Ok, i'm new to ducks. I got 8 muscovy ducklings, one week old, two days ago. Currently they are in a xl cat carrier, inside my chicken coop with 5 chicken hens. I bought duck starter, and have a small waterer, n small feeder. I cleaned out the carrier,last night, and gave them fresh water, as I plan on doing nightly. Question is, how long should I keep em seperated from the hens? The chicken hens are 3 yrs old, and they free range during daylight hours. I'm currently using a heat lamp for the ducklings. The coop is 6' x 6', with a 6' x 12' outdoor caged area. When can the ducklings freerange? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
When you say hens do you mean chicken or duck? some people call ducks hens too. you say you got them 1week 2 days ago is that how old they are?
Yes, they are one week, and two days old now. Sorry for the misunderstanding, the "hens" are chickens! I have 3 different varities, I had more, but coons or fox took quite a few.
Sounds like they may be a bit crowded. but i would be very leary of letting ducklings that age alone with adult chickens. can you section of part of the coop so the duckling have a bit more space but are still safe from the hens? They will still need heat but if you could put it in a corner of their area then that could be their sleeping part and the rest could be for moving around. They grow so fast. It probably wouldn't be safe for your hens to be locked out either. maybe some chicken wire down the middle temporary till they can better cope with the hens.
We just recently tried to integrate my 5-6 week old Pekin duckling with my 4 chicken hens and it looked like a prison yard. I have decided it is in her best interest to build a separate duck house and let them free range together where the ducks can escape if need to. Hens are hard to integrate flocks with anyway but ducklings that small are just not safe to leave alone with them. I may be easier once they are more grown and size wise closer to the size of the hens. We did integrate a drake last summer and what we did was put him in at night, Chickens integrate best at night as they wake in the morning and just assume the newbies have been there a while. I would be wary of doing this with a young duck though. I also noticed that when she "peep's" and chirps it REALLY gets the hens mad. Maybe waiting until no peep sounds??? Good luck!
Sorry i forgot my manners and please post back with pics of your new babies, I'm a big fan of Muscovies
I am also new to ducks and have learned very quickly that the hens do NOT like the ducks. My 13 ducks are 3 weeks old and they have their own 10 x 10 foot duck house with a fenced in yard/pool area to themselves. It's always so horrible watching the grown chickens be so mean to the young ones (be it chickens or ducks). When the ducks are full grown I will allow them all out to free range together (that has been the ONLY way I have found to work when introduceing hens (chickens)). When it comes to ducks...I will find out how that goes this fall! Good luck with whatever you decide!