About Ducks with Chickens ...

[jandmeg07]

We have a Pekin and a Rouen, 4 red sex link girls and a black sex link male. Ours are together for the time being, sharing a run and with only minimal separation in the coop. (That'll be changing in the next month or so.) We were totally new to this and per the feed store owner's instructions, we have fed them non-medicated poultry starter from the beginning. We are just getting ready to start adding scratch to it and then in a few months, we will replace the starter with laying pellets. For treats we've given the chickens yogurt and the last time they had it, Lucy the Rouen ate most of it!

The ducks love any kind of green but the chicks tend ignore them. Oatmeal is a big hit with the chickens. We have been very lucky for our first time and all of our birds are big and so far healthy *I'm knocking on wood*, and if you ask me, they're pretty darn happy, too.

Everyone is a little different, but these things have worked well for us. Good luck

 

[Vala]

When you mix species, the trick is to feed to the highest nutrition requirement, which in this case, is the ducks. They need more protein & vitamins (think about what goes into building that very heavy coat...) than the chickens do. I keep ducks & chickens together and they co-habitate fine (the pens ARE on sloping ground, so that the water splashed around from the duck pools drains away...).
Because I also keep Bobwhite, I keep Gamebird Breeder crumble on hand. I give the ducks & chickens both Gamebird Breeder crumble & cracked corn. They eat what they want of each & everybody is happy! Also they DO get oystershell freechoice... And when I have them, I throw in fresh greens (think trimmings & weeds from the garden), which are very good for them. Kiddie pools for the ducks to play in & they have a ball!