Q: Should chickens then have their own enclosed area?
A: Yes

Q: If we keep chickens for eggs, what do you do w/ the hens when their production drops off due to age?
A: Chicken soup

Q: What kind of health maintenance can I expect on the goats? Can a homeowner do it, or will I have the vet out there a lot?
A: Most of the health maintenance can be done by the owner. Goats should probably have checkups at least every year. If you don't know how to treat an ailment, call the vet and watch and ask questions. Most ailments call for common sense solutions. And a bottle of iodine always at hand is recommended.

If you're interested in raising meat animals, I recommend rabbits. Extremely easy to raise, they are usually very healthy, make low fat, white meat, and they multiply like, well, rabbits.

Chickens aren't nearly as messy as geese... I have 9 that roam freely and you barely notice their poop. And best of all, they do all "come home to roost" at night... all I do in the evening is close the henhouse door when I take the dog out for a stroll. Once their production goes down, you can either keep them as pets if you're a softie, or butcher them for stewing.

I currently have 2 pygmy goats and am planning on breeding, because the two little ones don't make much of a dent in my brush clearing, and they are highly entertaining animals! However, goats aren't big grass-grazers... they prefer woody stuff like roses, honeysuckle, brambles, etc. I am pretty new to keeping them, but I think they are fairly hardy, although you must be very careful not to overfeed them, as they can die.

I had thought about getting a couple sheep, as they are cute and DO make good lawnmowers, but I also heard that sheep spend most of their lives looking for a way to die, and I know they need help come lambing time, so I'm not pursuing that one right now. Good luck!

Chickens (laying hens) are great to learn with. You will find out that they are funny, have distinct personalities, and are clean if kept properly. Fresh eggs are delicious! My 23 birds (Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons) are not messy, eat all our leftovers, weed the orchard, and amuse us with thier antics.

If they are confined to a small area all the time, they will make a poop-filled, stinky pen. I let mine free-range every day, and the more room they have, the cleaner they are. If you have dogs, they will slurp up the chicken poo from the yard(G). The hens put themselves back in the henhouse every evening. I just have to close the doors to keep them safe.

Heavy breed hens are less prone to fly/wander. You do not need a rooster to have eggs. Well-cared-for hens can lay for many years. Then they can be pets.

I love turkeys too. But choose light breeds, since the heavy ones become crippled. My Turkeys were sweet, curious birds that liked to supervise all action in the yard.

Sheep are a lot of work. I had a small flock. They ate only expensive hay, and my precious fruit trees and vines. They ignored the lush grass. They have to be wormed every month, have thier hooves trimmed, and be sheared. Shearing is hard work!

I never had goats. Goats and fruit trees are not good together. That is why I tried sheep.

Lisa

Goats need excellent fences, otherwise they will be butting (and climbing) your cars and eating your gardens. Don't pen sheep with goats if your fences can't keep the goats in, because they will lead the sheep out as well. Most maintenance you should be able to do yourself, but as was mentioned above, get a vet (or a knowledgeable neighbour) to teach you what you don't already know.

Sheep aren't necessarily a lot of trouble. There are no shear breeds like Barbados Blackbellys which should do well in SC. We never trim hooves and worm only when a fecal test shows they need it. That has been once in the past 2 years.

Neither sheep or goats will do a really good job of grass eating unless you have a lot of small pastures that they can eat completely in less than a week. 3-4 days on a paddock is ideal. Otherwise they will keep eating at the short trimmed grass and ignore the tall grass. My sheep have never turned down lush, short grass and they eat any hay we give them. They only get picky when they have a lot of good second cut. Goats will turn up their noses at grass if there is shrubbery available.

Both sheep and goats need protection from predators. An electric fence is usually good enough to stop dogs, but it barely slows down coyotes. Depending on your situation, nightime penning may be enough or a guard animal may be needed.

Great advice here, I can't really add anything except to say read everything you can on your target animals before you get them, it's tough learning things the hard way from your mistakes. Much easier if you learn from other people's mistakes. :) Take especially to heart the advice to provide a safe, predator-proof enclosure for your chickens, especially at night.

I have a chicken info website here that might help:

http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChick.htm

Enjoy your farm!

Velvet ~:>

I guess the goats will get whatever comes up after the land is cleared, which will likely be brush. I'm thinking about timbering a pasture area, and rather than dig the stumps, just let the brush grow up, and the stumps rot in their own time. The goats should be able to control the brush. What is a recommended goat fence? The livestock will have a sturdy barn to go to at night; should keep everyone safe. I guess 'hobby farm' is the wrong term; these will definitely be pets. I wouldn't have the heart to kill an animal, so I guess the chickens will retire in style. I understand that goats need their hooves trimmed a lot. How often? Is it easy to learn? Thanks for all the input!

