lazela Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I have a colleague who is interested in keeping hens. She has goats already and lives in a lovely village. She knows that there are foxes about - well they live in the country!! and was wondering if the goats would help protect the hens. Her theory is that when dogs go too close to the goats, they get butted - does anyone have any experience of hens and goats living in harmony? or if goats would be protectors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogs and chickens Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I have not had any experiance myself, but a friend of mine, keeps her goats and hens in the same outbuilding and field, they all get on in perfect harmony. I have no idea about the protection thing though, she has never had a fox problem, and they do not have very high fences so maybe the goats do protect the hens. Clearly I need a goat!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckmomma Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I was talking to some one today about this He used to have hens, ducks and geese in his back garden, and he also had a goat. He said the goat would not tolerate foxes in the garden and would chase them away. I don't think the goat actually protected the hens as such, it just didn't like foxes. In fact he lost his Gander to a fox one night when he forgot to shut it away, so the goat wasn't much protection for the birds. But there shouldn't be a problem between the goat and the poultry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickflick Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 we had both when i was young they are completely fine together.Goats if they are at all prone to butting will have a go at most things but i wouldn't rely on them to protect the hens.Basically goats are not that altruistic .They are mainly motivated by their stomachs-like most of us really! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...