ArtisticFarmer
Chillin' with the herd
I've heard of several people housing their chickens and goats in the same place - has anyone here done this with success? What do your chickens think about it? (I want to get 2 ND)
Goats and Chickens?
- Thread starter ArtisticFarmer
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Egg_Newton
Loving the herd life
My goats and chickens share the same yard but have different sleeping quarters. Meaning the goats can't get into the chicken pen and eat the chicken food. We built a special door that keeps them out. A lot of people keep their goats and chickens together without a problem.
treeclimber233
Loving the herd life
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I keep my goats and chickens together. I have chain link fence around part of my pasture. I put the chicken feeder outside of the goat pen and let the chickens stick their head thru and eat. Or just throw the pellets on the ground scattered around very thin layer. The goats don't bother the pellets too much on the ground. My biggest problem is keeping the turkeys out of the goat feed.
themorethemerrier
Chillin' with the herd
Hi Egg Newton. Would you mind sharing a picture of the special door you built to keep the goats out? I have 3 twelve week old ND wethers and can't keep them out!
So frustrating!! They love chicken pellets. We tried building a box in the run door that we thought only the chickens could manuveur but the goats proved us wrong. So now we have cages around the hens' feeders with small portions cut out for the chickens to stick their heads thru but one of the boys figured out how to stick out his tongue and get a pellet at a time. 
Plus, the boys seem to love to go visit the girls so now I just take the chicken feed away during the hours they are together to ensure the boys are not getting feed. The girls are not a big fan of this solution. 
If anyone else has ideas, I'm all ears!!
lungewhipqueen
Chillin' with the herd
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My chickens and goats live together... sort of. The chickens have their own house to sleep in, mainly because I have night time predators that will eat the chooks if they're not locked up. I feed them outside of the goat pen but they spend their days scratching through all the hay the goats drop. Laying their eggs in feeders and kid huts. Dust bathing in the well worn alleyway of the goat shed. Even perching on the goats and llamas while they nap and soak sun. I swear they've been snuggling with the cud chewers this winter to keep warm too! Well... just look at my profile picture! That roo was using one of the llamas as slippers on a very cold day! It's becoming a regular scene, chickens standing around on goats and llamas or lying up against them.
This hen even tried laying her egg in the hut while a kid was still in there!
The chickens used to sleep in the same shed as the goats before we started to have raccoon problems. The only issue I had with that was the mess. Chickens poo a lot through the night. They poo on goats, on hay, on the feeders, etc. But as far as them all getting along... mine get along wonderfully.
This hen even tried laying her egg in the hut while a kid was still in there!
The chickens used to sleep in the same shed as the goats before we started to have raccoon problems. The only issue I had with that was the mess. Chickens poo a lot through the night. They poo on goats, on hay, on the feeders, etc. But as far as them all getting along... mine get along wonderfully.
babsbag
Herd Master
I put field fencing up around my coop. The chickens can go right through the fencing, put the goats can't. Stock panel would work too. But ND goats are pretty little so if you think they could still squeeze through the fence run a row of hot wire too, right at nose height.
themorethemerrier
Chillin' with the herd
Thanks all. I enjoy watching them altogether and I think they enjoy being together also. So my dilemma is to figure out a way to allow that, but not let the goats have access to the layer feed. I've even tried to think of a way to elevate the feeders off the ground to a place where only the chickens could get at them but I'm not sure what that would be. Goats are smart and persistant.
In this case, the smaller size of my little dwarfs is not an advantage!
In this case, the smaller size of my little dwarfs is not an advantage!
Kristi
Chillin' with the herd
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I have one bantam rooster who's living with our two alpine does. He got mean and went after the children, so he got tossed in the goat pen. All three of them went nuts, squawking, headbutting, running around in circles. Like they'd all lost their minds, LOL! That was a couple days ago, now they get along pretty well. Little rooster keeps asking me when he can rejoin the crew. He cleans up the spilled hay and shares water. I haven't fed him anything else, I figure if I end up putting a few more roos in there, I'll come up with a feed system.
taylorm17
Loving the herd life
It works well. They can get along very well. I had Nigerian Dwarfs and Barred Rocks together. None were scared of the other, but they didn't really 'socialize'. The chickens moved out of the goats way and let them through. We did have the goats eating the chicken food, but they shared the same water. At the time, we didn't have a rooster though. The goats are separated now so they have a larger pasture. Just make sure the chickens area is always clean, they have no illnesses or anything, the eggs are out of reach of the goats (they probably won't eat them, but might try to play with them), and the goats can't get to the chicken food.
babsbag
Herd Master
My chickens live with my goats all day long, a few even roost on the feeders and sometimes use the goats as "ladders". The goats and sheep share the some dust holes in the summer. My chickens only eat in the coop and then they come out for the day and back in at night. The field fencing lets them eat in the coop and keeps the goats out.
