People with Multiple Species of Livestock, What's the Hardest Animal to Keep

[FrostRanger]

There was a video on yt that discussed this, but I am curious about what the experiences of people here have been

 

[azurbanclucker]

My experience is limited to what we have or have had:

Chickens
pigs
tortoises
rabbits
a pony


From a mortality perspective the chickens are the hardest to keep.
From a cost perspective the pony is the most expensive
From a hygiene perspective the rabbits are the worst (allergies!)
From a "bratty critter!" perspective it's the pigs by a mile. 3 year old humans with no hands.

But I voted chickens because even when you're doing everything right they can randomly keel over or get snatched by predators.


Here in the desert, honestly, the tortoises are the easiest of all.

 

[Evadig]

I've had ducks, chickens, geese, and turkeys.

Chickens in my opinion are the worst because of their constant pecking order drama.

Ducks are so adorable but very expensive because they go through so much feed and bedding.

Geese are loud. And my three ganders would attack everyone.

Turkeys are constantly getting into trouble. They visit the neighbors, sit on the pool deck, and go to bed late. When they were poults I had to sing them to sleep. And my only predator loss in four years has been a turkey. Poor Helen.

 

[SourRoses]

GOATS!

Any kind of Goat.
I. Will. Not. Keep. Goats.

Our neighbors goats can defeat almost all fencing (prison wire has not been tested). They eat the garden. They eat the chicken food. They eat the Amazon packages.

I once thought goats were cute. A long time ago, I even bought an adorable tricolor dwarf goat baby for my mom thinking he was a great surprise. Worst. Present. Ever.
Aside from working out how to open the sliding glass door so he could come inside where he thought he should live, and pooing madly the whole way every time we had to gently usher him back out of the house (he got to live on the porch, with lots of outdoor attention from us).
Well, we thought we goat proofed the sliding door with an extra latch. Then one day I was home alone taking a shower, when suddenly the shower curtain shoved in and the mystery shape behind it was the goat. Scared me to bits, and I had to take another shower after the process of getting him outside.

Just say NO to goats!

 

[tlcmurphy]

Funniest thing I’ve read this year, thanks for the laugh @SourRoses

 

[fowltemptress]

Over the years we've had horses, cattle, meat goats, hair sheep, guineas, ducks, geese, and chickens. Guineas are the hardest to keep alive, but they're easy keepers. In fact, I'd categorize all the poultry on my list as the easiest keepers, with chickens being so easy I sometimes wonder why I'm in the picture. Food deliverer, I suppose. Cattle are almost as easy as chickens. Plus they smell better, and their poop can be used to soothe wasp stings - and when it dries you can flip the pie over to find doodlebugs and scorpions underneath. I feel a lot of hardships with cattle can be overlooked just for the sake of the cow pie fun factor. Hardest to afford to keep would be horses - it's difficult to justify spending money on horses when tractors exist and our culture doesn't eat them. I'd say the hardest to keep, as in maintenance and whatnot, would probably be the meat goats. With hoof trimmings, worming requirements, mastitis, and mostly the fact that every other birth required intervention on our parts, it was quite a job. My mother decided to switch to hair sheep initially because she wanted something that had an easier time with birthing. The hair sheep are also less prone to parasites, but the destructiveness of the rams alone is enough to almost negate those positives. Still, I think goats are harder.

 

[GodLovesU]

I’ve had chickens, button quail, and a mini pig. The pig was a menace.

 

[User690263]

I'd say horses, because they seem to injure themselves over the stupidest things. Sometimes it feels like if you look at them wrong they'll go lame