Goats and chickens

[RareBreedFancier]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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 :}

 

[autumnprairie]

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

 

[terrilhb]

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.

 

[hcppam]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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.