# What is a typical goat house?



## MrSiberian

New to this forum so please excuse my ignorance....I keep seeing all sorts of varying goat houses. I approx. 2 weeks I am receiving two baby goats I just purchased, two males de-horned and gelded; I need to construct a house for them, and I am not sure how elaborate it needs to be or whatnot.

I have a feeling I am making it too complicated from the pics I have seen, I was hoping for so advice.


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## Ruus

I'm not sure there is a "typical" goat house, I've seen lots of different types of shelters used with equal success. Pretty much anything that will give them some shade and keep the rain off will work. My sheep house/night pen is a 10x10x6 dog kennel with a tarp over the top and down the side where most of the rain hits. I've also heard of goats living in large prefab dog houses. It doesn't have to be fancy.


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## MrSiberian

Thanx for your quick reply, they are "Small Nubians" I guess is the breed......thinking 4 X 6 with pallets.....during winter we get snow so was thinking of that (I live in Eastern Washington). Dog kennel, interesting.....never thought of that.

Thank you again


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## Sycamore27

I think beyond enough room to comfortably shelter them and protect from the weather considerations in your particular area the biggest special factor for goats is making your roof sturdy enough.  They will find a way to climb on it, they will be jumping around, and they will put a lot of stress on it.  
Other than that, what you want to look at day after day and what works for your set up should be your deciding factors.  

Good luck with the new goats!
Cheers,
Jessie


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## katlovesaandw

We made a 4 x 4 x 4 house out of plywood and 2 x 4's. It is just right for our 2 nigerian dwarf goats. We are not planning on getting any more so ok for us. We added 3 vents that you can get at hardware store for air movement. It has a large clean-out door and a drop door for them to enter and exit with a lock on it for nighttime security.
The 4 x 4 size was great as it meant just cutting a sheet of plywood in 1/2. If we had planned to get more goats, etc. we would have made it 4 x 4 x 8 and just used whole sheets for each side.
We painted it to match our chicken coop and house.
As for run, we bought more dog run panels off craigslist and added them to our current chicken run. It(the chicken run) was 10 x 20 and 100% covered due to the rain we get here in Pac. NW.
Dog runs or dog run panels work great as they are easily configurable to where you want to put it, easy to assemble and disassemble, etc.
Both the chicken coop and goat house are on outside of panel. We cut a hole in it and secured to front of house. This allows for optimum space inside run for chickens, ducks and goats. And house is still accessible, plus we can drop front lock door and clean out w/o chicken or goat help if needed.
We added 6 x 23 feet of space with extra panels and they all have open area and covered area.
We solved chicken feed problem by making a trough feeder outside the chain link for chickens and ducks to reach thru and eat but goats can't!
Goat feeder is up out of chicken range.

Good luck with your new goats!
Plan on whatever you do changing a few times!LOL We made it last weekend and will be changing a few things this weekend already....as goats use stuff or get into stuff....you see what you need to change!
Think forever toddler mode! Everything in mouth, everything is a play toy or jungle gym and they are messy!LOL


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## Moonshine

We had a couple of dog houses laying around that our dogs didn't use and my 3 goats (2 4 months old and 1 5 weeks old) fit in the Large dog house just fine. I'm using that until I get their house built.


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## MrSiberian

Thank you for everyone's help, they seem to love my dogs igloo doghouse and we have it in a covered 5x7 kennel, during the day we let them out in the pasture, we have problem with coyotes at night so they go in the kennel at night which is right next to the house. Meanwhile I am building a 4x10 house on skids in the pasture with a strong roof that I can drag around and they can climb on....now, I just need them to stop destroying the chicken house...LOL; thank you again


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## sodamancer

A typical goat shed will allow 15 sq feet o inside room to move about and a minimum of 200 sqft of run space per adult goat. A hay feeder and free choice minerals.  My goat shed is 8x8 for 2 goats plus babies in the spring and summer.  It is constructed of pallets and open on the south side.   the roof is 6.5 feet at its highest and 5 feet at the back allowing me to work comfortably inside.  Our run is 30x40. this takes up the back portion of my 1/3 acre with house in the center property. I dont need heavy insulation but i do need good drainage for our wet area. 

good luck


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## goatboy1973

The dogloo is a great idea! I have also seen around my neck of the woods (E. TN) producers using the 300+ gallon clear plastic square industrial liquid storage containers that have the cage around them as goat houses. Just cut an opening big enough for the little fellas to enter. The cage can be used for a hay feeder and will keep the goats from trampling the hay which leads to less waste.


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## MrSiberian

Well, they love the dog house and dog kennel....tore the heck out of the feeder I made....lost one due to Polio (new one to me) My breeder cried and gave me a brown goat that I named Rollo.....so Poncho & Rollo doing good - now if the dogs liked them My Australian Sheppard seems to love hanging with them.


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## slikchik

We made one of our chicken tractors into a goat shed this summer. The bottom is a 4 x 8' frame with 10' lengths of PVC creating a hoop house. The hoop top is completely covered with a tarp. Wheels are attached to one end and a handle to the other. The end that has wheels also has a platform resting on the bottom frame that is just the right size for one bale of hay to fit onto. The cover on that end of the shed hinges down completely so I can release the latch and the whole end drops down and I slide the bale right in.

Our main goat shed is a three sided shed with the front open to the south side. The manger divides the shed into two 8x8 stalls and the herd is happy there, even in the extreme cold we're having right now.


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## OneFineAcre

This is my typical shelter.  We always face our opening to the the South because here when we have cold weather wind blows from the North.  We have other housing for does who are kidding, but most sleep or get out of the rain in these.  We have several spread out.  Costs about $150 with new material.


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