In certain parts of North America and Europe, keeping goats as a source of organic milk or just as general pets is increasing in popularity at a surprising pace and a number of social media groups have popped up for people to talk about their goats and the problems that they are having.
Many people who keep goats also keep chickens too and we have seen a number of people reaching out worried because their pet goat ate chicken feed.
Although chicken feed is not toxic to goats, it can cause bloat, lethargy, and other issues so it is worth paying extra attention to your goat if it does each chicken feed.
If your goat only ate a small amount of chicken feed then it should be fine but if it has eaten large amounts then we would recommend that you seek advice from a vet, especially if your goat is in obvious discomfort.
If you are an experienced goat keeper then you are able to use the electrolyte or vegetable oil trick that we will cover later in the article that may be able to help but we would not recommend that you use this treatment if you have never done it before or don’t understand why you do it.
A vet will be able to administer the treatment for you with it being a very easy and straight forward treatment for an experienced veterinarian but you can book a video call with a vet to have them assess the condition of your goat and offer you their professional advice if you want.
Is Chicken Feed Toxic To Goats?
Chicken feed is not toxic to goats and will not cause problems with blood toxicity levels but it can cause other problems if your goat is able to eat chicken feed.
The most common problem is bloating but chicken feed can also cause goats to be lethargic, sleepy, and experience high levels of discomfort making them agitated and upset.
This is why some people on social media claim that chicken feed is toxic to goats as they misunderstand that the term toxic actually means.
Just because something is not technically toxic if your goat eats it does not mean that it is safe to eat and will not cause problems is consumed, especially in large amounts.
This is why there are some heated debates on social media on topics about goats eating chicken feed as it’s not technically toxic but can cause problems.
Side effects of ingesting chicken feed for goats can range from minimal discomfort to diarrhea but in rare cases, it can be far more serious than that.
This is why we recommend that you keep a close eye on your goat who has eaten chicken feed for around a week and look for any signs of discomfort or anything out of the ordinary.
If you do see anything like that then you should get in touch with a vet as soon as possible to get a professional opinion on the situation and get their advice on how to move forward.
What Should I Do If My Goat Ate Chicken Feed?
Ideally, you will be getting a vet to administer any treatments required by a goat who has eaten chicken feed but you can try to use electrolytes or vegetable oil to reduce the effect the chicken feed can have on your goat.
This will involve drenching your goat with a drench syringe to get it to swallow the vegetable oil to reduce the effects of the chicken feed it ate.
To do this, you will need to pick up a drentch syringe but the cheapest one will do and then you select the formula and amount of formula that your goat will require.
This is where it starts to get complicated and why we don’t recommend that beginners or even intermediate goat keepers try this as each goat will require different amounts of liquid.
There are various calculations online that you are able to use to work it out that will depend on the weight of your goat and the circumference around your goat’s chest.
In addition to this, there are a number of different things that you can add to the core formula too such as baking soda so you should always get a vet to confirm any treatment for a goat in discomfort after eating chicken feed prior to going through with the treatment.
What Will Chicken Feed Do To A Goat?
A small amount of chicken feed should not have any negative effect on a healthy adult goat but you should still try to prevent your goat from being able to eat chicken feed.
If your goat manages to eat large amounts of chicken feed then it can have symptoms that include bloating, discomfort, vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy that can end up progressing to serious health issues in rare cases.
We are huge believers in prevention being better than cute but we know that accidents can happen but we would recommend that you change your setup to reduce the chances of your goat being able to eat chicken feed again in the future.
Thankfully, as we mentioned, most goats shouldn’t have any real issues and will often just go around their normal business without showing signs of any problems.
If this is how your goat is behaving then there is generally no need to worry and your goat should be fine.
If your goat is having problems with any of the issues listed above, even just being more lethargic and lazy than usual, get a vet to check your goat over as soon as possible.
The sooner you start treating your goat the less chance of there being any long term serious problems.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over what to do if your goat has eaten chicken feed to an end. We hope that we have been helpful and helped you understand the potential risks of the situation as well as that most goats should be fine provided they are otherwise healthy and have only consumed a small amount of the chicken feed. If you do feel comfortable administering the drench treatments yourself then you can give it a try but the vast majority of our readers should be getting a vet to do it.
