My teenage daughter wants ducks 😍

[Hedgeland Farms]

Hi there,
My teenage daughter is wanting 2 ducks. We don't have a set up for them yet so this will be next yrs endeavor. We don't have a pond, but read abt burying a kiddie pool. Just trying to learn abt them.
Do I need more than 2, these will be just pets?
Space requirements??
Will it be a big deal of we end up with a boy and a girl??

Shes convinced we can keep them with the chickens...but I told her .
Not gonna happen lol..ducks are messy.

Lend me your knowledge please!!

 

[fluffycrow]

I don't know much about ducks, here are some people that know much more. @BelovedBirds @Overo Mare @New duck mommy 2021 . The only thing I will tell you is that having one hen and one drake is not ideal

 

[Isadora]

One drake and one hen may or may not work depending on the drake. Most drakes love to breed and do best if given 4-6 hens to share the love with. An overbreeding drake can injure rhe females.
And yes, you definitely don't want them with chickens if you end up with a boy. If a drake tries to mate with a chicken he can injure or even kill her. Their anatomy is not compatible.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I don't know much about ducks, here are some people that know much more. @BelovedBirds @Overo Mare @New duck mommy 2021 . The only thing I will tell you is that having one hen and one drake is not ideal

Thank you!
Clearly I'll dive into the internet and do my own research as well...but it'll be easier to talk to people with experience.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Two ducks is fine and I would recommend ordering from a hatchery where you can specifically order two females. While there are people out there who have a drake that does fine with one female I would say that only happens 1% of the time if that. You might as well save yourself the likelihood of a big headache and go with two females. Space wise it is generally recommended a minimum of 4 sq ft in the coop and 10sq ft in the run. Make sure that the coop is draft free and well ventilated. I personally think ducks do better with more space than that especially the larger breeds. A kiddie pool will work just fine for swimming and you don’t have to bury it unless you want to. The usual kiddie pools ducks don’t have any problem climbing into and if anything you could put a paver in front as a step. An extra tidbit, make sure they get enough niacin and I would recommend getting a bottle of Durvets B complex to keep on hand. I think it is a vital component of a first aid kit for ducks.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

One drake and one hen may or may not work depending on the drake. Most drakes love to breed and do best if given 4-6 hens to share the love with. An overbreeding drake can injure rhe females.
And yes, you definitely don't want them with chickens if you end up with a boy. If a drake tries to mate with a chicken he can injure or even kill her. Their anatomy is not compatible.

Thanks so much for this!!!

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Two ducks is fine and I would recommend ordering from a hatchery where you can specifically order two females. While there are people out there who have a drake that does fine with one female I would say that only happens 1% of the time if that. You might as well save yourself the likelihood of a big headache and go with two females. Space wise it is generally recommended a minimum of 4 sq ft in the coop and 10sq ft in the run. I personally think ducks do better with more space than that especially the larger breeds. A kiddie pool will work just fine for swimming and you don’t have to bury it unless you want to. The usual kiddie pools ducks don’t have any problem climbing into and if anything you could put a paver in front as a step. An extra tidbit, make sure they get enough niacin and I would recommend getting a bottle of Durvets B complex to keep on hand. I think it is a vital component of a first aid kit for ducks.

Thanks so much!!!
I appreciate the help!!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hi there,
My teenage daughter is wanting 2 ducks. We don't have a set up for them yet so this will be next yrs endeavor. We don't have a pond, but read abt burying a kiddie pool. Just trying to learn abt them.
Do I need more than 2, these will be just pets?
Space requirements??
Will it be a big deal of we end up with a boy and a girl??

Shes convinced we can keep them with the chickens...but I told her .
Not gonna happen lol..ducks are messy.

Lend me your knowledge please!!

Hi!
I actually have two ducks that I hatched a year ago

So first thing I'd mention, is yes having two ducks is totally okay, much better than having one- but having said that, if you are able to, having three would be so much better.
I am completely unable to do this myself at this time, but I feel the worry of only having two. If one were to get sick, and God forbid, pass away, I'd be left with a very lonely bird. Even if I found a new friend immediately, I would want to play it safe and quarantine that bird for a few weeks prior to introducing them. And even introducing them can take time.

So having that third bird would really help to avoid that situation.

Second thing I'd say is having one boy with one girl is not ideal. Some people manage to get away with this ratio, but the liklihood is that the drake will over mate and possibly injur her. Especially in the spring spring hormones spike
Having all girls or all boys would be better.

You can purchase sexed ducklings to ensure this, but it may be better to adopt older birds so that their sex is certain.

Housing with chickens, I know people who, again, get away with this. But generally yeah ducks are super messy and make everything wet. If you ended up with a drake, he could also mate the chickens which would very badly damage them. So I'd house separately. If you get girls they could still mingle though!

Ducks will happy with any amount of water! A kiddie pool, a lake, doesn't matter that much. As long as they have a space to splash, they'll be entertained!
My girls had an inground pond which was awesome, but it was ridiculous to keep clean so now have a small plastic paddling pool and they're just as happy.

One last thing I'd point out is that diet is really important, ducks need a good amount of niacin to thrive, so will need duck specific food.

And that's about all I have to say.
Though I do want to add how happy this post made me,
- to see a parent doing research before getting any animal for their child, is a really good thing. Plenty of parents don't. Thank you for researching first!!!

 

[ruthhope]

Hi there,
My teenage daughter is wanting 2 ducks. We don't have a set up for them yet so this will be next yrs endeavor. We don't have a pond, but read abt burying a kiddie pool. Just trying to learn abt them.
Do I need more than 2, these will be just pets?
Space requirements??
Will it be a big deal of we end up with a boy and a girl??

Shes convinced we can keep them with the chickens...but I told her .
Not gonna happen lol..ducks are messy.

Lend me your knowledge please!!

My not so teenage son got three ducklings a few years ago -- I wish he had prepared as you are doing with your daughter.

I rescue and rehab ducks and one of mine was an Easter duckling 2 years ago. He and his brood mate were attacked by a raccoon; he survived with a deformed bill and probably loss of brain cells but his brood mate died in the attack. You will know about protecting backyard fowl from predators as you already have chickens.

My son's pekins are two females and a male and he is lucky that they are tightly bonded and the drake does not overmate the girls. It's very rare for a couple, one drake and one female, to work well without the female being over mated. So, as others have already advised, getting females would be best. I'm very much into "adopt don't buy". An alternative to buying sexed ducklings would be to adopt older females. But if your daughter wants to brood the little fluffies -- that is so much fun -- best to buy sexed day olds either from one of the mail order breeders or you may have a local-to-you breeder who would sex the ducklings.

As for how many, minimum of two but the problem with having only two is that if something happens to one, you are left with a very lonely duck who was probably closely bonded and might quickly go into depression. If you have three and something happens to one, the two remaining ducks still have eachother for company. So I strongly advise three. But you do know that they are addictive? ;-)

Kiddie pools are fine for small flocks of ducks but they do get brittle when left outside and they always spring a leak in the winter when there are no replacements in the stores. I now use sandboxes. They are more robust. My own are mainly muscovy [I have 1 pekin that thinks he is a muscovy] and they like to perch on the side of the kiddie pool. That quickly leads to breaks in the plastic. Sandboxes sometime come with a lid, too, and so the water can be covered at night. You and your daughter will get hours of fun from raising ducklings and seeing them splash in a kiddiepool or sandbox filled with water! Even a bucket or small tub will be well used.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I am so glad to be getting responses!! Thanks so much for all the info and advice. Itll help us a ton when we finally bite the bullet. She's already making plans for their housing....