Badgers have moved in to the goat house
Senojcin
Posts: 9
Does anyone else have experience of badgers taking up residence in outbuildings? And did you get rid of them?
For a few years now we have seen large holes being created by the badgers in our field. I thought at first it was a young badger trying to create his own sett.
Unfortunately he got bored of digging holes in the garden lawn and field and decided he was going to move in with the goats instead.
I have 6 pygmy goats who live between a 12x12 goat house and 6x12 goat house side by side. Both are open 24/7 so they are free to come and go as they please. The badger(s) (I saw two in the field shelter on the night camera), however, have decided that they will use the smaller goat house.
They have dug a latrine at one side and on the other under the bench the goats use, they have pulled hay in and made a nest.
By morning they have gone. Where do they go?
I don't want to harm them and hopefully they aren't carrying TB otherwise we're in deep doodoo.
Are they likely to move on do you think?
Posts
I'd be concerned that this is a potential 'nursery sett' ....... cubs are usually born in February. I'd try to move them on (in the kindest possible way of course).
As a former keeper of a herd of dairy goats, I'd instigate a regime of regular tuburculin testing if you milk your goats or sell stock on ............. or even if you don't.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you for your comment Dovefromabove
and oh no, not a nursery sett!
On our way home late on Saturday night we saw what looked like a baby young badger, only about 10" long so maybe it was a late badger from Autumn?
The woodland surrounding me is littered with setts so I'm not surprised they may want to 'sett' up home in my smallholding.
This is a lovely pic of Brock getting a little refreshment
Thank you Pansyface
I love the badgers too and I don't mind if they want to share the goat house with the goats. They disappear by morning so I don't know what they get up to during the day?
I only hope they are not diseased and bringing anything in to the goats. The pic I posted doesn't show it but there is a salt lick not far from the water bucket. There are no cattle in the woods but plenty of deer and wild boar.
Badgers don't like high volume music, the question is if the goats do?
Hahhaaaaa,don't know about loud music but Molly's bleat can burst an ear drum at 100 paces, unfortunately she's not in season at the moment so she's quiet
Badgers can be very vicious, if you intend breeding your goats I would definely get rid of them, they’ll have the young as soon as it’s born.
They will take lambs, theyre sure to take a new pigmy goat.
Lyn
Thank you for your post. My goats are all fully grown, well the youngest are 10 months but full size. They keep their distance from what I have seen and don't go anywhere near the small goat shed when the badgers are around. I want to shut it off but the goats are 2 micro herds, Molly and her two babies, then brother and sister with a nanny that hasn't been to buck so we're not likely to be having any babies. I put feed down for 3 in each house. I'm afraid if I shut the small goat house that the badgers will start using the larger house then the goats won't have anywhere to sleep and will get cold and wet which they hate.
I hope that all makes some kind of sense.
It could be a pregnant badger that has been exiled from the group, as there is normally only one breeding alpha 'sow' in a sett, in which case she could move on after raising her young. Or again, it could be a lone badger of either sex that has been ousted after fighting. They often have multiple setts which could be why it's often vacant or used as a 'last resort'. I can see your love for wildlife & appreciate that you are trying to find a compromise. I think the media sometimes demonises badgers & foxes, but understand you need to vigilant in regards to TB/when you decide to breed the goats again.
This couple were dining outside at the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey
Last edited: 14 February 2018 21:05:47