# Chickens and Goats



## NewbieCiara (Jan 30, 2013)

I've heard so many horror stories about letting chickens and goats go in the same common area, so I'll ask you...Yay or nay for the chickens and goats being friends?


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## JaLyn (Oct 10, 2012)

I know some do but I think it's a big no no for one chickens poop EVERYWHERE and if they poop in the hay how can that be good, not to mention I would worry about cocci


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

I run mine together and they do fine.
Chickens and goats do not share the same species of cocci; however, if the chickens get the water or hay dirty with goat droppings, the goats will reinfect themselves. Use a raised hay rack for the hay, and have separate water troughs; make the goats' water trough uncomfortably high for the chickens.
Goats should not eat chicken feed. Place the chicken feed on the other side of a 2x4 welded wire fence. The chickens can then poke their heads through to eat.
These tricks work great for my 13 chickens and 3 ducks. If you have a lot of poultry, it will be really hard to keep everything clean.


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## NewbieCiara (Jan 30, 2013)

Im getting 2 goats and have 6 chickens, hatching more soon! Thanks for the advice!


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## Used2bmimi (Oct 3, 2012)

My chickens are free range and so they are often in the goat pens or pasture. No way to avoid it. I really don't see the harm and the chickens help a lot with the bugs.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Mine ran together when and where we previously lived. Mine now aren't free range and the neighbors are. So they are all over my yard, and get in the goat pens. I had one little guy get very sick last Aug when the chickens kept getting in his pen. I have raised feeder and water (not to high since he's a ND) and the chickens still pooped all over the feeder. So I just err on the side of caution for my own animals.


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## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

Our chickens are free range as well and we haven't had any problems. Since our goats graze for the most part hay contamination isn't a problem for us. Actually our chicks roost in the same building where our goats sleep. I will say this though, our animals spend very little time in there so keeping it clean isn't so much of a problem. Chickens are out at daylight and goats shortly thereafter. We only have a few chickens at this point so that may make a difference as well, but all are in very good health .
As far as being 'friends', when we let our goats out to graze the chickens almost always show up and hang out with all of us. Sometimes the babies [goat] even run around with the chickens lol, like they think they're little chickies themselves. In other words, they all get along very well. That's why we're the "AnimalFamily"


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## NewbieCiara (Jan 30, 2013)

Haha so sounds like my minifarm will work out fine, thank you all!


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## Jodi_berg (Oct 29, 2012)

Chickens and goats are like eggs and toast, it's hard to have one without the other


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## ThisLittlePygmyFarm (Feb 13, 2013)

I've had free ranging chickens for several yrs and they never caused a problem for my previous goat herd. We just started raising goats again and haven't had a problem. The chickens don't roost in the barn with the goats but they wander around in there during the day a lot.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

ditto here..free range chickens and ducks...they do make a mess!! Cleaning is the key to healthy herd..


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## kramsay (Mar 7, 2013)

We had 50 some chicken (free range, locked up at night, their perch was on the opposite side of the feed area in the barn) any ways we never had any problems with them being together. The chickens would actually ride around on the goats, maybe getting bugs off?


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## RedGate (Dec 7, 2012)

My Chickens free range too, and their coop is a stall in the yearling barn. I occasionally get a poop on my milk stand that grosses me out, but otherwise I like them pecking around the goat yards and barns some. They clean up any spilled feed from the messy eaters so they have really cut down our rodent problems too. My birds don't drink out of the goat water, so that's never been a problem and surprisingly my nine birdies make little mess. I did have a hen lay a clutch of eggs behind a semi opened stall gate I was using as a creep room. when I went to open the gate all the way I crunched about 10 rotten eggs against the wall... that was YUCKY. lol


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