# New to chickens and goats



## OklaWerewolf (Jun 3, 2012)

I am writing a new article for the beginners, that are wanting to start raising chickens and dairy goats. I'm looking for some feed back and the do's and don'ts. So please post and let me hear what you have to say.


----------



## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

I read so many nest boxes per chicken, yah right! I wish I would have known no matter how many you have per chicken they will pick a favorite one or 2 and fight over who gets in that one first. I have added, taken away, changed, shall I go on?  Good thing I can use power tools cause my hubby would have killed me by now. I have changed my roosts around at least once or twice a year just trying to get to the easy layout for me to clean and for them to roost. So after that long story, layout in the coop I am sure would be helpful to a newbie. Also the use of organic ACV and DE.


----------



## woodsman23 (Aug 6, 2009)

don't wash the eggs unless they have crap on them. Also no need to put in fridge if not washed.... chickens eat anything including gardens!!!!!


----------



## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

Chickens lay an egg every 26 hours. Ducks lay an egg every 24 hours. If you keep chickens, you will not get one egg per day. You will get about 5 per week per chicken. 

Chicken tractors are a nice alternative to chicken coops.

Fertilized eggs are fine to eat and there is no difference in taste. 

You don't need an expensive coop and expensive feeders, etc. Milk crates make great nest boxes. So do 5 gallon buckets. It is not necessary to spend a fortune. Use hardware cloth, not chicken wire to keep predators out. 

Keep your feed in a metal trash can with a tight lid.

Overcrowding and poor ventilation are the number one cause of illness.


----------



## woodsman23 (Aug 6, 2009)

my coop made from scrap wood..


----------



## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Dairy goats are awesome!!! I love them to pieces. They take up very little space, can eat almost any weed, have small and managable poop and don't eat as much as cows. Get a "heavy" milking breed like a Nubian or a Saanen. Nubian milk has more fat, Saanen produces more volume. If you're just starting out don't worry about registered goats. Some of the best milkers are not registered and some really bad milkers are. Look for 
B I G teets that point straight down to the ground and ask the seller to milk the goat in front of you so you can see how she behaves on the milk stand. Snotty goats are hard to milk.

Keep bucks in their own, very strong, very tall pen. If you think you're building it to house Godzilla, you'd be correct. Bucks will do anything to get to the does. Having baby goats in winter in warmer climates is usually fine, but where it snows you want babies to come in the spring. A goat's gestation period is 5 months. Not all bucks are 'in rut' all year long. Most start to rut in September and/or October. You'll know when they're in rut by their smell. Let's just say it STINKS!!! You can't breed a buck with his own daughters but you can breed him to his granddaughters. Good idea to have two unrelated bucks. Keep breeding records.

All goats have worms all of the time. Managing how many worms they have is the key. Baby goats can die very quickly from too many worms. Expect to worm them 4 times a year. Alternate the wormers you use. 

Dehorning is awful to do, but is very important. You will know why if you get a horn jabbed in your ribs or in the butt. You can purchase a dehorning iron for about $40-$50, watch a couple of youtube videos, grit your teeth and get it over with. You will not be sorry you did. 

***Make any seller show you a copy of a negative CAE and CL test. You DO NOT want any goats with these diseases....ever. Do not compromise on this! Do not purchase any goat that has not been tested. Do not add any goats to your herd that are positive for either of these diseases. Do not let the seller tell you the vet checked them out and said they were negative. You can't know unless a blood test is done and there are only a handful of labs in the country that perform the tests. A reputable seller would not hesitate to not only do the testing but have the certificate in hand for you when you buy. If you ignore this piece of advice, not only will you be heartbroken when you have to put your goats down after they get sick but it will spread to your whole herd through the mothers milk and get into your soil and infect every single healthy goat you bring to your farm. ***


----------



## OklaWerewolf (Jun 3, 2012)

Would everyone that has written a reply to this thread mind coming to my web site also and posting it in the forums? www.oklahomasurvivalist-com.webs.com


----------



## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

OklaWerewolf said:


> Would everyone that has written a reply to this thread mind coming to my web site also and posting it in the forums? www.oklahomasurvivalist-com.webs.com


We gave you a whole bunch of FREE info for your article and now you want us to go post it on your website for you, too?! Really?!


----------



## OklaWerewolf (Jun 3, 2012)

Just wanted to give credit where it's due, you don't have to and I don't mind doing it.


----------



## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

Duck eggs are belly bombs...

Most folks are mildly alergic to certain protiens in eggs. I know, I know. You eat eggs all the time and so do I. Duck eggs have 20 times the alergy causing protiens. They can and do cause issues in alot of folks. 


Ask me how I know.


----------



## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

When we dehorn we always spray with Blue-Cote. It cools as well as covers the area to keep it from getting infected.

Find a FAMACHA class to go to on parasites in goats. We did. The one we took was at the University. It is usually about 7 hours. Well worth finding.

We always give a CDT shot about 3 days before dehorning and also before banding the little boys. 

We also keep our kids on medicated feed for cocci for up to a year. Even adult goats can get cocci when the weather turns real dry and they are eating closer to the ground which is where the cocci is. And you have to be very vigilant when the weather gets dry and watch carefully for worms. Even 4 times a year sometimes is not enough because of weather conditions.


