chickens and pygmy goats together?

[college town chick]

My husband decided on consolidating the housing for our pygmy goats (4 -- we just got them last month -- they are so cute!) and our soon to be chickens (a dozen give or take -- hopefully will get them this spring). They'll be sharing the run with each other -- 200 sq ft -- and the goat shed and chicken coop will be adjacent to each other, sharing one wall.

My husband preferred to do this rather than have two separate buildings and runs (he works and has to do this during his infrequent free time).

Is this a workable arrangement do any of you think? I've seen chickens out loose at horse barns and the goats had two geese that ran their farmyard when they were babies.

I ask, because an acquaintace of mine just had her favorite chicken murdered by one of her geese (murder is about the best word for it -- the goose just decided to kill the chicken and nothing was going to stop her; poor chickie).

I don't want to condone interspecies homicide if I can help it.

 

[vicki2x2]

I don't think your goats will hurt the chickens but they will eat all the chicken food which will NOT be good for them. It will be hard to find a way that the chickens can have access to food and the goats can't reach it because they are food monsters and very good at reaching it. Good luck!

 

[cluckychick]

Goats will crawl through pop doors to get to chicken food. They are little piggies in cute little bodies

 

[college town chick]

We plan on putting the chicken feeders in the chicken coop and making the feeders so a chicken could poke her head through to get at the feed but a goat couldn't. Workable?

Yes, the goats are little piggies When I got them they were pretty skittish and not at all used to human contact -- now they bum rush the gate at feeding time and will allow you to pick them up for a (goat treat) price!

Thanks for reminding me of that -- I was worried about the goats and chickens getting into each other's food, but didn't think of the goats getting into the coop. They would too, little buggers!

We may have to do some more planning before this is all done -- DH is probably going to cuss some, I'm sure!

 

[angels4]

I'm glad you asked this question I was just thinking last night that I would like to keep a couple of pygmy goats and was thinking about keeping them in the same run and I also didn't think about the goats eating all the chicken feed.
How about just splitting the run in half and giving each (chickens/goats) 100sq ft a piece. Maybe add a fence with a gate right down the middle of the run. The buildings could still be adjacent but each would have their own space.

 

[tfpets]

Each situation bears some thought....I feed my chickens on the ground as well as in feeders too small for the goats to get in to, their feed is smaller, pelleted and grain...the goat(s) eat not only grass hay, but cob with molasses, all stock pellets, etc in their feeders, but anything else they can get ahold of...its more of distracting them while the chickens get a chance to eat....and having enough "deep" straw or bedding for the chickens to scratch around in and play to find goodies like the seeds or I give them cat food too!
They get along wonderfully, I think they are great company. I have a blended pet area, one Llama, One potbelly pig, now One Pygmy goat, and 72 Chickens....several coops and outbuildings, shared....the goat, llama and pig live in one building together with one lone silkie rooster. He shares their building. Their outside area is over an acre alone, open and they run around and play together...Do what works for you!

Tina/tfpets

 

[college town chick]

That pygmy looks a lot like what our Pepper goat will grow up to look like!

The idea of splitting the run gave me an idea -- will build a separate "mini-run" for the chickens to hang out in while they eat in peace, and then let them out mid morning for play time in with the goats. Everything here gets fed on the same schedule as our horses, so this should allow them plenty of time in the big area, while giving them morning and evening for "chickens only" meal and hang out time, and since the schedule is so set in stone hopefully it won't take long for the chickies to catch on (it only takes our dogs and the goats about a couple of days to figure out the routine, so the chicks shouldn't take too long). I can scatter some scratch out in the yard which the goats shouldn't mess with for "chicken enrichment" as well.

 

[Chirpy]

My two ND's (Nigerian Dwarfs) share the chicken run with my chickens but have their own housing.

We had quite the challenge keeping the ND's out of the chicken coop and thus away from the chicken feed. Here's a picture of what my husband ended up putting together... it has worked perfectly as the goats haven't gotten in once.

Once the goats were about six months old we were able to take the top 2x4s off but have had to leave the rest of it together permanently. You can see in the second picture the top 2x4 on the right is off... just to show what we did after time.

The goats can't bend their bodies down and then back up right away to get inside.

Maybe this will give you an idea on how to make your situation work.

It took the chickens about two days to figure it out. It helped by having them all start inside and going out first. I had a couple of chickens that needed some guidance from me but almost all of them got it by themselves.

 

[davidb]

Ive had chickens with my nig.goats for 10yrs now, they get along fine, Just mix in a good bit of whole kernel corn with your chicken feed, if you scatter it on the ground, The goats will eat the whole corn, while the chickens eat the rest