Chickens, geese, pigs, etc. all running with goats?

[grandmajo]

Hi everyone,

I've been on here for several months reading, but I have to ask a question.

I had a call from some people that we know from church, telling me that they'd bought some goats at an auction, and wondered if I would come take a look and see which buckling they should keep. I was astounded to say the least. They had probably 50 birds running loose, chickens, geese, guineas, ducks, etc, which were running everywhere. As well as probably 2 dozen cats or more, of various ages. In the fenced area where the goats were at, they also had potbellied pigs, of which the sows had all had babies (25 babies if I remember right), and were running all over the place as well. Polutry has free access to the fenced area too. They had purchased one doe, and her udder was absolutely horrid, hanging waaaay down, she looked to be a toggenburg cross, and she was skin and bones. She was eating chicken poop off the chicken roost in the barn. The fenced area did not have a blade of grass, nothing green growing in it all all, not even a weed. There's not a spot in the yard that you can step in that doesn't have bird poo in it. The ducks are swimming in the goats' water trough, and it is all muddy looking.

What are the dangers of having all of these animals mixed together as far as passing diseases back and forth thru feces?

Thanks!
Jonell

[nehimama]

Wow! Sounds like a horrible situation for all the animals involved! I couldn't say what specific diseases might be passed back & forth, but I sure would NOT have a situation like that for my animals. It can't possibly be healthy for any of them. Oh, my!

NeHi

[picklespickles]

my animals mix freely (goats, geese, ducks and chickens). the goats drink from a very large mudhole with a hose in the bottom so the water is changed out daily. the ducks and geese swim in it. on a small scale, there has never been a problem.

but it sounds like they may be in over their heads.

i think if you want to help them, do it with compassion, not out of judgement. they are as overwhelmed as the animals otherwise it simply would not be that way.

move ahead with that in mind, not necessarily focussing on how terrible everything is. find a way to address how overwhelmed they are if you would like to provide true aid.

just my two cents

[thaiblue12]

Eww it sounds horrible.
I had ducks and they are such messy things. They escaped their pen and would dirty the goat's water and my goats would not drink it.
Since they are member of your church can you speak to the priest/pastor someone there and see if a few members can get together and in a kind and non-judgemental way clean up their place and fence off certain areas and etc?
I think it sounds like too much time and expense for one person to handle. Maybe tomorrow after the service you can speak to someone and see if that can get things started.

[mygoat]

I run my chickens, ducks, and goats together. The only problem I have is keeping the ducks out of the goat water, to which I've found no solution except to clean it out every time I notice they've swam in it. The pastures are expansive and they all range but I've never had any problem with the disease transmission. I will also have them ranging with turkeys/geese when/if I ever get them.

I wouldn't, however, have them ranging with pigs because I hear pigs will kill baby goats (or adults if not fed properly!) and that scares me.

[DQ]

I doubt potbelly pigs could manage a goat very easily. sound like too many animals in one area to me. If they don't see it then telling them probably won't help especially if they were apparently open minded to aquiring more animals. I would ask if they need some homes for the poultry and hopefully would have a dinner or two. Might mention something about goats getting sick from drinking water contaminated by the poultry. beyond that just distance yourself from them.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

my animals mix freely (goats, geese, ducks and chickens). the goats drink from a very large mudhole with a hose in the bottom so the water is changed out daily. the ducks and geese swim in it. on a small scale, there has never been a problem.
........................

You really need to rethink this. Goats are acutally very picky about what they eat or drink given a chance. If these are for family milk, they can never produce the milk they would drinking out of water like this, and the eventual outbreaks of worms, cocci, ecoli, salmonella and mastitis as they lay next to this water that fowl have pooped and swam in, is just a matter of time.

I prefer to not have water fowl near the goats because they do foul the water so much. Vicki

[Leo]

I'll throw in my two cents, IMHO, it just seems that those poor animals are bound to get real sick if they aren't already.

