Hi all, I know some of you keep goats & chickens so would like a bit of advice please. At the moment our chickens are kept in a wooden "house" & the floor is soil with straw put on top. Now the thing is we will be getting a goat/s soon & I want to build a nice brick building with a concrete floor so the goat/s can have one part & the chickens roost in the other part & in the day just open the door & let them out. My feller doesn`t agree, he wants to make a bigger wooden one. At the moment we only have about a dozen chickens, they are old & dying but at most we only have 2doz. and we only intend to have 1 or 2 goats probably 2. For me bricks & mortar are easier to clean. So what do others think? Thanks
Christine2
By the way goats & new chickens are not coming till me & him agree!! LOL

Aren't goats notorious chewers? If so, you might be advised to build them a home that can't be eaten :p

I'll huff and I'll puff and I"ll blow your house down.....
um, wait, that was for pigs, wasn't it? :O :o Sorry :rolleyes: ;) :D

Listen Sara don`t laugh cos thats another of his fancy ideas!! Thinks if we get a pig or 2 they can eat all the acorns :) has some very funny ideas this feller & cleaning & looking after them NEVER enter his head
Christine2

HaHa LOL 9mth lets see what his answer to that is! Thats one of the reasons we`re getting them, our field gets so overgrown & the idea is they will keep it down. :)

British Goat Association

Thanks 9th. I`m not showing that page to hubby or he`ll want a herd of them!!
Christine2

Advice for the goats.......

If you get them before 6th Sept, make sure they come with a licence. If you get them after, make sure you notify your local Animal Health Office with the paperwork that should come with them. Oh, and make sure you keep movement records for them and that they are ear tagged!

I don't know much about chickens I'm afraid, but I agree that bricks and mortar would be easier to clean!! :)

Hope this helps,
Lou

Christine lives in Spain (Hey I remembered -- same time zone :rolleyes: :D :D :D)

Oooooh sorry :o :o

Got a bit excited because it's something I thought I could help with..... ooops!

Thanks for telling me - I'll check next time!! :D
Lou

Thats Ok Lou if you have any ideas just put them down. :) Thanks anyway
Christine2
PS whats the license after sept for anyway?

I would recommend a concrete floor definitly, makes cleaning out so much easier and helps stop rats. chickens will poo on goats unless housed in seperate part at night!. The goats shouldn't chew wood especially if it is creosoted and it will be much cheaper.
What sort of goats are you geting ?
Ted

Dont know yet Ted, but got be friendly cos I got chased by one once! Now summers coming to an end will start looking around cos there are quite a few herds in the area & local goats cheeses as well. Looks like we`ll have to keep them seperate then.Thanks
Christine2

As a keen chicken lover I have a wooden house for them.
Chickens are prone to many mites and the red-mite lives in most houses, wooden buildings need to be treated idealy creasoted every year and they do not live as easily in wood as they do cement as the cement has loads of little cracks to hide in.
I would let them both have sepperate housing to be on the safe side.
Hope that helps

Hi Emma yes looks like we have to go for seperate sheds. The wood is not very easy to clean tho what do you use? Thanks
Christine2

Christine,
When I was at Disneyland Paris, there was the most amazing species of goat in the farm area. They weren't pigmies (the dwarf type) but they were even smaller than that. Very proportioned, but the adults were about 12-16" tall (at the withers area). The babies were only a bit smaller. Very gentle and soft to the touch. I think they were from the Basque area. But I have no idea. They definitely would not scare anyone :D :D :D :)
toodles

Sounds just right for me Sara! :) I thought they were friendly things & when we were on holiday in a place called Fishponds a few years back they had a male & off I went to see him. As I got closer he started to walk & the trot & finally run towards me in a NOT v friendly way, luckily I was close to the gate and I jumped over it. Got the fright of me life I can tell you so am going to get a youngish female in the hope she will get used to us & be friendly. Staying away from those males tho.
Don`t know much about them really or what breeds they have over here but know a couple of people who do so will have a chat with them about it & have just got some goat books over the internet to point us in the right direction & am even thinking about making some cheese :) in my spare time :) Mind you the Basque region has a different climate to down here you know, more like England really, but they sound lovely.
Christine2

