Anyone brooding ducks and chicks together?

[CowgirlPenny]

Any special precautions I need to take? Can the ducklings eat ok out of traditional chick feeders?

 

[donrae]

It's not a good idea. The ducks make such a mess in the water and keep their environment pretty saturated, it puts the chicks at risk for illness. Chicks don't handle the damp well. Baby ducks are hands-down the messiest animal I've raised! You'll be amazed where they'll splatter water, and how dirty they can make perfectly clean water in a brooder environment.

 

[CowgirlPenny]

It's not a good idea. The ducks make such a mess in the water and keep their environment pretty saturated, it puts the chicks at risk for illness. Chicks don't handle the damp well. Baby ducks are hands-down the messiest animal I've raised! You'll be amazed where they'll splatter water, and how dirty they can make perfectly clean water in a brooder environment.

Wonder if I could just split my brooder in two with cardboard down the middle? It's big enough. Atleast for the first two weeks.

 

[gryeyes]

I brooded mine together with a hardware cloth barrier between the chicks and ducklings so they still socialized with each other. At two weeks, yes, the ducklings were much larger (chicks grow feathers then get bigger, ducklings get bigger THEN feather out) so they got their own brooder in the same room.

 

[CowgirlPenny]

I brooded mine together with a hardware cloth barrier between the chicks and ducklings so they still socialized with each other. At two weeks, yes, the ducklings were much larger (chicks grow feathers then get bigger, ducklings get bigger THEN feather out) so they got their own brooder in the same room.

OK. I guess that's the plan. Brooder together until the current set up is outgrown, then either the ducks leave to another brooder or the chicks go to another brooder and whoever stays takes over the full brooder.

 

[CedarRidgeFarm]

Baby chicks require Medicated feed and Ducklings cannot eat Medicated so not a good idea.

 

[Garrisonkidsduo2]

Any special precautions I need to take? Can the ducklings eat ok out of traditional chick feeders?

Ducks are messier then chicks, you will find out that the water needs to be cleaned more often. I do brood all my chicks and ducks together. The bedding gets cleaned more and the water gets cleaned more, and i use a traditional chick feeder and both eat out of them fine. Actually I have ducks and chicks together more in a brooder. You will just have to keep everything cleaned up is all.