# Goats and chickens



## maggies.family

Our goat pen and chicken yard are pretty close together.  My husband and I are thinking about opening up both ends of each yard and making it one big pen.  I happily saw a post with some adorable pictures of chickens riding goats.  I was pleased to see it.  I guess my question is, is it pretty common for goats and chickens to get along and would they be ok in the same yard?  I guess I am worried because our goats were housed with a lamb but were kind of mean to her.  I am getting a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old Alpine/Nubian goats tomorrow.  Don't know if the breed matters much for the question.

Thank you!


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## helmstead

We don't keep our chickens and goats together for reasons of parasite control...but they would get along just fine if you chose to.


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## elevan

My goats and chickens are fine together.  One of the goats and a chicken have a special love for each other


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## journeysend

My goats, chickens and ducks get along fine. The only issue I ever had is trying to keep the goats away from the chicken food... so at dinner time and pretty much for the entire day my goats are separated from the birds. The all sleep together at night though, the chickens love to curl up next to a nice warm goat lol. I also have a turkey that keeps them all in line.


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## LadyIsabelle2011

...I am thinking goats and chickens would get along just fine. I know it is not quite the same but I keep my goats and ducks together without any problems aside from having to constantly clean the water buckets(ducks love making any clean water duck water  )


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## Ariel301

My chickens roam around the goat pen every now and then. Usually it's no problem, but I've had some accidental injuries and deaths from goats wanting to play with chickens and headbutting them or stepping on them really hard. I also had a horned doe for a while that would go out of her way to chase and hit chickens. I've had a few baby chicks run into the goats' feeding area and get smashed under goat feet. For a while I had some nest boxes for some hens in a goat pen, and the goats learned to steal and eat the eggs. And then the chickens would get into the goat feeders to nest and poop all over their food and ruin it. So I've decided to keep the chickens away from the goat pens as much as possible.


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## terrilhb

I have 2 hens that live with my goats. They all get along fantastic. I have to clean up a little more not wanting the goats walking in the chicken poop and vice versa. Try to keep everything as clean as possible. I love seeing them together. Good luck.


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## freemotion

The hen on the goat pic may have been one of mine.  Some of my goats tolerate it and some don't.  The chickens quickly learn which goats to get onto and which ones to stay away from.  The goats that like them seem to like the back scratch.  I've seen hens looking for bugs (ticks?) on the goats, too, when the goats are snoozing or cud chewing.

I had to re-arrange things a few times to keep the chickens from getting into the hay and laying eggs and pooping in it and to keep the goats out of the coop.  The biggest concern is goats in the chicken feed, and poop in the goat's feed.

I keep the chickens out of the areas (stalls and pasture) where the baby goats live.


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## maggies.family

Thank you everyone for your replies!  I really appreciate any info I can get!  




			
				freemotion said:
			
		

> The hen on the goat pic may have been one of mine.  Some of my goats tolerate it and some don't.  The chickens quickly learn which goats to get onto and which ones to stay away from.  The goats that like them seem to like the back scratch.  I've seen hens looking for bugs (ticks?) on the goats, too, when the goats are snoozing or cud chewing.
> 
> I had to re-arrange things a few times to keep the chickens from getting into the hay and laying eggs and pooping in it and to keep the goats out of the coop.  The biggest concern is goats in the chicken feed, and poop in the goat's feed.
> 
> I keep the chickens out of the areas (stalls and pasture) where the baby goats live.


freemotion-I think it was your pictures I saw.  I had planned out how I was going to keep the goats from the chicken feed/coop but hadn't thought of the chickens in the hay/goat feed.  My chickens aren't yet laying (I think I have one that will lay within the next week or so!) but even so, I don't want them pooping.  Our chicken coop is at one end of the yard and the goat pen is at the other.  Unfortunately we don't have pasture.  So I will need to figure out how to keep the goat "stuff" away from the nosey chickies!


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## herdnerd

My chickens and baby goats were put together because I do not have a separate pen for the goats, yet.  I will have one next week but I am sure there are going to be some issues.  We made a small wooden shelter box for the goats to sleep in, but found them in the coop the second night.  My little 10 week old Nigerian has decided that the best place to sleep is in a nest box.  She is always in there when I go out in the morning. 

