Introducing a single duck to a flock

lilyphem said:

Howdy

I've got an existing flock of 15 chickens (varies breeds/sizes/ages) and two ducks (one female Khaki Campbell and one female Muscovy).

I recently acquired a male Cayuga from someone because "he wasn't good enough to breed with" and have been raising him inside (and oh my......the peeping!!! First important lesson, don't raise a duck alone! At least he & the dog are buddies now haha!)

I've been taking him out to sit with the flock everyday - swims in the pond and just hanging around having a snack with the ladies. I'm not able to do three months inside - I've got Belgian D'Uccles on the way, so I'm hunting for tips and tricks to integrate him into the flock. Oh....and the noise.....

My existing ducks are sort of interested, but I'm assuming my presence is skewing their behaviour a little. Also, my duckling (of course) gets a bit of separation anxiety, which is great (never raised a more mental bird!)

So if you have any ideas, please feel free to send them my way. If I have to, at worst, I get him a friend, and move them to an area adjacent to the main scratch yard.....

Open to suggestions

thanks for reading & helping!!

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Miss Lydia said:

How old is your Cayuga drake ? you could set up a space right next to where your existing flock lives making sure it is very secure and let them all live side by side for a while. That way they really get to know each other on a daily basis. but no one can get hurt namely your newbie to the flock. I'd start out letting him be outside during daylight first them after he has been out during daylight try leaving him out in the coop in a dog kennel over night so he is still safe from harm. it may take a couple weeks but once he has been sleeping in the dog kennel for about a week one day after you have let everyone out for the day open the door to the kennel and let your drake out and just stand by and watch, he might be already accepted and it will be no big deal but you want to make sure before you leave him. The chickens are worse than ducks about accepting new comers. and can inflict serious harm with their beaks. Of course all of this can only come about if your drake is fully feathered in. since nights are getting cool. When i took my inside drake out for his first night it was tough he didn't want to be in the stall by himself but I had to practice tough love and after a couple nights he was fine he was 12 weeks old fully feathered and it was June.

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lilyphem said:

That's perfect!! I can work around that (I've even got a refurbished dog kennel attached to one of the coops for nesting space).

He's 4 weeks old this Wednesday, he's growing very nicely. No concern about weather; I'm in Australia, so we're on our way to another scorching summer. Days don't get below 24C and nights have been humid and or warm.

The only chickens who seems to have a problem with him are my hylines, everyone else is fascinated with him haha! Especially the Pekins!

Thanks for the advice; it's given me the "thinking outside the box" I needed!!!

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Miss Lydia said:

Keep us posted on how it all goes and of course we need some pics of everyone too. 

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