Mmmmm, I understand.
See, I love goats. I've learned that they're pretty much all brash action and no bite since I was little :D
There were a couple of pygmy ones where we stayed last summer. Each time I went into the field, both would charge up to me and come to a running stop. Freak out the girls, but then everyone would get along :rolleyes: They'd follow me around like puppies. :D :D I like feeding goats since they're so gentle with their teeth. They might lip ya to death, but never really bite :) Just have to watch the climbing part ;)

Excuse me Sara *you just have to watch the climbing part* WHAT climbing part?????? I hope your not going to tell me what I think you are....please no :)
Christine2

Nothing to do with (ahem) "that" :rolleyes:

I've just found over the years that when feeding goats, they like to stand on their hind legs to get higher (usually over another goat). Front legs have to go somewhere - Usually on the other goat or even you
The larger the goat..... well, it's easy to get off balance and fall on the keester :o :o :D :D Deer can do the same thing.

Goats are smart critters, so I imagine you can train them not to do this. I've usually fed them at other peoples' farm and the petting zoos with kids. Never raised them.
Personally, I'd start with a small breed first. They don't really need a large pen... I saw two happy pygmies with a tiny shed that both fit in using reinforced chicken wire about 20X20 feet.

Goats are natural escapologists Christine! they just walk through or clime over any fence. Something to bear in mind!

I would go for a concrete or brick structure, Apart from the strength I reckon it would be cooler and easier to clean. As a thought if you breed I would recommend you get the kids disbudded. Gwen was an old sweetie and would not hurt a fly but her kid Pixie was a different matter! She had her horns and knew how to use them! Trixie and Lucy were both disbudded and were great animals full of fun. But all from time to time went for a walk up the road! Pixie’s usual habit on getting free was to kitchen window, put her front feet on the windowsill and see who she could see. It was also not unknown if the back door was open to come in to see what she could steal.

Dogs are far less trouble!

Best wishes, John

John I can see you & a couple of others are thinking along the lines of my feller, we will breed. No no & no :)
(or maybe I`m kidding meself) :) I only wanted 1 then thought that 2 would be better, keep each other company, just as a pet & to keep the field down oh and some milk for the dogs :)
Fencing is good all round with fenced sections inside anyway for dogs & I walk round most days to check, also hedgerows are very thick & strong now. Breeze blocks arrived earlier & work has begun already & will be approx 12sq mt & about 2mt high with concrete base with door facing north & window facing south. John did you used to breed goats, is there no end to your knowledge?? And thanks for the the bit escapologists, just what I needed to hear as well as Sara telling me about their climbing habits!! :)
Am not going to talk about disbudding as I have no need to know & am going to say every hour on the hour
Not breeding goats
Not breeding goats
Repeat after me NOT.......
Chistine2

Hi Christine, de budding has nothing to do with breeding!! It is having the horns removed. ( I used to have a couple of goats) ;)

Nothing to do with me Christine it was my sister. (She’s mad but don’t tell anyone!) :D

If you are only keeping a goat or two for the milk then I’m afraid you will have to mate them each year or there will be no milk! And if you have any marsh grass, goats will not clear that. You want a Donkey for that. (Not that I imagine you get much marsh grass in your neck of the woods!) You have a good strong hedge. Sorry, no chance! No self respecting goat is going to be stopped by a hedge! I give it three days outside! My sister finished up using a 10 ton breaking strain chain tether! Remember, they are not dipicted in paintings of the devil for nothing!

My sister used to breed. Nanny’s were kept for the milk but Billy’s ended their days in the freezer. No one keeps Billy’s, they can smell rather high! My sister used to put the nanny in the back of the car, (the family saloon!) and drive to the Billy who lived on the other hill for mating. :rolleyes:

I must say I use to enjoy goats milk on my corn flakes and the goats milk cheese was also rather nice!

