My Nigerian Dwarf goats share the chicken run with the chickens. They have their own shelter. Here's a picture so you can see what I'm talking about...
The chickens have decided that they love to lay their eggs in the igloo dog house (that is buried under straw at the back end of the wooden part). I figured this out when I wasn't getting my daily number of eggs.
So, I have to get down on my hands and knees to get into the first part of the goat shelter and then get on my stomach and army crawl to get into the dog house to reach the eggs (my girls have made two very nice nests in the straw way back in there).
The first time I crawled in there I realized that I'd made a big mistake. I found several eggs in the wooden part, ally part and carefully put them in both side pockets of my winter coat. Then, as I laid down and pulled myself into the doghouse I put my arms out in front of me to reach for the eggs. That's when my two Nigi's decided they needed to be involved in what I was doing. First, one of them climbs onto my back and comes up and shoves her face in my ear/cheek to give me encouraging kisses. Then, the other one comes up beside me, stepping on me as there isn't enough room for two bodies next to each other, let alone me and two goats. I just knew she was going to step on my coat pocket and crush some eggs but I couldn't roll over as there were eggs in the other coat pocket too! Then, she gets up next to me and I have two goats with their faces shoved into the dog house trying to give me kisses!
This created a problem in that my arms were now stuck over my head with goats on them. I couldn't move because I had a goat on my back and one jammed up against my side. Did you know that goats have no idea what you mean when you are yelling "get off me!" Or, that you are serious? They think it's some fun new game and try even harder to shove their fat little bodies up toward my head thinking maybe then can get into the doghouse with me!
I was finally able to worm my way backward just enough to get one arm loose and down to my side. That allowed me to push and get my knees under me (thank goodness Nigi's aren't very heavy - at least at ten months old) which forced the top goat to jump off my back or get crushed against the ceiling. She was quite pleased though because now they could more easily get to my face to continue those all important kisses.
Have you ever tried to scoot backward, on your hands and knees, with a goat wedged on either side of you getting their feet tangled in your legs and thinking this was just the most fun they'd had in days.
I finally got out and guess what? I had twelve unbroken eggs to show for my adventure!
Yes, that was the one and only time I made the mistake of not having the goats locked outside the run when collecting eggs in there. And, after a few days of collecting eggs in there - I am now putting a board across the doorway so the chickens can't lay in there anymore. Poor chickens, they looked so lost the first day I did that. They stood by the door and clucked and started to panic... "it's coming... what do I do? I can't get to that nest way back in the dark." Ahhh! It took them two days to remember what those little square boxes inside the coop are for.
Edited to add a word.
The chickens have decided that they love to lay their eggs in the igloo dog house (that is buried under straw at the back end of the wooden part). I figured this out when I wasn't getting my daily number of eggs.
So, I have to get down on my hands and knees to get into the first part of the goat shelter and then get on my stomach and army crawl to get into the dog house to reach the eggs (my girls have made two very nice nests in the straw way back in there).
The first time I crawled in there I realized that I'd made a big mistake. I found several eggs in the wooden part, ally part and carefully put them in both side pockets of my winter coat. Then, as I laid down and pulled myself into the doghouse I put my arms out in front of me to reach for the eggs. That's when my two Nigi's decided they needed to be involved in what I was doing. First, one of them climbs onto my back and comes up and shoves her face in my ear/cheek to give me encouraging kisses. Then, the other one comes up beside me, stepping on me as there isn't enough room for two bodies next to each other, let alone me and two goats. I just knew she was going to step on my coat pocket and crush some eggs but I couldn't roll over as there were eggs in the other coat pocket too! Then, she gets up next to me and I have two goats with their faces shoved into the dog house trying to give me kisses!
This created a problem in that my arms were now stuck over my head with goats on them. I couldn't move because I had a goat on my back and one jammed up against my side. Did you know that goats have no idea what you mean when you are yelling "get off me!" Or, that you are serious? They think it's some fun new game and try even harder to shove their fat little bodies up toward my head thinking maybe then can get into the doghouse with me!
I was finally able to worm my way backward just enough to get one arm loose and down to my side. That allowed me to push and get my knees under me (thank goodness Nigi's aren't very heavy - at least at ten months old) which forced the top goat to jump off my back or get crushed against the ceiling. She was quite pleased though because now they could more easily get to my face to continue those all important kisses.
Have you ever tried to scoot backward, on your hands and knees, with a goat wedged on either side of you getting their feet tangled in your legs and thinking this was just the most fun they'd had in days.
I finally got out and guess what? I had twelve unbroken eggs to show for my adventure!
Yes, that was the one and only time I made the mistake of not having the goats locked outside the run when collecting eggs in there. And, after a few days of collecting eggs in there - I am now putting a board across the doorway so the chickens can't lay in there anymore. Poor chickens, they looked so lost the first day I did that. They stood by the door and clucked and started to panic... "it's coming... what do I do? I can't get to that nest way back in the dark." Ahhh! It took them two days to remember what those little square boxes inside the coop are for.
Edited to add a word.
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Yep thats goats for ya!