I knew someone who had ducks, geese, chickens all amuck in the same pen, the only time their water got changed was when I visited, these people called themselves an animal rescue, . They had problems with eyes exploding, they called it a 'head cold,' cannabalism, etc. Goats, chickens, ducks, dead for who knows how long, rotting in the pen. Eventually they got so many complaints for animal abuse all their animals were taken away.

These people were an animal collectors, you can try and help them, but they just don't learn and they will keep on buying animals. IMO they need mental help, and going over and trying to help them get on their feet will only give them more reasons to buy more animals.
Megan

[KSALguy]

the only problems that would happen in mixing livestock is if the drinking water was contaminated (ie the ducks poopoing in it) and this is a "DUH" issue, if there is crap in the water the water wont be good, also if poop gets into the animal feed there will be an issue, again "DUH" but other than that there is no problem mixing Goats with Poultry, there is no disease that can cross spieces between poultry and goats,

BUT i will add this, the PIGS throw a WHOLE NEW SPIN on things, not because of disease but because they can and WILL eat not only the poultry when ever they can catch them BUT new born goats are fair game as well as a doe that has just deliverd or is in heat is a prime target for a pig to come up and gouge her Vulva and bleed her out and then eat her, a potbelly pig can easily accomplish this, and a large pig can even do it to Cattle, it has happend before and i would say it will happen again,

[grandmajo]

Thanks all for your replies. And in reply to some of the posts:

1) They do have fencing, but it is for some of their 12 children (foster and their own), who are mentally handicapped. The other children run barefoot amongst all that mess.

2) What Vicki said was exactly what I was thinking of, in terms of disease. I just can't imagine how these animals are not going to get sick.

[farmmaid]

We pasture the goats, chickens and ducks together and all come into separate areas at night. We solved the water problem by having a small poultry yard that the chickens and ducks go out into first and then a small swing door in that fence that lets them out into the pasture. The door is too small for the goats to go through but the birds can come and go into the yard as well as their house. In that area we have a poultry waterer for them. Out in the pasture we hang the buckets of water for the goats on the chain link fencing so the goats can get to it but not the birds. Goats also have water in the barn at night. Works very well!!!

[Feathers-N-Fur]

I'm weaning my kids in my sow pen this year. These aren't newborn kids, I know better than that, but everyone gets along fine. The sows share their food with the kids but push each other away from the food trough. They have separate sleeping areas, and the kids can always get to their area away from the pigs. They have been in there a month now with no problems. My pigs have also never hurt or eaten any of my free ranging chickens. The hens love to go in and eat the pigs food. The pigs were here first, but in the year we've had chickens, always free ranged, we haven't lost any.

[germanbini]

Poor mixed up animals! Maybe they just need more fencing so they can get them all in different areas.

We have our chickens and goats in the same pen, and I've known another woman who did the same thing, who also had ducks. We don't have ducks but I can see where the dirty water might be an issue. We have several different watering stations for the goats and chickens, some are tall barrels that only the goats can reach, though they also do drink out of the chicken's tubs sometimes. Fortunately no one is swimming/defecating in the water yet. We also have pigs but they have their own separate area.

[HollyBearFarm]

Yup, ducks and geese are icky and disgusting. But they make such NICE eggs! Our ducks are free range, so they are in and out of the goats' pen. But our goats' water is really high up, where the ducks can't reach it, so we don't have a problem with the birds...um...fouling up the water.

We also live close to a couple of other houses, and I'm pretty sensitive about being a good neighbor. So I muck out once a week, to avoid having any kind of goat scent at all. This pretty much takes care of any duck poop in their bedding.

It sounds to me like your friends' problem is not the animals all running together so much as it is THE ANIMALS. They need to get rid of some. Now-ish would be best.

[LittleRedHen]

I say their problem is tooo many animals and not the issue of them being together aside from being certain that the ducks coudln't swim in anybodys drinking water. Aside from that, I think most animals can mix