# Pasturing Sheep and Chickens



## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

Just a lurker here on HT Sheep, reading alot in the past few months to learn for my future of possibilities. Great mix of people here and I really enjoy the discussions.

Read something on another forum about someone claiming they couldn't pasture chickens with sheep because chicken manure contained copper that would harm the sheep. That's the only time I've read that, so I have doubts to it's validity but it got me curious enough to ask some sheep folks. 

I know I've read numerous times that goats might need copper supplementation and to keep the sheep away from it. But chicken manure?

But am really interested in rotational pasturing with multiple species. Has anyone here had any experience with pasturing sheep and chicken together or in rotation? Any validity to the copper poop concern?

TIA for your patience with NewbieQ's


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

I've never heard that. I rotate species through my pastures. First my sheep, then my horses, then the chickens. The chickens do a good job breaking up the manure and eating most of the fly larve. 

I will say that my sheep are gaga over layer pellets. They prefer it over their own grain but I attempt to NOT give it to them. It works now that I've made my chicken pen resemble a castle.


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## hillbilly123 (Jun 3, 2012)

Our chickens are free ranged so they go everywhere, no problems at our place so far.


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## eieiomom (Jun 22, 2005)

_We've had free range chickens for as long as we've raised sheep ( 20+ years) with no problem...._
_However poultry feed is high in copper and not safe for sheep to consume._

_Hay harvested from fields that have been fertilized with large amounts of poultry litter, can definitely increase the risk for copper toxicity._
_I'm not sure of the exact amount off the top of my head, but it can be found online somewhere. _

_~Deb_


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

When I was raising breeding stock sheep and heritage chickens, the chickens ran all the pastures and I never had an issue. Same with the ducks.

However, their hen house had their own Yard and the Hen house was inside that. 
There was one small chicken sized door in the gate and again in the hen house
and no way for the sheep or wee lambs to get in to eat the chickens grain.

Have the same set up here. ;O)


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

I keep sheep and chickens and sometimes turkeys together in a small (<2 acres) area without any problems. We have to make sure that the sheep can't get into the chicken coop to raid the feeder, though.


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

Thanks All!


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## Bret4207 (May 31, 2008)

Maybe if you got the sheep to eat chicken crap it would be an issue. Otherwise, don't worry about it. The amount of litter you'd have to put on the land in order to cause problems would likely be enormous and then not all plants are going to draw it up into the leaf. Plus, if the chickens are free range you aren't giving them so much feed with the copper in it.

Read a report recently that found some sheep LOW in copper. They actually had to dose the sheep with copper. Weird.


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## eieiomom (Jun 22, 2005)

Bret4207 said:


> Read a report recently that found some sheep LOW in copper. They actually had to dose the sheep with copper. Weird.


_Some breeds are more prone than others to copper toxicity._
_Different geographic areas (chemistry of soil) are more deficient than others, so as anything in farm management there are variables._
_There are flocks out west (Colorado) that need to supplement _
_their copper intake._

_~Deb_


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Chicken litter is very much loaded with copper ...
Heres my boss loading me up with 35 tons a couple of Autumns ago ...


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

J.T.M. said:


> Chicken litter is very much loaded with copper ...
> Heres my boss loading me up with 35 tons a couple of Autumns ago ..


 So.... whatya gonna do with all that copper infused chicken poop?


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## Maxpowers (Apr 4, 2012)

I have turkeys with my sheep. They did a great job with the tick population. 

I now want to get rid of all the turkeys... Unless you clip their wings they will perch and poop on everything in your barn. They're making a mess of my barn, thankfully they are tasty.

I think chickens would be a better option because they don't fly nearly as high.


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