Best wishes, John

Hi Philippa & John, thought they were disbudded when they were born & wondered when someone would pick up on me wanting milk!! See I`m not as green as I`m cabbage looking :) Just wanted to live in ignorance for once as in its supposed to be bliss!! :) :) Not much chance of that then :)
Joking apart tho I`m looking forward to it really, should be fun.......???????
Christine2
PS Whats march grass? And we have a fence behind the hedgerow, remember I have 1 or 2 escape artist little doggys already, not only that, but cheeky little madam can.. haha change that to could, open most of the doors/gates to let herself in & out as well! Why do I get the feeling I`m going to regret this??
Christine2

March grass???? Marsh grass! The tall pointy stuff you get when you live in a bog! Goats eat around it but never clear it.

Regards, John

Only just read this thread, one of first jobs on leaving school was on a rabbit and goat farm and we had Anglo Nubians, Toggenburgs, British Saanans and Alpines. The Nubians were definitely the clowns and Ted said something about them not chewing creosoted wood - Huh!!!. I was painting the stalls with that stuff one day and turned around to have it dripped down my face in a goaty kiss, one of them was drinking it.

This same goat when we were clipping her feet would lay on her boney back with all four feet in the air so we could trim them.

They are quite capable of climbing trees to get over a fence or finding a rabbit hole underneath it, being convinced they are no larger than the rabbit following it out!

Christine - would not advise you keeping a male as well - their presence seems to make the milk stronger, taint it somehow - and they stink!!!! Whenever we took one of the girls to be serviced my Mum would not let me into the house and I had to change in the shed and my clothes go straight in the wash.

We had one called Tina who was a rescue and had been a scrub goat - never seen horns as big as she had. She disliked men particuarly and when we had workmen on the farm would come up behind them if they were bending down, carefully place her horns under them and lift - she had to be chained when there were strange men around. She was not adverse to getting knees and elbows between her horns as well and twisting - v. painful - I think they de-horned her in the end.

My husband put his foot down when I wanted goats as well as the rest of my menagarie :-(((

Christine

Hi Christine, Def. dont have a male, they REALLY do stink to high heaven, and the smell is very difficult to remove and wafts for miles on a stiff breeze :D We went to a horse sale one day years ago, and they had a pen full of baby goats in the auction, still with their cords attatched!!!
A foreign gentleman was bidding for this tiny white goat and I had visions of him eating the kid, so I outbid him. I knew nothing about debudding or castrating billy goats, and Oozit ( as he was called) lived happily in the garden. I finished up with no flowers, stripped bark from the trees, broken fences, a terrible smell, and quite a spiteful billy goat with a huge set of horns. He eventually went to live on a farm with some female goats, so finished up a happy boy!! ;) Go for the females every time.

This may sound strange but the house dosn't get dirty as there is a VERY thick layer of sawdust on the floor, any mess on the perches gets scraped off when it is dry {easier that way}.
The house is best creasoted each year BUT it can take may days for the fumes to go away HTH emma xxxxxxx

Forgot to add that chickens need very good ventilation, I am not sure about goats.
PS I add some flea powder in the nest boxxes and dust baths of the chickens which helps kill and lice they get.........

I am so glad this thread was started. I have been thinking of getting a goat on and of for quite some time. But I haven't really researched it. I was thinking of getting some angora goats for the mohair. But now I see that I should probably pass. I'm not up to constant restraining of animals.
Must say I get awfully annoyed when one of my dogs finds a way to get around the fence. Major "pet" peeve actually.

Carissa

I have kept and bred goats for 15 years and have had all sorts. Anglo Nubians are lovely but jump out of anywhere, Pigmy's are the worst for getting out (under or through) the calmest and easiest to keep in in my opinion is the golden guernsy. They produce a managable amount of milk too. Hand milking the goat in the evening is such a relaxing experience.
Dehorning needs to be done at about 3 days old but some are naturally poled.
My goats wear bells like in Switzerlan/Greece/Turkey and it is such a lovely sound as they graze and they are easy to find.
Ted