# Chicken and horses?



## Lovehorsesandrunning (Nov 10, 2009)

I dont think thats true, i always heard horses so great with any barn animal


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## Skipsfirstspike (Mar 22, 2010)

There are chickens on the property where I board and they drive me crazy. There are about 8 of them living loose, and they nest in the barn. Actually there are 2 barns, the hens hang out in the back barn, and the roosters hang out in Spike's barn. You walk in the barn and they crow loudly for 5 minutes. They roost in the rafters, and there is often chicken sh*t on Spike's back. Nasty, dirty things.
Admittedly, they are delicious.


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## Indyhorse (Dec 3, 2009)

I've never heard of chickens with horses being a bad thing. I have chickens that are free range during the day (they have their own coop at night, they don't nest among the horses) and I very much encourage them to go wandering in my pasture - they kick apart the manure, eat bugs etc so I find them very beneficial to have around the horses


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## Rowzy (Mar 1, 2010)

Well, chickens are fine to have around horses, usually. I have chickens and I have horses. Before I knew I had a coyote problem. my chickens were always out in the pasture, looking for bugs in the horse poop. It made them perfectly happy (although I do have to deworm my chickens regularly). 

However, my rooster will attack my horses. It is very unusual behavior, and it is only dangerous if I was to ride when my rooster was loose. For the most part if the horses see him they will run away. I'm surprised he was never hurt by them actually.

I can see how if they just stayed in the barn like Skip said would be annoying and also very gross, but thats why I have a coop .


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## Icrazyaboutu (Jul 17, 2009)

I have chickens and horses together, they eat the bugs, help dry out the poop, and are really funny to watch! I close them in at night in their coop and let them roam all day long. I dont have roosters anymore (coyotes and wild dogs killed them) but when they were alive I never had issues with them being aggressive towards my horses...


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

I keep a couple hundred birds on our farm. They are great for scratching the manure and eating any excess grain and bugs. I don't have a fly problem. They clean up spilled feed and this helps prevent rodents. I've seen them hunt down and kill mice. They provide eggs for sale which helps pay the feed bill.

The problem with chickens is that they do poop everywhere. If they get poop in the feed or water pans they could possibly spread disease. There are a lot of diseases that can be spread by poultry. Making sure you have healthy, parasite free birds is key.


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## Thatgirlsacowboy (Aug 17, 2009)

My mare chases chickens.... So maybe they are bad to have with horses hahaha


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## mpleasance (May 9, 2010)

Thanks guys, should have known who i heard that info from was wrong he is a complete idiot, he said they spread bots to them and give them saminela (however its spelt) The chickens where i'm going to board are locked up. they are in the same room but have their own stall that has cage so they can't fly and i don't think they let them out because they have cats. But they do have geese that they let out. Our grain is no problem because we have barrells with locked covers on them. Got to be careful of over heating in the summer but the winter its great


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## kim_angel (Oct 16, 2007)

Chickens could probably carry and transfer salmonella but I wouldnt worry so much about that. As long as the chicken poop isnt in the horses feed/water.


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