Looking at getting goats and chickens

I'm looking to get some of each in the next few months. I've got to build a fence to contain the goats. Looking to get at least 2 Pygmy goats. I've got some property, so that's not an issue. I've done a good bit of reading on them so I feel comfortable about it. The chickens, I haven't. I know several people that have them though. One thing I was wondering, can I put the chicken coop in the same fenced area as the goats? They'd be caged off and sealed off from the goats, but then can I open the door and let them walk around the same area as the goats? I'd also LOVE to see some pictures of your goat houses and setups as well as chicken coops if you have them.

 

Make sure it's a VERY sturdy fence. 4' cattle panels work quite well. Goats are notorious escape artists. Unlike a horse or cows, goats will climb right through an electric fence.

A mature buck will always smell horrible. They pee on themselves to attract the girls, which seems to me would be counter productive, but what do I know, I'm not a goat. If you have no plans to breed, getting him fixed will curb the problem but not eliminate it entirely.

Goats HATE inclement weather. They want a place to get out of the rain and snow. But when it's nice out they are as curious as a cat and usually find a way to get into trouble

The pygmy's we had were very standoffish. Don't know if they're all that way, that was just our experience. Our Nubian's craved human attention. They will nuzzle right up to you until you give it to them.

At the peak, we had 20 goats and 50 chickens. The only problem we had was the goats breaking into the chicken coop and eating all their food. They would knock over the feeder to spill the feed on the ground then eat every morsel. Let them run together but make sure they can't get into the coop or wherever you keep feed.
Now with hay it was just the opposite. If the hay was torn off the bale and laying on the ground, they wouldn't touch it.

This is something I threw together one morning with leftover materials from a shed I built. It certainly wasn't the main shelter but it was someplace for a few of them to go when the horses were ornery and wouldn't let them in the run-in shelter. The main shelter is 12'x20' and 12' tall.



We had a couple that we let run in the fenced yard with the dogs one summer. Someone forgot to close the new sliding door. We were out front and didn't know it for about an hour. They came in explored the house for awhile. Made quite a mess.




Mischievous.



Babies. The 2 on the left are about 15 minutes old. The 2 on the right; about 24 hours.

Take notice to the hole in the back wall made by an angry horse hoof. You'll see why in a minute.



Sometimes the horses wouldn't let the goats eat on a nice fresh round bale. A few of them found a way to avoid be kicked away.



Now. About that hole in the wall I mentioned above.... One of the pygmy's wanted to see what was going on inside so she stuck her head through and couldn't get it out.

I'm not sure if there is a picture limit per post so I'll do chickens separately.

Edit

Sorry. It appears I don't have any of the coop handy. I'll get back to you on those.

 

Haha that's an excellent post! I've read that the Pygmy was a very friendly brand. We visited a guy that had a couple. Kept them in about a 20x20 pin. What the point in keeping them in a pin?! That kept running through my mind. But they were fairy friendly to my daughter. good tip with keeping the goats away from the chicken feed.

 

And it wasn't only the table. They had stuff scattered all around on the first floor. We were just glad they didn't have more time. An hour was bad enough.

 

Goats seem to be pretty funny. Like mischievous children.

 

Growing up my parents always kept my sister's 4-H goats in the same pen during the day as the chickens, geese, and the sheep. We always just had normal 5' field fence with t-posts and they never escaped. I'm pretty sure the goats were all Nubians. The only issues with all the animals together was some of the goats would start eating the sheep's wool off their backs once they got shaggy in the winter.

Personally, I HATE goats. I've never seen such sickly animals, it seemed like just about every 2 years another one would get sick and die and either dad or I would have to dig a large hole. I always voted to just dump them by the river, but apparently these were my teen-aged sisters' "pets" that Mom fed and Dad buried, and then the cycle would start all over with a replacement. I think the longest a single goat ever lived was 4 years, while all the sheep lived to be 12-15.

 

Goats- beware of wild dogs, and dogs in general.....dogs will kill a goat in no time, so keep them away.

Chickens aren't bad, dont live a long time, but the predator thing is bad here as well. If a weasel or fishercat find em, you're in for a wild ride. also have had issues with coons, possums, and other annoying varmints. We used to free range ours....let them outta the coop in the morning, and usually by dinnertime they are going in ont heir own accord. If after it gets dark, and you hear a chicken commotion, get right out there and introduce ole shottie to the varmint. Chickens never make a fuss in the evening, if they are, something is horribly wrong.

 

Good tips! I have 3 golden retrievers. I wouldn't be concerned about them, but a guy down the road has dogs that frequently get out and are not good dogs. I have no problem protecting my animals/pets, legally of course.

 

If you're lucky, you won't get any relatives of this bunch!!

 

Chickens are really fun and low maintenance. We've been running a flock of 20-30 now for about 7 years. We only eat the eggs. We put the door to the coop on a timer so they go in and out on their own. We've been very lucky with predators. We do loose some that fly outside of the fenced in yard or to the local hawks. Luckily, most of our dogs don't kill them. Occasionally we will foster a chicken-killing dog, so when that happens we had to split the yard into the dog side vs. chicken side with a temporary fence. I would love to have goats, but we don't have time for any more critters right now.

 

You can clip the long feathers on just one of their wings to prevent them from flying as high/far.

 

You need to be careful with that. By clipping the flight feathers on only one side you create a bit of a hazard. A chicken is still going to try to fly but it will only get "lift" on the side that isn't clipped. When it starts flapping it will flip over and land on it's head, quite possibly breaking it's neck.

 

^lol, funny!^

 

Some of the pictures allude to my word of caution, but don't outright say it. Kids will jump on anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to include, but not limited to adult goats and each other. So, even if you think that they cannot jump your fence because there is nothing substantial in their enclosure, think again. Nature always finds a way.

 

I'm looking at fencing now. For my main containment fence, I'm think getting the 4x4 stays (I think that's what they are called) could a chick fit through that? Their coop would have tighter wire.

 

Quoted because I can only like it once. Goats are Master Escape Artists. If there is ANY way out, they WILL find it.

We had a llama for a couple years too.

Llamas absolutely detest anything canine. We started hearing coyotes one summer. It was pretty far off but over the course of a few weeks we could hear them getting closer. Then one morning there was one walking through the pasture. It was out of range for the .22 and being on top of a hill, I couldn't risk using a high power rifle. That weekend our son came home with a llama. We always used to take a dog or two out when the critters were fed. The llama was having none of that. She would charge at the dogs as soon as she saw them.

I don't know if it was because of the llama or if they were just passing through but we only saw the coyote one other time after we added her to the herd.

 

Tried it. Didn't stop them getting over the 4' fence. We just make sure we hatch out an equal number to the ones the predators get.