I agree with several above posters about chickens. They aren't at all messy like geese. We have 75 of them that free range over our entire property. Because they aren't confined to a area, they don't destroy anything at all and in fact are wonderful free labor in cultivating between my flower beds. As long as anything is up and growing, they will just cultivate between everything.

Caveat here, when creating new beds and planting seeds, it is necessary to fence the sweeties off until everything is up and growing. They are free fertilizer and such fun to watch! I do think a rooster or two makes the flock much more fun. The guys call the girls to dinner and always let the girls eat first!!! Also, they completely protect their hens.

We have goats and the hoof trimming all depends on what they walk on. Ours are in a pasture so we have to trim hooves twice a month. It doesnt take long and we use EMT Sissors(dont know what they are called but they will cut thru a penny very good sissors)and a hoof hook to get out all of the mud and poo. Their hoofs grow just like our fingernails do. As to fencing we have two types of fencing. The 2 acres they graze in is enclosed with cattlefencing and then we had to run a hot wire along the inside about their height to keep them in. If I had it all to do over again I would use a different type of fencing because the goats can still get their head thru the cattle fencing and get caught. We lost one nanny that way she strangled her self in the fence and we have had to remove our other nanny 3 times. We keep a close eye on her. Our billy is too big to get his head thru. We also have chickens and they do need their own areas although we do let our chickens free range daily to keep them out of the coop. One of our coops (We have 3 separate ones)that my husband built has a window in it so we keep that open to circulate air inside the hen house, they each have their own totally enclosed chicken yard. But if that gets muddy we let them out into the pasture. They learn to go in every night at dusk and we have a trap door system as they go in we lower the door from the outside and they are safely in their houses at night. Right now we have 25 young birds that are still learing to go in at night and we still have to on occasion herd them up their little ramp into the chicken house while someone on the outside lowers the door as the last one go's in. We have ducks (they are messsy)but all animals are confined to 2 1/2 acre fencend in area. They are lots of fun......but takes a commitment especially in the winter whey you have no running water at the barn and you have to carry HOT water up to the barn twice a day in the winter so that they have running water.......Josette

I'll second the chicken and rabbit suggestions, as we're also newbies. They're very easy care and not expensive to feed.

If you don't light your chicken coop, they'll pretty much stop laying when the days get shorter over the winter. We don't light ours, we give them a rest.

5-6 hens will lay plenty of eggs for a family. 6 hens should lay 4-6 eggs per day total.

Check your cholesterol, heh. Fresh eggs are a whole different food from supermarket eggs.

Effective goat fencing - Pour concrete wall 10 ft tall. Pour second 10 ft concrete wall 20 ft outside the first. Fill space in between with water and stock with sharks & piranhas.
Otherwise, count on them eating all your (and your neighbors') desirable landscape plants, and constantly parading about on the hood and roof of your vehicles.

Goats are browsers, and so long as there is sufficient browse - brush, briers, multiflora rose, etc., they'll be fine, but once they've depleted the brushy, woody stuff and are reduced to having to graze, you'll rapidly find out that "Goats were never intended to live and GRAZE in the warm, humid, Southeastern US." - parasites, Haemonchus contortus, in particular, will eat them alive.

Don't get me wrong - I love goats. But they do present some major challenges.

Here is a link that might be useful: IPM for sheep & goats

I second all the goat advice,especiall the concrete fence,lol.But as far as lawn mowers and brush eaters,you might want to look into llamas.Just a gelding or an older female will be inexpensive,and I would get two,they dont like to be alone.But mine have done an amazing job of clearing off my property,they eat stuff the goats wont touch,I spent years trying to get rid of honeysuckel in the pasture,the llamas have completely cleared it out.They are quite,intelligent,gentle,and since they do need to be sheared once a year,you can usually find someone who will buy the wool.Just thought I would offer you another option.
Deb

Hi, I think ducks are wonderful pets. They aren't that hard to take care of either. They are pretty tough animals, and can get thru the winter with a warm place to sleep with lots of hay.

I have 1 goat, and although oneday I would like to maybe get another I love Reese very much. He is a sweet little guy and loves attention. He will follow me all over the entire yard for as long as I'll stay out with him.

I've never had a donkey, but would love to someday. I think they would be great pets; my neighbors have some. They may not be good though if your wanting some animals that aren't much trouble.

I've never had chickens, but almost everyone here has some and they seem to make good pets. Maybe oneday I might even get some. My grandpa use to have some as a kid and he loved his.

Just whatever you get make sure you do your research on it. Any animal can be lots of fun with the right love and care.

Genny