goats and chickens together

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We have about 50 chicks that are eight weeks old - down from 69 due to chick stupidity, heat and predators.

Our big goal is to do something like the salatin egg-mobile. A coop on wheels (or skids) that we move every day and the chickens have the run of a very large area. But with the predator losses we have experienced so far, we're thinking that a fence around the portable coop may be esential.

We bought a portable fence for our goats. About 150 feet by 150 feet. We're buying the batteries for it today.

A neighbor warned us that goats and chickens don't mix. She says that the goats will hurt or kill the chickens. Anybody else have experience with this?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), August 02, 2001

Answers

Being out & about with enough room to escape if need be I don't see it as a problem. My aunt has 2 goats & 2 roosters, they get along fine in the same pen. Wonder if anyone has had bad experiences....

:-)

-- Buk Buk (bukabuk@hotmail.com), August 02, 2001.


We have had our free range chickens get into our goat and our sheep pens, Never had a problem

-- Grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001.

Our chickens range with our goats just fine. However, just make sure they have enough room. In the winter when it was cold and the goats and chickens were more confined, the chickens have gotten stepped on but the goats. Cows on the other hand (at least ours) will go after and kill chickens.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), August 02, 2001.

If these are dairy goats and you are using the milk, I would not advise keeping them together. Chickens can pass salmonella to the goats, which will infect the milk. Further, you definitely do not want the chickens roosting above the goat feed and pooping in it. Very bad for goat health. Chickens can pass cocci to the goats. There are various strains of the coccidia bacteria and many believe that cross species transmission is possible. ALL chickens carry cocci. You goats carry cocci also as do most animals, since it is a common bacteria found in the soil everywhere. With some basic preventive care, our animals develop an immunity. Kids also get an immunity from the colostrum after birth. Having your goats exposed to the different strain of cocci carried by the chickens can compound the problem. Animal health is becoming more and more of a challenge these days. I prefer not to make it harder by keeping species together.

-- Skip in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), August 02, 2001.

Our chickens free range the goats' pasture but are not allowed in the barn. The chickens had access in the past but we stopped it. We didn't experience any injuries, just a lot of chicken mess on the feeders and stacked hay. Not healthy for the goats or us.

-- Nancy Bakke-McGonigle MN. Sunset (dmcgonig@smig.net), August 02, 2001.


We also keep some hens, but they roost and lay eggs in their own coop, being let out in the mornings, they do run for the dairy barn to eat the spilt grain. Goats and chickens get along fine, I did have an old doe who trapped a hen under an old bucket, with her leg over the top of it and all, the hen was nearly dead and to revive it we have to use cold water, it had heat stroke. Once in awhile the does will head butt a chicken over in the grain feeders, if they think they are pecking to much food away. The hens do a wonderful job of keeping the barn clean. But I don't let them roost in my barn, they poop in the feeders or ontop of the hay, on the milk stand, its nasty! Goat cocci and chicken cocci are species specific, though the hens can carry cocci occysyts from the adult stalls over to the kid stalls on their feet. They also are not wise to have around if you have animals quaranteened for CL. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 02, 2001.

My chickens ride on the backs of my goats. We have one rooster that try to do his rooster thing to the goats. Sherry

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001.

My understanding is that chickens can pass coccidiosis to the goats, which can kill them. I wouldn't advise putting goats where there is chicken manure.

-- Andy (cabinfever @sisna.com), August 03, 2001.

I am just another that has 160 free range chickens. They keep all the spilt grains cleaned up. They churn up all the dirty poopy stuff so it drys and doesn't smell so bad. They keep the flys and others down to a reasonable number. They ride around on the backs of the sheep. They and the sheep and goats get along fine and nobody is ill for it.

The geese are the ones with the sheep run ins! They hate the sheep. It is sort of a gang/turf thing. they claim an area and the sheep aren't aloud there! Or the wool flys. the sheep aren't mean at all and their only defense is to run pell mell outta there! They did stepped on once in the great run to feeder race even though it is big enough for all it goes back to the turf thing so they get a little carried away sometimes!

-- Novina (lamb@stellarnet.com), August 06, 2001.


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