# Goats and chickens?



## goatkeeper2015 (Feb 10, 2015)

Can goats and chickens be in the same yard without complications?


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

As long as goats have absolutely NO access to chicken feed.
Personally I don't keep them together. I hate chicken poop on goats & worse is the perching on water containers.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

I started with mine free ranging with my goaties, but after constantly having to clean chicken poo out of water buckets and feeders I now keep my chickens separate.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

I personally keep them separate, as in separate houses but the chickens still go into the goats corral and hang out all day. It's important that the goats cant get the chicken feed and that the chickens don't poo in the goats water.


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

Here's the thing on that. You want the goat water and goat feed where the chickens can't get to. You also want the chicken water and feed where the goats can't get to. Can it be done? Yes. My neighbor has this. The goats have to jump a 4ft fence to get to their water and feed. The chickens that to go through their hen house to the other side to get their water and feed. They roam together during the day and at night go to their respective shelters.
Too much of a pain for me to do. I do ducks and by having the duck flight wings clipped I can keep them out of the goats water. They eat food which is put in a box that they have to go inside to get to. They also have a shelter that the goats can't access.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

> The goats have to jump a 4ft fence to get to their water and feed.


I would never teach my goats to jump ANY fence!! :shocked: And if you have an older/heavier goatie that can't jump they can't get to food and water?!?


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## ollie_and_rosie (Aug 21, 2014)

*The Goat/Chicken Connundrum*

I saw this thread and couldn't help posting my own experience. We have had our goats for almost a year and we have had chickens for several years. My hope was to have everyone live in perfect harmony together, but after months of rearranging things, trying new ideas, using strategically placed chairs, benches and buckets, I'm giving up. The goats are expert at sneaking into the chicken coop. They know the chicken food is in there and it's all they think about. They will do whatever it takes to shove themselves in. Meanwhile, the chickens have fallen in love with the goat food. They fight the goats for it when it's goat feeding time and they end up getting trampled. I had one chicken break her leg and never recover. It has been SO frustrating!!! So, my new plan is to fence everybody in once all this snow melts and we can get some fencing up. I'm bummed, but I can't think of any other way. I had another chicken eat a bunch of the goat hay and get an impacted crop. We lost her too. Plus, with the high danger of urinary calculi in my little wether, I don't want to risk the possibility of him getting into the chicken feed. If anyone knows of a good way to keep their goats and chickens together without the food and water being an issue, please post!


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

CritterCarnival said:


> I would never teach my goats to jump ANY fence!! :shocked: And if you have an older/heavier goatie that can't jump they can't get to food and water?!?


I'm just saying what she does. She has 2 goats and she lets them free range(so much that one's been hit by a car and almost lost a leg).

I'm not saying I agree with her, but that's what she does. I could see making a climbing house and having their water at the top if your chickens hated to climb(what chicken hates this?).


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Goats4Milk said:


> Too much of a pain for me to do. I do ducks and by having the duck flight wings clipped I can keep them out of the goats water.


What a nightmare that would be, having ducks with a waterer. I have a natural spring that fills up this cement basin and then overflows into this little makeshift pond (my ducks made it) and then forms a very small creek that flows through my pasture...anyway, that keeps my ducks occupied but I cannot stand having ducks and waterers! Mine stayed with my chickens throughout the winter and everyday they made a big sloppy mess with water and mush flung everywhere lol and these are just cute little call ducks. (pigs in disguise) 
.


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

Lstein said:


> What a nightmare that would be, having ducks with a waterer. I have a natural spring that fills up this cement basin and then overflows into this little makeshift pond (my ducks made it) and then forms a very small creek that flows through my pasture...anyway, that keeps my ducks occupied but I cannot stand having ducks and waterers! Mine stayed with my chickens throughout the winter and everyday they made a big sloppy mess with water and mush flung everywhere lol and these are just cute little call ducks. (pigs in disguise)
> .


I have Muscovy ducks. They don't like swimming and are happy just having water to put their head in. I fill up their dish with 2 gallons every day when I fill up the goats water. They Muscovy ducks also help with our horse fly population.


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## alikat72 (Jun 24, 2013)

I have goats, chickens, ducks and guineas that all do well together. The goats and birds are only fed once a day in the evening in their respective night time pens. The trick for me is to feed the birds first so they don't follow me to the goat pen and try to share in the goat feed. The chickens love the goat pen and dust bathe there. They also like to lay under the hay feeder in the loose hay. I haven't had any trouble with the chickens pooping in any of the water buckets. The ducks "swim" in a large cement mixing tub. Goat water is hung on the fence. Non duck water is set on cinder blocks so the ducks can't reach to muck.


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## HollyM (Feb 2, 2015)

We have had our 5 chickens and 2 goat kids living together for several months now with no problems. We Sprinkle the chicken feed in their coop and give the goats a branch to keep them occupied - otherwise yes, they don't like to be left out and try come into the coop during feeding time.
They all get a long well and I love how the goats scream and scream if a chicken gets out, they're great security goats haha! Not once has the chickens pooped in their water bucket either!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Around here somebody manages to leave little presents in the wether's bucket that hangs on fence even with their own water a few feet away in a shallow container & in the coop, not to mention puddles.


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## Tapestry (Feb 5, 2015)

My chicken coop was inside my goat pen and the goats didn't mind one bit when a bobcat started coming in broad daylight and picking off my chicken one at a time. I definitely do not have guard goats.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Well, I know people that do have goats and chickens together. I guess I am rather fanatical about poop issues. It probably wouldnt be as big as a concern if the chickens were not pooping on the goats food. Chicken poop is a hot poop to have pile up and have goats walking all over in with their hooves. Our goats maybe picky, but they don't even like walking in mud and always want higher ground when the rain makes mud. I think goats need cleaner dirt to be standing in than a poopy chicken yard. I would be keeping them separate but that is just me and how I would do things.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I suppose it all depends if you have the free-range type property or the small little yard for goats and chickens to be in together .


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## Juperlative (Mar 25, 2014)

We stopped feeding chicken food. Our chickens are mostly with the goats, they have access to hay, forage, bugs. They eat the goats grain too, but they see us coming and we just spill some on the way to the feeder and they miss the melee. the chickens run right thru the squares in our fencing and keeping them out is impossible, considering I want free range chickens. I like my goats more than the chickens, so opted to risk skinny chickens instead of bloated goats. it's been more than 5 years, and aside from the occasional limping chicken, they do fine without "chicken" food. Weight is good, egg production is good and shells are nice and thick. In winter, they enjoy the little green alfalfa leaves, and they lean on the grain more, since they cant get to the bugs and such under the snow.
The cocci prevalent in poultry is not the same that effects goats, we have not had a problem with either species.

That was my solution, it worked here.


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## Encgoatlady (Mar 20, 2015)

I tried this, too, and it is really hard to keep the goats out of the chicken feed. I also had a hen that got stepped on by my largest goat and I had to kill her because she couldn't walk anymore. No fun.

It was great fun watching the hens ride around on the goats' backs, however.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Out of about a doz hens, one has claimed the hay rack to lay her eggs in. I trimmed her wings but she is determined.
One day I watched her as she tried to get up there. Then she walked over to one of the goats, sized her up for a moment, jumped up on her back & flap flap flap; into the hay rack.:veryangry:

If I don't get the egg soon enough, one of the LGDs helps himself.


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