Adding chickens to a duck flock?

[Snakely]

Hello everyone!

I have a small duck flock and was hoping to add a few laying chickens.
My current crew is 2 female runners, a trio of Muscovy, and a female Emden goose. They were all raised together and get along very well.

What are your thoughts on adding 2 or 3 laying chickens to this crew? What breed of chicken do you think would be best?

I will also mention they have an 8x8ft coop that is kept dry, an 8x8ft enclosed run, along with access to a large fenced in area with a pool for grazing and foraging during the day.

Thanks for everyone expertise!

 

[Callender Girl]

I have chickens, runner ducks and 2 American Buff geese, and all wander loose together during the day, but each species has it own shelter/coop at night. Everyone plays pretty well together, but chickens definitely need things drier than the ducks and geese do.

I have a wide range of breeds and sizes of chickens, and all seem to do fine with the waterfowl, aside from an occasional nip over a treat or water dish. I love Cochins, but you might want to avoid them and other feather-footed chickens because of the muddy messes that come with ducks. Plus, my runners don't lay during winter, but I do get eggs from my Buckeyes and Easter Eggers during the cold, shorter days.

Hope you are able to find some chickens that work for you!

 

[K0k0shka]

Just make sure you never have male ducks and female chickens together.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Just make sure you never have male ducks and female chickens together.

I was under the impression that if the drake has enough female ducks then he won’t mess with the chickens

 

[K0k0shka]

I was under the impression that if the drake has enough female ducks then he won’t mess with the chickens

That’s no guarantee. Better safe than sorry, because sorry could mean dead.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I started with ducks. All girls. After 4 years I got a couple of pilgrim geese, but they are kept separate Day and night., then a few months ago I added 2 Orpington hens to live with my ducks and the ducks hated them. They still hate them 5 months later. I had the chickens separate the first 3 months but where they could see each other. Then I put them together. I’m thinking of separating them again, at least at night.

 

[Isadora]

I was under the impression that if the drake has enough female ducks then he won’t mess with the chickens

Unfortunately not necessarily true. Certainly more likely he'll leave the chickens alone but there's no guarantee. I personally don't risk letting my drakes intermingle with my chickens.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I actually don’t even keep any drakes . The few I had in the past were not nice boys. But I found them new homes. I buy all female ducklings now and hopefully Metzer got it right this time, my 4 new ducklings are six weeks old and it sounds like they are all getting their nice loud quacking voices thanks God