Deer sleeping in barn - warnings??

[tpup]

We have a 4 stall barn and large run in shed in the pasture. We sometimes have a few deer graze w/the horses but lately there is ons hanging around that appears to be young but not a “fawn”. She has been coming into the barn (deer hoof scratch marks in our cement) AND I have now come in to find her sleeping in one of the stalls in a corner on a very hot buggy day. Our barn is pretty breezy and cool. We’ve seen two corners of that stall kind of bedded down in the corner. When I come in she darts out. Tonight she was in the run in shed!! When the horses tried to come in she left.

While I don’t want to “adopt a deer” I don’t particularly mind her seeking cool shelter for a few hours in the afternoon. My horses are out 24/7 in summer. Besides worries about ticks and potential spooking of horses, does anyone see any reason NOT to let her come in? When I know I am bringing in horses I close my stall aisle doors so she can’t suddenly dart out of a stall. She is not people friendly at all and runs away anytime I approach but she seems to feel at home in the field w/the horses. She is also not alone all the time - sometimes with a group of 2 or 3 grazing.

Has anyone had one “join the herd?”

[BuddyRoo]

I had a herd that joined up with mine for several years, mostly in the winter. I bought extra hay as a result. None came into the barn, but they were friendly.

Tapes were my issue. I had to deworm for tapes a LOT more then than before or after with all the deer.

[tpup]

Thanks BuddyRoo. Do tapes show on fecals?? Can’t recall. I’ll watch for that.

[Simkie]

Nope, tapes often don’t show on fecals. I’d worry about Lyme and other tick borne disease!

[Bluey]

And lepto.

We lost a horse to lepto, that could have come from any place, but we had deer eating with the horses when we fed and sleeping in the hay barn in the winters.

We put a deer proof gate in the hay barn after that.

[pezk]

Where I use to board, there was a deer herd that would be in the field with the horses. Esp during hunting season. The horses didn’t care and I thought they simply thought of the deer as just another horse.
In the barn - I think I would put up a gate or close the door so the deer couldn’t get in. I wouldn’t have a problem with the animal in the run in shed.

[BuddyRoo]

Tapes don’t usually how on a fecal unless they’re shedding eggs and not just segments. I’ve rarely seen tapes in a fecal (when I worked at a vet clinic).

But I saw segments around the rectum so knew I had an issue.

[JanM]

I would be careful to look before going in the barn. You don’t want to surprise the deer, have it feel trapped, and get desperate to escape.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=JanM;8300429]
I would be careful to look before going in the barn. You don’t want to surprise the deer, have it feel trapped, and get desperate to escape.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that too, you were careful walking up to the hay barn, let them run out before you went in for hay.

The trouble is also that a few deer tell others and then you end up with a whole herd in there and that is too many.

Deer ticks also were in the horses thru the winter.
We had to dust them regularly.
That could not be helped, they used the same pastures.

[Jealoushe]

Good timing, I have a girl with two fawns that visit my horses paddock every night and hang out under the apple tree. I suspect they are drinking from the trough. Any worries about that?

[Gainer]

I’m not sure how much it should be a concern. If you’ve ever looked at tracks in fresh snow, lots of critters cross your pastures every single day…you just don’t see them.

I would try to keep the deer out of the hay barn; wouldn’t really bother me to have them in the barn/run-in, other than the spook factor.

It’s best to keep the horses’ vaccinations up to date, and do regular fecals. The rest is pretty much left to chance.

[goodhors]

I guess I would make it unpleasant for the deer so barn is not a nice place. I sure don’t want to deal with the problems they carry moving to the horses. Deer do cross the fields here but don’t linger. Geldings go after them usually, wanting to know who they are. Deer leave so that works.

Extra noise, radio, CD player, might aid in driving her out, keeping barn closed, stalls closed, chasing after a few steps as she escapes, to tell her this is NOT a nice place! Any barky dogs to leave in the barn, prevent entry for a while? You want to break her of this habit!!!

Letting her visit the barn WILL cause trouble later. Higher disease and worm problems for YOU and horses with constant exposure. She will be back with a rutting buck, next year’s fawn, so you or other barn visitor could get run over during an exit by the deer. Not a good situation to let continue.

You might call DNR about how to get rid of them ideas.

[AKB]

We have a doe who spends a lot of time in our pasture. All spring and early summer, she left her fawn next to my horse’s stall each day. Presumably, he was supposed to babysit and keep the fawn safe from coyotes. He didn’t seem to mind. Now, the fawn is big and roams the neighborhood with the deer herd.

[Foxtrot_s]

Two deer crossed the road in front of my car today - gosh I wish horses could fold and tuck like those things and power out of a standstill over the wire, trotting off with an extended trot…

[Bluey]

Doe and two half grown ones, the buck already on the top of the pickup eating hay and cowcake cubes.
She was circling, trying to find a way to get up there, would even put both front feet up, but not quite jump in there with her little buck:

[tpup]

Thanks Goodhors, and all! I’ve decided to err on the side of caution and keep my aisle stall doors closed so the deer cannot get in the stalls. At night my barn is closed up due to some new feral kittens we have in a crate. Don’t want any critters bothering them right now. During the day the main barn aisle doors are open, and tops of dutch doors open but the more I am reading, I am not comfortable with deer sleeping in my horses’ stalls! The last thing I need is another vet bill!

[DHCarrotfeeder]

[QUOTE=tpup;8301742]
Thanks Goodhors, and all! I’ve decided to err on the side of caution and keep my aisle stall doors closed so the deer cannot get in the stalls. At night my barn is closed up due to some new feral kittens we have in a crate. Don’t want any critters bothering them right now. During the day the main barn aisle doors are open, and tops of dutch doors open but the more I am reading, I am not comfortable with deer sleeping in my horses’ stalls! The last thing I need is another vet bill![/QUOTE]

I think you made the wise choice.

Another angle to consider is leaving the wildlife to be wild. Deer feeding stations have been studied and found to be extremely disruptive to the deer population, leading to unnatural concentrations of deer and subsequent deer deaths when the feeding stops. I don’t think a couple of deer sleeping in a stall is nearly that disruptive, but wildlife have a cunning and subtle way of adapting into a situation that it can’t adapt out of. It’s doing them a favor in the long run to keep them healthy in their natural habitat.

[HungarianHippo]

Not to mention the more she’s habituated to close human contact, the more she’s at risk of being hunted. Not that I’m opposed to hunting, at all, but it’s supposed to be a fair fight. Seems unsporting to me, to shoot an animal that has been tamed or drawn to feeding stations, and pretend that was “hunting”.

(Still must have been cool though, to see her in the stall like that.)