[Jacob-list] sheep, goats & chickens

[Troy Allen]

I built a chicken coop in the main paddock with the sheep. They have their
roosts, feed thing, and water thing in there, so that's where they sleep.
(sorry for the technical chicken terms,...just try to follow along  :-)  )
Although they cruise around together, I've yet to see any poop on fleece,
and there seems to be plenty for them to do other than goof around with the
hay. I feed grain in a trough I built in the"Sheep the Modern Way" book, and
I have to turn that on it's side after grain time, as the chickens will
roost on that and poop in it. Other than that, everyone gets along great,
flys are minimal, and I hope I never see flystrike,..ugh, maggots are
horrible!!!

Troy Allen
Drover's Oaks Farm
Derry New Hampshire

> One thing no one has mentioned with the chickens used for fly control is
> the poop problem.  Don't the sheep get their fleeces dirty living with
> chickens?  I'm really tempted to move our chickens in with the sheep after
> reading all the comments, but I don't want to sacrifice the fleece quality
> for a few less flies.