Melina Lends a Helping Hand

Melina may be the grumpiest goat I’ve ever met, but she’s not above helping out a friend in need. Actually, it surprises me how well the chickens and goats get along. The chickens may get an occasional head butt from a goat when they think it’s eating food that belongs to them, but other than that they co-habitate in the nicest way together.

This is a favorite farm photo of mine. That’s Cissy, Kiki & Grace’s mom, with one of my old silkies, Kiev, on her back. It was feeding time so they were all keeping an eye out for me, and Kiev wanted a better view.


The goat house has always been a favorite hangout for the chickens, and now that it’s winter some days there are so many chickens hanging out in the stalls that it’s a wonder there’s any room for the goats to go in there. The hay racks have always been a favorite laying spot for the chickens, and I find far more eggs in the rack or underneath it than I ever do in the nesting boxes. Because the goat house was so popular, I built a double nesting box to hang in the goat house in Melina and Princess Kate’s stall. I built it just as a flat, deep box, kind of like 2-compartment baking dish, rather than a typical enclosed box. I don’t know why I did this, and at first it was a complete failure and nobody would even go in it. Now, next to the hay racks, it’s the favorite laying spot for the chickens.

Yesterday I was so happy I had my camera around my neck when I went out to bring the goats some fresh water. I caught Melina giving my White Plymouth Rock hen a boost up into the nesting box.