Housing different animals together?!?!?

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Okay, folks said I could raise ducks and baby chicks together... I did, careful about the moisture, and they did beautifully, and get along great! They now live together in a small chicken tractor.

I am adding geese this year, and am getting banties soon. I want to put the banties into the chicken tractor and move the chickens, ducks and geese into....THE GOAT HOUSE! The ducks and chickens really free range, except for when I am gone most of the day (the only time I left them out for the day when I was gone I came home to them wandering down the road. They've never done it before or since when I have been at home. It is almost as if they were looking for me....but we all know chickens have limited intelligence!) The banties I want to confine a bit more until afternoon, after reading about their laying habits here.

My friend kept all of his animals together but in a big barn. Mine is a smaller summer kitchen. I just frankly don't understand why they can't live together. The chickens love the goat house anyway and hang out with the goats indoors and out all the time, and the ducks like being there too....the goat feed and hay and chicken feed is all enclosed..... milk stand is separate too.

Any experience with this or opinions? I know it is supposedly for "cleanliness" but I am sure they didn't have separate facilities for every animal in times past!!!!

-- marcee (thathope@mwt.net), January 17, 2002

Answers

Hi Marcee,

I have had ducks, chickens, goats, sheep , cattle , geese all in the same field paddocks together. No real problems except the geese killed a chicken or two, and plucked the tom turkey who would stand up to them.

The chickens and the goats would come in, the others preferred to stay outside even in the dead of winter. I left the door open and there were hay bale wind shelters out there.

If you confine things too much I think you will have trouble with the geese killing things. They are great grazing animals and good layers, but they were hard on the others especially in small quarters and when laying. They are heck on foxes too and actually we had only one white goose killed in all of the years...I think it was an owl because of the way the breast was stripped. The geese even got after our dogs. We had White Embden and Grey Tolouse geese.

New chickens to the flock have to sort out the pecking order etc. so just watch any new introductions to an established group.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), January 17, 2002.


I have 2 cows, 1 donkey, 8 each of sheep and goats, geese, ducks, chickens, and 15 pigs (pots & big 'uns) all living together. It IS a big barn with a big pasture, so it's not crowded. They all get along fine, and have for years now. 'Course, the pigs eat any eggs that get laid, so I can't collect eggs from those birds, but that's fine. The birds scavenge any stray bits of feed that the big animals eat, too, so there's less waste. Works for me.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), January 17, 2002.

Shannon:

What has your experience been with predators? Do you close up the barn at night when the birds roost? Do you have roosts and nesting boxes? Do the other animals act as a deterrent against predators in the barn?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), January 17, 2002.


we usually keep our animals either together or so close they might as well be! There is one disease sheep carry that infect some cattle............. but I forget the name, we lost one out of three calves to it. A desperate respritory with high fever, viral and there is nothing practical to be done for it either. I can E mail my vet if it's important to anyone. Our ducks and chickens are free range through the sheep paddocks and help keep flies down and spilled feed cleaned up. Very few rats/mice and bugless summers! Ok maybe not completely bugless! :^)

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), January 17, 2002.

I picture the menagerie in Shannon's barn all talking and singing together when she's in the house, just like that cute movie. :-)

-- Debbie in Mo (risingwind@socket.net), January 17, 2002.


Right now I am looking out my window as I write this and I see three donkeys, one horse, one llama, numerous sheep and goats, a Pyr, chickens, a goose in love with one of the donkeys,and guineas altogether. A couple of the chickens are setting on top of sheep on this cold snowy day. They all get along together and many of them were born just in that spot. However I have dogs who could not be in such a scenario without killing the fowl or chasing the sheep. It just depends on the animal and must be a try out first. This scene is I feel, better than any a city person has. At least it is for me. Terry

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), January 17, 2002.

You're probably right.....I wouldn't doubt that all of Shannon's animals get together to sing "hayside" (rather than "fireside" songs) they certainly get together to plan how to break out occasionally. ;o)

Shannon's animals all get along well....she has a great setup (soon to be even better when they get enough donations in to finish up their new barn) and she's got me started on the "keep everything together" kick. We have two miniature horses, a Thoroughbred/Percheron mare, and two pygmy goats out together who will shortly be joined by our three muscovey ducks and are visited by our three dogs occasionally (the dogs have been trained to leave the animals alone). Too fun!

Shannon, don't forget about the emu, miniature horses and pigs too.... ;o)

-- Lisa Ambrose (lambrose@summitpolymers.com), January 17, 2002.


You can try any combination you want, but keep an eye on them. A friend of mine kept his emu in with his goats. This arrangement worked fine for quite awhile, but one winter the goats decided to take a liking to emu feathers. They plucked the emu and he died of exposure.

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), January 18, 2002.

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