The other potential health issue I want to mention is salmonella bacteria, which live in the intestines of chickens. If you act quickly you can mitigate any deaths by quarantining your sick goats, offering hydration and electrolytes, and cleaning your entire barn and coop with ammonia or formalin to kill the oocysts (baby parasites). Unfortunately, there are no known treatments for this disease. The signs are poor weight gain and scours (diarrhea). Crypto is not uncommon in confined young chickens and can be disastrous for baby goats. Unlike coccidia, they are not host-specific, meaning chickens can get crypto from infected goats, and goats can get crypto from infected chickens. The intestinal parasites called cryptosporidia is commonly passed from young chickens to baby goats and can be fatal. One disease that chickens and goats can pass between each other is cryptosporidiosis. This means that chickens and goats CANNOT get coccidiosis from each other! After speaking with a licensed veterinarian I learned that while both chickens and goats can get coccidiosis (which is a very scary situation), they get it from *different* protozoa. When I was first researching keeping goats and chickens together there was a lot of misinformation on whether goats and chickens can give each other coccidiosis. While that may sound small compared to what you have read and researched online, this is based on my near-decades worth of experience caring for hens in a colder climate. In terms of how much space chickens need, I’ve found that hens need about 4 - 5 sq ft per hen to stay happy and healthy. At that point, we realized an entire separate chicken coop within the barn was best for our flock. On top of the goats needing to stay out of the feed, we also found that it was best to keep their curious noses away from nesting boxes to nix any risk of broken eggs. Your curious goats will gorge themselves on chicken feed if given the chance and it can be life-threatening! If you are new to goats you’ll soon find out that goats will eat anything. Many feeds contain rumen-disrupting ingredients that can lead to bloat and ultimately kill your goat. Having a goat-free area for your hens is absolutely vital because chicken feed should not be eaten by goats. This means that your chickens can come and go as they please, but your goats should not be able to access that space. First and foremost, you need a separate space for your chickens that your goats cannot get to.
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