS), straight grass hay, alfalfa pellets and a loose mineral free choice. They have a lot of room to run around and jump on things so boredom is not an issue.

 

[Alwayswantchics]

What can I do as a coccidia preventative? How does everyone feed loose minerals and/or soda.

 

[2chixintown]

To answer your loose minerals/soda question, there are a couple different options. You can leave it in a separate dish that hangs on a 2 x 4 attached to the wall or you can mix it in with their grain. Hope this helped some!

 

[2chixintown]

Here is an example of a split feeder which works great for separating soda from minerals. There are many different shapes, colors, and sizes of these split feeders.

 

[H Diamond]

I use an actual mineral feeder, but there are lots of other great options. Google "goat mineral feeder". There are some cool ones made of pvc pipe that look pretty simple.

Cocci prevention... personally I use Baycox (you have to order it online from Australia, lol) It's a 1 time dose, so with all the kdis I have it's so much simpler. It comes in a big bottle that really wouldn't be economical for you though.
You can use Corid or Albon... this is a good article on it: http://fiascofarm.com/goats/coccidiosis.htm

 

[Alwayswantchics]

Convinced that I have Nigerian dwarf not alpine like I thought. They only weighed 4 and 7 pounds at two weeks old.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Pictures?

 

[Stacykins]

I use corid or dimethox for a coccidia preventative. Someday I may get some baycox. The one dose, plus I hear it isn't so bitter tasting, would make life easier.

 

[farm n louisana]

I have a neighbor who has a goat that had massiffi n is breed back she is trying to sell her is there anything that I could do to help the goat out I feel bad for her