Are Nigerian Dwarf's ok to live in the same pen as my chicken's and duck?
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Are Nigerian Dwarf's ok to live in the same pen as my chicken's and duck?
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My setup is actually very similar to Rachel's. I have my chicken coop under the same shelter as my goat's sleeping benches, but the goats cannot get into the coop. the chickens have a raised door with a platform on both sides so they can fly up and into the coop as they please. Their water and feeder are in the coop where the goats cannot access it along with their nest boxes (5 gallon home depot buckets with the lid cut in half set up on a frame).
We have a lot of hawks in our area but the goats seem to deter them from messing with the chickens. My hens follow my goats around because they stir up bugs as they walk and offer protection from the hawks.
In a separate pen I have my bucks and muscovies (not ducks but very similar, usually people call them muscovy ducks). We raise the muscovies for meat (sooooo good when cooked right!) and they follow our bucks much the same way the chickens follow the does. In the buck shelter the boys have sleeping benches (made from pallets) and the muscovies sleep in the hay under the sleeping benches. The muscovies can fit through the buck's fence (livestock panels) so I feed them flock raiser crumbles outside of the pen and they just come and go as they please between the garden and the buck pen. Their swimming pool is in the buck pen and I was a little worried that the bucks would try to drink the dirty water, but so far they don't get anywhere near it because they have a bucket of clean water the muscovies can't reach in their shelter.
Hope I explained that well enough so it wasn't confusing!
Lots of great tips being shared here! I should also mention that at various times during our rotational grazing, the goats and chickens do share space. We have the chicken feeder on a pulley system so that we can just raise it about 6 feet off the ground when the goats have access to their house. But again, like Rachel, that's only during the day. Everyone sleeps in their own place at night.
Some people specifically have chickens follow mammals in rotational grazing because they'll eat the undigested grain in the poop, as well as any fly eggs or larvae. So, they don't exactly intend to eat poop, but they don't seem to care if they get a little poop while they're going after the "good stuff" in it!
Kristi already gave you good advice about hay...
As a general rule, "good" hay is any grass hay. There isn't any kind that a goat *can't* eat, that I'm aware of. What you DO need to look at, is whether the hay you can purchase (or grow) in your area is GREEN. Here in my area, we have a LOT of cow farmers. Cow's nutritional needs when it comes to hay is much less than what goats need. Cows can eat brown hay, haylage (purposely rotted hay) and slightly moldy hay. Goats do not get the nutrition they need from hay that is brown. They need hay that was cut while it was green, and baled before it got faded too much. The more green color in your hay, the better when it comes to goats. Goats also can't eat haylage and moldy hay. It can at the very least, cause rumen upset, and at the very worst make them very sick. Sick enough to die. Goats need hay that is most like what is usually labeled as "horse" hay, but my father in law was a cow farmer, and cut his hay early enough that it was beautifully green. So if you can find hay that is green, you're good. Horse hay doesn't usually have a lot of weeds in it either, but my goats LOVE hay with some weeds, so I don't stress so much about weed free, or things like that, as much as I concentrate on making sure that what I have is green. Deb mentioned that there are other things to be aware of also, that you can use if you don't have access to good hay. If you go to the trouble to make sure you have a good hay or pasture foundation, you won't need to worry about grains and things like that. There are people who have to use those things as a solution to not having good hay, but those solutions come with their own sets of conditions too. Alfalfa isn't necessary if you have good hay, and if you feed it with good hay, it can be too much. Especially if you are raising wethers or bucks. Bucks and wethers shouldn't have alfalfa or grain as a general rule when they have good quality hay. The proteins in rich diets like that can cause urinary calculi, which can be fatal. *if* you have a situation where you need to supplement hay feed (a bad hay year, no access to hay, etc.) then you should be sure to give your boys Ammonium Chloride to prevent calculi. Does with access to good hay also don't need grain or alfalfa unless they are in milk. Hope that helps you a bit with your question!
