House size, ideas and tips for 2 Nigerian Dwarf Nannies

[ABHanna4d]

We are getting 2 nigerian dwarf goats in the next couple weeks and are just trying to get everything ready. We have the fence ready (6' wood privacy fence)
We have a little chicken coop for 4 Buff Orpingtons and just arent sure now what needs to be the same or different for the goats (ventilation, etc)
We have a "wood crate" that is 3'x6' and we are going to try to convert it into a little goat barn and have a ton of questions for people who have goats and know their needs. We are planning on putting some leftover wood siding on the outside and some leftover shingles on the room and maybe a little staircase to the roof so they can play around on top as well...or will tehy eat the shingles right off the roof?
What should we do for the floor or just cut it out and make it dirt with straw?
How much ventilation do we need?
How big should the door be or not be? I dnt want it too drafty for them when it is cold out, but I dont want it too hot in the summer time! (We live in Kansas and it gets about 100+ in the summer (and humid) and as low as -5-10 in the winter.
Do we need to have a lockable door and "tuck them in for the night" like the chickens or should they be free to run when they want?
We cut down some trees and have several tree stumps that we can move around the yard for them to play with.
Any other ideas to keep these mischevious creatures happy?
We know not to give them free range of thier feed (but definately some of hay) when we do feed them should we do that in their little house or outside...does it really matter?
Im sure I have more questions, but just not sure of what to ask

 

[cmjust0]

We are planning on putting some leftover wood siding on the outside and some leftover shingles on the room and maybe a little staircase to the roof so they can play around on top as well...or will tehy eat the shingles right off the roof?

Nibbling aside, I'd say shingles wouldn't last long under their feet anyway. A structure's roof is important...I'd keep them off the roof just for the sake of the building itself.

What should we do for the floor or just cut it out and make it dirt with straw?

If you're going to put them in something that small, I'd definitely suggest flooring it.. The whole inside would be near enough to a wall that water would likely seep under, and a goat forced to lay on cold, wet bedding isn't a happy goat.

How much ventilation do we need?

Every book I've ever read suggests somewhere 'well ventilated, but free of drafts' or something to that effect. Basically, keep them out of the wind but make sure the air inside won't get stagnant.

How big should the door be or not be? I dnt want it too drafty for them when it is cold out, but I dont want it too hot in the summer time! (We live in Kansas and it gets about 100+ in the summer (and humid) and as low as -5-10 in the winter.

The placement of the door has as much to do with draft as anything else.. If you put the door toward the direction where most of your weather comes in, you're gonna have issues.. If you put it in on the leeward side, the question of "how big" will be of somewhat less importance. A goat that's out of a draft can tolerate some pretty dang cold temperatures.

If I had to answer the size question, though.....I'd make the door big enough to be not a PITA to fork old bedding out.

Do we need to have a lockable door and "tuck them in for the night" like the chickens or should they be free to run when they want?

I don't personally like to lock goats up at night, but we have a livestock guardian dog.. We don't really have to lock our chickens up either..

I'd feel even less ok about locking them up if they couldn't really get up and move around.

We cut down some trees and have several tree stumps that we can move around the yard for them to play with.
Any other ideas to keep these mischevious creatures happy?

Providing things to climb on is usually entertainment enough.

We know not to give them free range of thier feed (but definately some of hay) when we do feed them

Always free-choice hay -- always. Hay is their primary diet, so buy the best hay you can find and afford. Beyond that, I'd suggest viewing grain/feed as a supplement to the hay. Feed to condition. If you give them a half pound a day and they start getting chunky, cut it back.. If they start getting too thin for your liking, bump it back up.

Another thing they'll need free-choice is a good loose mineral.

should we do that in their little house or outside...does it really matter?

Doesn't really matter, unless the weather's bad.

That's something I was coming around to, actually....

Keep in mind that their shelter should really be a place where they won't mind spending a few straight days because, when it rains, they won't come out.

That means it needs to be big enough to accomodate a hay feeder, something in the way of a waterer, etc.. Everything they need should be able to fit in their shed with them, with room left over for them to stretch out a bit.

What I keep thinking is that if you've got two does and four babies in an 18sqft shed...and it's raining...and they're butting each others' kids around....and you need to go out and milk...yikes.