----------



## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

We keep them different than most. So some may disagree.

They stay as a herd.
No dehorning
No castration
Worm only when they look thin and leaky. Hasn't been an issue in a few years tho. We kept the good keepers and butchered or sold the rest.
The only other med. we keep on hand is antibiotic. I have had a few occasions where they were very valuable. Pulling the third baby. Yes I had to put my whole arm in. A boy was in the road and got hit by a truck.. Destroyed the truck.. Gave the goat a bum leg.

We let them mostly graze in the warm months. They get a bit if grain if they look thin.

We cut our own hay(weeds, brush and grass) by hand.
A youtube vid of me cutting.






Basically I wanted them to be as self contained as possible. For instance the last time I fed them was late spring. We want hairy (warmth), large frame(lots of meat), and moderate milk(don't need a ton of grain). We about have it.

Here is a pick of one of our boys with his winter coat!


----------



## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

I'm glad that method has worked for you Stan, but I have lost some goats because I waited until they were "thin and leaky" to worm. Had a baby get leaky one day, the next had 'bottle jaw' and was dead the next day. It can kill them very quickly once they get runny. I'm not saying 4x a year will be enough for every single person, but I'd say at minimum you'd want to worm them that often. I also give them a copper bolus 2x a year and the drop in worm count was absolutely dramatic! Lots of debate over that topic, but that's my personal experience.


----------



## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

lazydaisy67 said:


> I'm glad that method has worked for you Stan, but I have lost some goats because I waited until they were "thin and leaky" to worm. Had a baby get leaky one day, the next had 'bottle jaw' and was dead the next day. It can kill them very quickly once they get runny. I'm not saying 4x a year will be enough for every single person, but I'd say at minimum you'd want to worm them that often. I also give them a copper bolus 2x a year and the drop in worm count was absolutely dramatic! Lots of debate over that topic, but that's my personal experience.


Believe me... I know well the debates.

I figure those things will be hard to come by post SHTF.. So I took my losses now. It wasn't cheap. I'm at the 5th herd sire... He was good other than being Stubborn goat  He kept getting in the road. Even getting shocked didn't deter him. He is in the freezer but the girls should be settled. I will know in a month.


----------



## Lori64 (Sep 22, 2012)

Your big guy looks like Kiko, Stan.

Our experiences are to not go overboard on the meds and take some losses. Let the herd gain strength. We don't have any purebreds left but have some pretty hearty crosses. We've run the gambit over the years and you can easily spend more money on meds than what the goat is worth.

If you are just getting started, try to find someone local who you can call to answer questions and mentor you. Goat care can be somewhat regional. What works in TX doesn't necessarily work in MI. Start small but get 2. They like a buddy.

A friend who has both sheep and goats told me: Raising sheep is a science, raising goats is an art.


----------



## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

Lori64 said:


> Your big guy looks like Kiko, Stan.
> 
> Our experiences are to not go overboard on the meds and take some losses. Let the herd gain strength. We don't have any purebreds left but have some pretty hearty crosses. We've run the gambit over the years and you can easily spend more money on meds than what the goat is worth.
> 
> ...


He has funny genetics..

Lamancha /50% 
Boar 25%
Alpine 25% I think this is where the hair comes from. They started to get the long hair with a sire that was half.

Want to see a goat I love the look of.. But the wife thinks is horrible?

He has a Mullet! It was even bigger in person.


----------



## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

ROFL!!! LOVE the mowhawk!!! I could never raise sheep. Somebdy told me if they ever eat nightshade they drop over dead before you can tell that they're sick. I've also heard they're kind of stupid, lol. I'm not nearly as "Nazi" with my goats as some people are. Mostly because of cost, but some because of wanting them to be tough. Goats and sheep didn't get wormed in Biblical times so you gotta figure they're fairly hardy animals with no intervention. The key must be rotating their grazing grounds. I read an article about a hobby farmer who let ducks loose in the pasture right after the goats had grazed it and the ducks ate all the bugs in the poop so that by the next time the goats went in there it was all bug/worm free. Thought that was pretty clever.


----------



## Lori64 (Sep 22, 2012)

He's cute!

Sheep are stupid. No doubt there. No more sheep for us. I like the goats. They have personality and you can baby them or leave them be to suit your mood. They don't care much either way. Unless they think you have something to eat. Then they'll run you over to get it.

Either rotate or keep stock/acre rate low. People hear you can have 7 head/acre but miss the rest of the story then can't figure out why they run into trouble. 

I was thinking about putting a few chickens in with the goats to eat the bugs. Ducks are out of the question for DH.


----------



## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Maybe you all didn't have the right kind of sheep. 

I have found Jacob sheep to do very well and I don't have to worry about them jumping on my car or truck ...:wave:


----------



## brucehylton (Nov 6, 2010)

At one time, I was milking 25 head by hand. We kept them all together and gave them plenty of room to graze. I kept tobacco around and let them have a small amount monthly as a wormer. I had no problems with worms, but did have problems with dogs.


----------

