The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: ScotsGirl on November 13, 2014, 08:20:19 am
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i posted this on the poultry page but think it might be more relevant in the goat page....
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[/size]I just wondered how many other people keep free range chickens and goats and how do you manage feeding the hens? I have 2 half acre paddocks which are home to my goats. Between my garden gate and these paddocks is another area approx 16'x25' where the chicken houses, feeders and my feed shed are. Ideally I don't really want the hens in there as it is currently like a quagmire but as I need somewhere to put the chicken feeders out of the goats' reach I have to open the back doors of the houses into this area.[/color][/size]I'd be interested to know how others manage? I have one naughty little kid who scampers through the house to steal the food. Thankfully she hasn't worked out the treadle feeders and I usually don't open the field hatch until the loose feed has been eaten. The houses are not big enough to place feeders in.[/color]
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I keep hens and goats together free ranging and it is difficult because the goats do enjoy pillaging the chicken feed. So I have a roofed pen with a coop inside and feed and all in there with a chicken sized pop hole so the birds can go in and out as they please to free range. To stop fox attacks I have then surrounds the pen and pop hole entrance with electric netting. The chickens can walk freely through without a shock to get to the rest of the field or wherever, the goats cannot get anywhere near the pen (I know if they really tried they would get in that pop hole!!) and the hens are fox/badger/dog safe but at the same time can free range. If you want pictures I can get some?
These things I have in place because at the time battery powered pop doors weren't on the market. So the other option is a pen with a coop inside and then a solar pop door that closes at night :thumbsup:
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its a nightmare isn't it?.....lol
our chickens totally free range so we tend to let the chickens out of the coops and feed them before we let the goats out in the morning.
In the afternoon its the other way around, we take the goats in and then feed the chickens before they go in for the night which is fine at this time of year when its dark by 4pm but in the summer its a free for all or else the chickens wouldn't be getting fed until 11pm.