The chickens and goats generally do well together.  But I have a huge area.  I have decided to make the goat area next to the chickens as I think they will be sad to be away from them.


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## LittleDarlings

I have 2 goats now and am planning on getting chickens soon.  I had heard/read that it was okie-dokie for chickens and goats to live together.  I want layers as well as meaty chickens (dual-purpose).  I was thinking about having a chicken size door between the pens to allow the birds free range while keeping the goats out of the bird feed.  idk, just a thought in a mess of lots of thoughts.


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## Chicos Mama

3 Nubian Goats, 22 Hens & 3 roosters...4 Peking ducks and 2 Giant Brown Turkeys all living together and best of friends!  Seriously!


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## maggies.family

Awesome!  I love seeing all the pics of everyone getting along so well!    We are getting 3 new Nigerian's this week.  We plan on connecting the chicken yard and the goat yard together (there is a good amount of space between them) so that we can let everyone roam together.  I love seeing everyones pets together and living harmoniously!


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## tcmers

We're planning to pasture our chickens and goats together.  We will have a separate coop with attached pen for the chcens so we can keep them separated if we want.  Our biggest concern is goat feed contamination.  (chicken poop)  But, we want to free range our chickens and don't have enough available pasture to rotate them separately.


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## elevan

tcmers said:
			
		

> We're planning to pasture our chickens and goats together.  We will have a separate coop with attached pen for the chcens so we can keep them separated if we want.  Our biggest concern is goat feed contamination.  (chicken poop)  But, we want to free range our chickens and don't have enough available pasture to rotate them separately.


Goats like to eat high so pasture / browse won't be a problem as far as contamination.  When/ if you feed goats grain you can just pick up feeders after each feeding to avoid chickens roosting on them and making them messy.

I also have lots of chicken waterers all over the place along with several waterers for the goats...but everywhere I have a goat waterer I have a chicken waterer right next to it.  I've never had an issue with water contamination.


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## Georgiamainers

We have a screaming buck who lost his sibs to a sale.  We threw a few chickens in with him and it quieted him down.  My does fence runs along the chicken yard and those two are always hanging out and have found a way to poke their head through the fence and watch the chickens and ducks all day.  entertainment I guess.


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## Hobby Farm

helmstead said:
			
		

> We don't keep our chickens and goats together for reasons of parasite control...


What is your concern?


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## rollingmeadow

Hobby Farm said:
			
		

> helmstead said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We don't keep our chickens and goats together for reasons of parasite control...
> 
> 
> 
> What is your concern?
Click to expand...

Chickens actually control parasites.  Multi-species grazing has been shown to substantially reduce parasite loads of sheep, goats, and cattle.  They scratch and break up manure, exposing it to soil microorganisms that destroy the parasites.  They also clean pasture by eating anything that hatches from the manure before scratching it into the soil.  Neither species is susceptible to the others form of parasite essentially breaking the life cycle of the parasite.

Industrialized agriculture intentionally feeds chicken poo to ruminants as a cheap nitrogen source so I doubt their waste is a danger to the goats.

"Alternatively, you can move horses or poultry onto the pasture  when these other animals ingest parasite larvae from sheep and goats,the larvae are not able to mature and will die without causing harm to the new animal that ingests them. The sheep and goats can be returned to this pasture in about four to six weeks, provided that the alternate animals have disrupted the fecal pellets left by the sheep and goats (poultry) or grazed the grass down extensively (horses)." http://goldenplains.colostate.edu/agri/agri_docs/2011_goat_sheep_parasite_management.shtml


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## Chaty

My chickens are all over nd dont have any problems with my goats and them. They clean up the spilt feed and break up the hay compost also. No problems here you just dont want to let the goats eat Layer mash.


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## Fluffygal

A friend of mine told me to not let the chickens near the goat feed due to the copper in the goat feed which she said is toxic to chickens. Have any of you heard of this and experienced any bad reactions from any chickens eating the goat feed? The feed I get is Noble goat and it has the copper in it. 

I keep my goats and chickens seperate as I do not want any chickens getting sick from the goat feed; but, I am reading where your chickens are in contact with the goat feed?


