can you keep chickens in a sheep barn

[fatmanlol]

hi i was wondering if you could keep chickens in a barn with sheep and if yes will they venture far enough to up set the neighbours.thanks for reading

 

[centrarchid]

We used to do it. Rule was birds could not roost over manger / feeders. Chicken feces could up crude protein of hay but too much and sheep did not want to eat hay.

Ranging distance varies greatly with flock size and quality of area to be foraged over. More birds require more space. Crappy forage means more area needs to be covered to compensate for quality. You can tighten ranging habits with feeds / scratch, especially if you have some flexibility with respect to its placement.

Distance you need to figure out through experimentation.

 

[fatmanlol]

Thank you

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Mine liked to follow along with the sheep during the day. As the sheep grazed, the chickens foraged. At certain times of the day, they'd lay down and rest together.

 

[aart]

Beware that some chicken feed has a lot of copper which can be toxic to sheep...do some research.

 

[fatmanlol]

i will be feeding my chickens(if i do get some) kitchen scraps and grazing them on grass if i can.im from pakistan,there they roam freely and go where they want and so what they want(you could sometimes find some in your garden).i wanted to keep them this way,100% organic and i like this way as in pakistan the cost is minimal(even nothing sometime) however this is the U.K so doing will be hard(neighbouring fields,animals,homes,etc) so i just needed to get some facts straight

btw could somebody please explain what to do to get the chickens to realise that the barn is home,thanks.

 

[fatmanlol]

i will be feeding my chickens(if i do get some) kitchen scraps and grazing them on grass if i can.im from pakistan,there they roam freely and go where they want and so what they want(you could sometimes find some in your garden).i wanted to keep them this way,100% organic and i like this way as in pakistan the cost is minimal(even nothing sometime) however this is the U.K so doing will be hard(neighbouring fields,animals,homes,etc) so i just needed to get some facts straight

btw could somebody please explain what to do to get the chickens to realise that the barn is home,thanks.

btw i meant in your garden as in they just come there and you dont even own chickens

 

[Den in Penn]

Generally you lock them in the coop or barn you want them to imprint on as home for a week. You can reinforce that by giving them what ever food your are giving them there.

 

[MrsFitz]

We have a single lamb that our neighbor got to bottle feed for her kids experience this past April. She was bottle fed and then weaned after we got her. We also got this spring 4 broad breasted bronze turkeys which are a good size by now. We also have 9 red sex link chickens that are 1 1/2 years old and 3 buff orpingtons that about 4 months old. My question is our lamb has been grabbing a mouth full of feathers from the turkeys and eating them on occasion. Last night my mother-in-law saw the lamb butting and pinning the turkeys and chickens against our coop pen.. They free range during the day.. And this morning I found a buff with her lower back bald of feathers and a bite out of her skin. This afternoon we watched a Tom turkey and a turkey hen do a little mating dance and then watched out lamb walk right up to the turkeys and started grabbing the hen by the neck and try to drag her a direction. This behavior is so weird and can't figure it out. Would really love some insight. There is plenty of grass for the lamb to graze on and all the fowl free range and are penned up at night. Please help. This lamb is just psycho I think!

 

[Den in Penn]

. This lamb is just psycho I think!

That's what I think as well. If you think her adopting the birds as her flock is nuts. It has been a while since I worked sheep. I think that she hasn't had the benefit of other sheep to flock with so she is acting out with the fowl. Butting heads and the like and nipping at flock mates is what they do.