HORSE & HENS

[LaCageAuxFowls]

Hi, I am brand new to this site and chickens!

I have horses and am introducing chickens who will free-range with my horses. I am especially interested in the chickens eating things from fresh poop (like undigested corn) and the manure pile....do I need to dispose of horse manure off the property if the horses have been wormed and/or have had antibiotics? I use a feed through fly reducing product and called the company about introducing chickens, they said they use the same ingredient in a similar product for chicken but had no research on chickens raised with horses on their product or visa-versa..... I am still nervous about eating the eggs? Thanks, in advance for any help!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I've had horses and chickens together for a long time, with nearly no problems. ONCE a hen was stepped on and severely injured, and once a young bird died in the stock tank. Otherwise, they get along just fine, and I think it helps have the horses less 'spooky' about birds in general. The chickens do work over the manure piles, a very good thing, and they help keep the fly larva and other bug numbers down. I haven't worried about horse wormers in the manure at all. If a glob of paste wormer hits the ground, I pick it up. The horses aren't going to protect your birds from predators, though. Mary

 

[LaCageAuxFowls]

Thanks, Mary. Have you ever used Solitude IGR for your horses (it is a feed through fly control product) when you had chickens? I’m concerned about the eggs. I guess it would be the same with any wormer product…..coming out the other end, and the chickens pecking around the manure.

 

[Percheron chick]

I will answer here instead of the other post.
I have never used a feed through fly control product. There is a response to this direct question by the University of Nebraska. Do a search on the inhibitor. Bottom line not a problem. I do wonder if a hen were to ingest the product over time, would she lay shelless eggs?

My chickens have access to poop all the time. I even haul it to the coop in the winter to give them something to do. The horses are dewormed with Quest, praziquantal or ivermectin products. Never have thought about residual in the manure. I'm sure someone has done numerous studies on the subject. I do dewormed my chickens with ivermectin during the winter while they are not laying. The general recommendation is to discard the eggs for 2 weeks. I time it so I do not have to waste the eggs. You can worry yourself sick over what ifs?? Your chickens are healthy, you are controlling what they eat, how they live... The eggs they produce will be higher quality with almost zero chance of health risk associated with eating them.

Perhaps over time you will see a natural reduction of flies as a result of your chickens working the poop pile and reducing the larvae. I don't have terrible fly problems but my grasshoppers used to be terrible to the point my garden would be decimated just as it should of been ready to harvest. The past 3 summers, I have hardly seen any. I originally got chickens for my grasshopper problem.

I think having chickens and horses together is like peanut butter and jelly. They work so well together. You can reduce your chicken feed costs by letting them pick out the undigested feed, they will reduce the spread of weeds by cleaning up weed seeds, they love the high protein fly and worm larvae, they will spread a pile out in the field so it dries out quickly and just melts into the soil when it rains...

 

[lazy gardener]

As PC says, over time, you may be able to eliminate this med for your horses b/c of the action of the chickens.

 

[Folly's place]

I've never used the feed through fly control product either, and worm my horses with either Ivermectin or Ivermectin Gold, with no issues I've ever seen. I have occasionally wormed the chickens with Ivermectin, although it's unapproved for use in chickens. Mary

 

[Henrik Petersson]

I have no experience with this, but one thing that comes to mind is that the horses must scare away predators like crazy?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My experience is that horse manure is a chickens' breakfast of champions. I have used a layer of dried horse hockey together with sand and shredded corn shucks as my birds' only floor litter and I am well satisfied with the results.

Of course this is only practical if your individual pens have a raised floor and they are built inside a weather tight building..

I am more than certain that individual roosters often fly up and down from a 6 foot roost a hundred or more times each day to call hens.

A floor litter like I mentioned will protect your birds' feet and joints from the stress and damage of landing on hard-packed ground as well as keep them interested in turning over the litter in search of morsels of food. This is all good exercise for chickens.


I have seen my horses run K9 type predators off but the horses seem more successful at this during daylight hours. Your mileage may vary.

PS: Unlike cows, horses have a good set of upper and lower teeth so there will be little corn or other grains in the horse biscuits for your chickens to eat.

 

[casportpony]

I have no experience with this, but one thing that comes to mind is that the horses must scare away predators like crazy?

They have zero effect in scaring away fox, coyotes, skunks, raccoons and opossums at my place.

 

[Folly's place]

I agree. My horses might protect a foal in their herd (thankfully never an issue!) but don't spend any time or effort on the chickens. A few years ago, a fox came and killed ten nice hens in the afternoon, in the horse pasture. A nearby workman saw it all happen (and did nothing!!!). Mary