Granted, I'm not a Nigi person...never owned one...but 18sqft for two does and eventually their kids, plus everything else they require sounds pretty cramped to me.

Is a bigger shed just totally out of the question?

 

[ksalvagno]

I would say if you could give them at least an 8x10 shed or something, that would be good. I have 6 Nigerian Dwarfs and 2 Boer goats in a 30x12 area and I can expand if need be. There are 2 hay mangers and some things to climb/hang out on. LIttle Tikes picnic tables have been working out well for me. Just a simple wood platform would work great though.

 

[lupinfarm]

For 2 Pygmy's I have a 6x6 house, with a floor, insulated with R 14 comfortbatt. My house is to tall for the goats to jump on but I use steel as the roof because shingles don't last long out here LOL.

My door faces south, which gets sun almost all day long and is kept, for the most part, out of the wind.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS FREE CHOICE HAY.


Have you considered buying a calf hutch for your goats? I have one that we're putting out in our pasture so they can run in to get away from.... whatever... and in the winter they heat up, in the summer you could cover it or put it under a tree for the shade. They even come with feeders in them so you can put your minerals in the feeder. They're vented too. I paid about $150 for my fairly large calf hutch.

I'd be using mine right now except its frozen to the ground in the wrong place lol.

 

[ABHanna4d]

WOW Thank you guys SO much! We defiantely have some revamping to do before we bring the girls home
We REALLY want everything as close to perfect for them as we can get it before we bring them home! (Thats what we did before we brought home our chickens and we are SO glad we did!)
I love the idea of a calf hutch so we are looking for one of those as low cost as we can or we might just build something (We built a garage last spring and have a ton of extra lumber and siding, etc left over so we might just build it...we'll see)
There is also a surplus store in the area that oyu can get random sized crates (2x2 all the way as big as 15x15) but they are only open on fridays. We are going to try and head there next friday if we dont build something in teh mean time. I saw a crate yesterday when I was there that was 3 sided with a roof and floor and was about 8x10...Im really wishing I would have bought it now instead of hte small one I got...ah well, hind sights 20 20 right?
This has helped TREMENDOUSLY! Thank you all so much. We would have brought our girls home nad they wouldnt have been too happy with us and thier living situation!

We are going to start building today so I will probably post pictures nad questions as they ocme up...unless it all goes together really smoothly...lol does that EVER happen?

 

[kingscalls]

We have 4 fainting goats at this time. Our goat barn (if you want to call it that) measures 4' front to back.........8' side to side ......and 4' tall. The reason for it's size is this....I read in a book, that if you only have a few goats to make the size of the building smaller so that it will only have a small amount of room left with all the goats in it. Ours is 3 sided with the back facing the wind (so it keeps the wind and rain off of them). It is covered with plywood which is covered with rubber roofing.

 

[ABHanna4d]

We have 4 fainting goats at this time. Our goat barn (if you want to call it that) measures 4' front to back.........8' side to side ......and 4' tall. The reason for it's size is this....I read in a book, that if you only have a few goats to make the size of the building smaller so that it will only have a small amount of room left with all the goats in it. Ours is 3 sided with the back facing the wind (so it keeps the wind and rain off of them). It is covered with plywood which is covered with rubber roofing.

rubber roofing!? Thats a great idea. How thick is the rubber and where did you get it?

 

[ABHanna4d]

Goat fencing Question? Ok how clever are these little critters and will they get through just about anything? I want to give them access to just about everything I can but if I put a 3' chain link fence around my garden, will they get over it and level my garden?
Wood or Chain link? which is "safer" for keeping goats out of the garden? (a mini goat...obnviously a full size goat could probably jump that!)
Do they climb fencing?

 

[mdoerge]

My Nigerians would jump over a 3 foot fence.

 

[jlbpooh]

My fencing is 4 feet tall with a strand of electric 6" above the top. My Nigis haven't tried to jump over it. Just be sure to not have anything close to the fence that they could get up on and use to jump over the fence. They can very easily jump 3 feet though, I have seen mine do it many times. Also, any trees in your yard that you care about need to be wrapped with hardware cloth or something along those lines. I have my trees wrapped 4 feet up, and I need to go out and trim some branches to be able to wrap them further. They are having no problems stripping the bark off above the hardware cloth right now since they have gotten bigger, little buggers.