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## RareBreedFancier

Fluffygal said:
			
		

> A friend of mine told me to not let the chickens near the goat feed due to the copper in the goat feed which she said is toxic to chickens. Have any of you heard of this and experienced any bad reactions from any chickens eating the goat feed? The feed I get is Noble goat and it has the copper in it.
> 
> I keep my goats and chickens seperate as I do not want any chickens getting sick from the goat feed; but, I am reading where your chickens are in contact with the goat feed?


Do your goats actually leave food that the chickens could eat? My goats hoover up their grain and would never leave any sitting around so I wouldn't worry about it. 

If yours do leave feed sitting around it might be an issue but I haven't heard of it. Others might have more experience.

Edit to add the quote since this went onto a new page.


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## that's*satyrical

With the noble goat I would be more concerned with the chickens eating it because you consume the eggs & it has coccidiostat in it. That is why you don't feed the noble goat to your milkers it is not good for human consumption.


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## Fluffygal

tidbits sometimes get missed; however, Rufus is a vacum when it comes to his grain feed. 

I did not know that the med stuff is not good if the goats are used for milking. Thanks for the information. 

I have been slowly improving their pen from the tips I have been reading here. Still need a better feed station as their food trough is on the ground where Rufus paws the alphalfa out to get the grain so there is wastage that I want to stop.


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## nstilwater

i have one goat. before she had an alpaca herd to live with she was pretty lonely until one of my chickens decided she didnt like the other chickens anymore and moved into the goat pen. they sleep together, eat together, graze together, the chicken rides on the goat and they cuddle up together at night in the goat house. the only problem is the goat likes to eat the chicken eggs and has figured out that when the hen does her egg cackling  there is a nice warm egg and she comes running for it. breakfast is served :}


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## autumnprairie

nstilwater said:
			
		

> i have one goat. before she had an alpaca herd to live with she was pretty lonely until one of my chickens decided she didnt like the other chickens anymore and moved into the goat pen. they sleep together, eat together, graze together, the chicken rides on the goat and they cuddle up together at night in the goat house. the only problem is the goat likes to eat the chicken eggs and has figured out that when the hen does her egg cackling  there is a nice warm egg and she comes running for it. breakfast is served :}


being outsmarted by a goat 
it happens though


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## terrilhb

nstilwater said:
			
		

> i have one goat. before she had an alpaca herd to live with she was pretty lonely until one of my chickens decided she didnt like the other chickens anymore and moved into the goat pen. they sleep together, eat together, graze together, the chicken rides on the goat and they cuddle up together at night in the goat house. the only problem is the goat likes to eat the chicken eggs and has figured out that when the hen does her egg cackling  there is a nice warm egg and she comes running for it. breakfast is served :}


That is hilarious.   Goats and chickens can live together so happily. All of my goats and chickens live very happy together.


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## hcppam

Ariel301 said:
			
		

> My chickens roam around the goat pen every now and then. Usually it's no problem, but I've had some accidental injuries and deaths from goats wanting to play with chickens and headbutting them or stepping on them really hard. I also had a horned doe for a while that would go out of her way to chase and hit chickens. I've had a few baby chicks run into the goats' feeding area and get smashed under goat feet. For a while I had some nest boxes for some hens in a goat pen, and the goats learned to steal and eat the eggs. And then the chickens would get into the goat feeders to nest and poop all over their food and ruin it. So I've decided to keep the chickens away from the goat pens as much as possible.


This was my worry.


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## got2bekidding

I have had  a chicken that fell in the goat water trough and drowned.  Other than that they get along great they do sleep in separate areas but when the chickens free range they go right in the goat pen. I also had a small hen fall in the duck pool and drowned last year so its not always the goats.


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## cutechick2010

My chickens free range and go in and out of the goat pen all day long. I have never had one of my goats even be at all interested in the chickens. Three of my hens were even laying in their shed for a few weeks, the goats never seemed to care about that either. I have only ever had one killed by being stepped on, and it was a young chick that for some reason roosted on the ground right where the goats pace back and forth waiting to be fed. :/ 

 I had always heard the chickens will help to control parasites, also. I don't think I have ever heard of chicken getting worms from goats or vice versa.


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