Elaine Perrault said:
Another concern of mine may be grass. Is there a certain type of grass that is no good for these types of goat's? and what type of hay is the best type? I am totally new to all of this. So any life experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks!! Super cheap, removable, so when I get a broody hen, I can just lift her whole box out, and put her and her chicks in the nursery, and I can wash them too. More of those things you don't think about until you've had chickens and realize what you'd like to tweak. lol
Kristi Stone said:
As an aside, I love your nesting boxes!
And yeah, I'm not sure why I didn't think of chickens eating OTHER types of poop besides what we have here--they have been eating our rabbit poop for years! Lol
As an aside, I love your nesting boxes!
Although, I don't think the chickens eat the goat's poop that much. (if at all)
You had some really good points! I figured I just share my personal experience, since I house everyone where they live together. The poop eating thing with the chickens is gross. lol But they do it. I never gave much thought to why we don't have a lot of dog poop in our yard... until I saw why. Now I just try not to think about that too much. lol
And the thing about roosts being in a place where the things under them won't get pooped on is something most people don't really think about until they have a set up where it's an issue, so it's a good point to make too. Although, I really don't think my goats would stay under the roost if they could access that area, because they are pretty smart. I can't see them laying there, and staying there once they got pooped on. lol
Kristi Stone said:
Here is are some pictures of my set up, so you can better envision what I'm saying.
this is a picture of the hen house. 1/3 of it is sectioned off so that the chicken roost and nest area is not accessible to the goats. The other area, is just open ground, where the chickens can scratch and move around until I let them out. (or if I have to keep them penned during the day, it's their "run")
this picture is from inside the hen house. I am standing in the run area of the house, facing the area that the goats cannot get to. The chickens can fit through the gate, or hop over the pallets, but the goats can't do either. The roosts are on the left, and my nesting boxes are on the right.
This is a picture of the nesting boxes.
My hen house is located in the middle of my goat pen. I have an area that is sectioned off from my goats, but that my chickens can pop through the fence to get to. I feed the chickens there, so that the goats don't get into their feed. Other than then sleeping separately, the chickens are out in the goat yard once I let them out of the hen house in the morning. Everyone gets along fine, and I've not had any health issues from this arrangement. Back in the old days, it was pretty common for all the animals to share common yard areas.
Commenting on Kritsti's points:
~Goats will probably eat the chicken feed and vice versa.
Your chickens will not be hurt eating goat feed. You do need to make sure that your goats can't get into the chicken feed if you feed layer feed, or anything high protien, OR if you have a free choice feeder. High protein in layer scratch can cause your goat to get sick or die. Eating too much of corn or other grain scratch can upset rumen balance. I feed my chickens a two grain scratch, but I only throw out enough for them to eat in a few min. The rest of their diet is foraged in their free range adventures. You will do best if you make sure you have a feeding area that the goats can't get to. Their dietary needs are very different, and goats should not be getting grain regularly in normal circumstances, so NO. There is not an interchangeable solution for grains for both. That said, I do toss some of my grain only scratch out into the goat yard for the chickens to scratch at, (a couple handfuls) and the goats will nibble it, but the amount they are able to pick up before the chickens have it all is not enough to make any nutritional difference, and it's not layer scratch.
~I've also read that chickens will eat goat poop, and if you are eating their eggs, you'll have to decide if that's ok for you and your family. I'm not sure if goats will eat chicken poop, though.
Chickens eat poop. They just do. Even if you don't know it, they do. Especially if you allow them to free range. Goats do not eat chicken poop.
~Your chickens will roost higher than the goats, and if it's anywhere above where the goats rest, they will poop on it.
I house my chickens in a separate pen at night, but the goats have access to the area until I shut the door. (with the exception of the roost area, which is in the section I keep the goats out of.)
A couple of other things you will want to think about are:
~Where will the chickens' nesting boxes be?
I have my nesting boxes in the hen house, next to the roost area.
~Goats like to hop on top of things regardless of what OR WHO it is--ask me how I know, ha ha! They might try to hop on top of the chickens (using them as footstools to higher ground perhaps) and injure one of your girls.
My goats have never tried to ride a chicken. The chickens would beat them to death for even trying. (they don't try)
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