What size door is too small for goats?

[SewingMom]

I'm new to both chickens and goats and just got all of my animals within the past month - I'm still trying to figure all this out!

I keep my goats and chickens in the same area and found that I really need to let the chickens have an area where the goats can't get to. I cut a small enough door for the chickens to go through to get inside the barn but the goats not to fit - or so I thought. To my surprise when I just went out to check on everyone the goats were in the barn! They had squeezed through a pretty small opening - maybe 1x2 or so. Even my three year old goat with horns! What size can chickens get through but not goats?

Thank you!
Laura

 

[freemotion]

I found that I had to add strips of wood to the pop door of the coop until the most determined goat couldn't get in. At this size, my rooster struggled to get into the coop. He was about 10 lbs and the goat in question was a double-wide pygmy cross at about .....er.....90 lbs? She was almost a full-size goat, just on short legs.

I no longer use a hanging feeder. It just was not safe for the goats if I was going to continue allowing them to share the pasture.

 

[elevan]

A tricky problem...one that gets trickier when you have smaller goats...

My current coop utilizes a high window as it's door. Inside is a walk for the chickens but to get in they must fly up to reach a ledge to enter. They free range during the day and get their feeders topped off in the evening when they return.

I am in the process of building a large coop that will still be using a window as a pop door but will be approximately 2 feet off the ground. I'm doing this because some of my large fowl can't enter the current setup and need to be let in thru the people door and I have eggs laid in undesired locations. My plan is to build a closet into the new coop to hold the chicken feed and I will put their feed out for them only when they are closed into the coop and pick it up each morning when I let them out.

 

[SewingMom]

Definitely a tricky problem!

I measured this morning and found that I had over estimated. The hole the goats got through was actually 12" x 14" - I have no idea how my horned goat, Nanny got through there. Anyway, I did what Freemotion said and put a strip of wood about half way down so now the opening is 6" tall by 12" wide. So far so good. The goats can stick their heads in there but they can't get through. I hope they don't try too hard and get stuck!

That is a good idea to use a window ledge as a way for them to get in. If this hole I cut in the bottom of the door turns out to a problem with goats getting stuck, I might have to go that way.

 

[helmstead]

I highly recommend separating the goats and chickens eventually, especially if you will be breeding, as little chicken feet will spread cocci (etc) into water buckets and feed troughs.

 

[warthog]

All I can add to this is, I never mastered it, if I made the door small enough so that the goats couldn't get in there, the chickens couldn't either.

I also got fed up of the chickens pooping in the water etc., so my solution was to separate them. Life is a whole lot easier now.

Good luck to you.

 

[patandchickens]

I don't know, possibly none? I can tell you that a Shetland ram in full fleece, with horns, can fit through an approx 14x16 popdoor. Ask me how I know.

What about some kind of arrangement where the chickens have to fly up to a landing pad for a raised popdoor (or access thru an open window)? I won't say goats *can't* fly LOL but their abilities are limited.

Pat

 

[Renegade]

I used to have a 125# Boer doe with horns that could squeeze her body through a 6" wide hole that went into the creep feeder for the baby goats. The only reason I knew she was doing it was because she was too dumb to figure out how to get out.

Donna

 

[freemotion]

Um, Pat, goats CAN fly. Especially if it is a buck and there are does in heat nearby. Just ask Mya.

 

[patandchickens]

Hey free, I wrote "I won't say that goats can't fly"

Just that they're not likely to be soaring on thermals anytime soon.

Or anyhow, man, I sure hope not.

Although they'd probably make a lot less mess than *bird* droppings!

Renegade, my ram couldn't/wouldn't get back out the door either

Pat