Ducklings and Chickens

[Heidi123456]

If I put ducklings along with chicks under a broody chicken will she take care of them equally? Or will she exclude the ducklings? Do ducks and chickens get along? are ducks all that bad? can you eat duck eggs?

 

[SJanay]

I can't answer all your questions as I don't have experience with raising chickens and ducks together under a hen. But, I've heard that hatching ducks under a broody hen usually works well. She doesn't know that they are not chicks.
I have 5 Khaki Campbell ducks currently and had three more a few years ago. Ducks can be a more difficult to care for in some aspects, but I find them easier in a lot of ways---they don't have a pecking order, they are fairly docile, they don't get sick or injured half as often as chickens... Of our 5 ducks, one is a male and the others are females. We get about 4 eggs per day. They lay very well. And yes, we eat their eggs! They are a different consistency than chicken eggs, but they are good for baking. They are much bigger and the yolk is larger than the whites of the egg. Also, my brother is allergic to chicken eggs, but we heard that some people who can't eat chicken eggs can eat duck eggs. So he tried the duck eggs and had no reaction whatsoever. So that's a neat fact; of course it may not be so for everyone with an egg allergy. Also, duck eggs are alkaline, whereas chicken eggs are acidic.
Hope that helps a bit!

 

[RacerWife7]

There's a little girl across the street from me who is allergic to chicken eggs. And, like SJanay's brother, she can eat duck eggs without issues. Since we have ducks, I give them eggs whenever possible so this little girl can eat eggs. (So sad to see a little girl get SO excited about something as simple as eating an egg!!

)... But, it makes me happy that I can provide that one thing for her.

 

[SJanay]

There's a little girl across the street from me who is allergic to chicken eggs. And, like SJanay's brother, she can eat duck eggs without issues. Since we have ducks, I give them eggs whenever possible so this little girl can eat eggs. (So sad to see a little girl get SO excited about something as simple as eating an egg!!

)... But, it makes me happy that I can provide that one thing for her.

Definitely! My brother was super elated to be able to eat eggs again! So we can make so many recipes with duck eggs and he can eat them. It truly united our family again, since we had to make everything separate for him.