Adding new ducks to my flock??

[anniele27]

We live on an estimated 5-7 acre lake and have 12 ducks (3 Rouen and 9 pekin) that are about six weeks old and raised together. By sounds we are pretty sure we only have about 3-4 males. Then yesterday we went to the farm store to stock up on supplies and saw they had Indian runners there. Because we have always wanted runners (but could never find them near us) we bought 3 little ducklings. I would estimate them at about 1 1/2 weeks old (maybe older). Their brooder is besides my older ducks inside/nighttime pen but the view between is blocked by a large sheet of wood.

In about a month we plan to move our big ducks to free range during the day and be put up in a new duck house down on the beach at night (we haven't let them on the lake yet because they aren't fully feathered)

Could our runners potentially share that home with the others when they get older?
If so, how exactly do I integrate them and when?

I'd love for them to all be together as a flock on the lake. All the ducks on the lake are domesticated (raised by neighbors) and I often see wood and call ducks hanging out as well as Muscovy and mallards, so I was hoping the different size/breed wouldn't effect things.

Thank you for taking the time to read and (hopefully) answer. any advice is welcome and needed!!

 

[anniele27]

I did some research and decided to change the area between the two pens so it is now a wood frame covered in 1/2 hard wire so they can see eachother but when should I let them actually interact?

 

[anniele27]

Any advice? Anyone?

 

[BarredRockGirls]

Put cages close together so they can see each other and get used to it . when the older ones are moved even move a cage in the area were the older ones get locked up at night or get fed .
The older ones will need to accept the new ones into the flock . It will happen sometimes even w a lil feather pulling or chasing it takes weeks sometimes
Let the younger ones out for supervised playtime with the older ones too to help
Also let them all out together and give treats to all it'll teach that everyone gets treats from you and treats are good

 

[anniele27]

Put cages close together so they can see each other and get used to it . when the older ones are moved even move a cage in the area were the older ones get locked up at night or get fed .
The older ones will need to accept the new ones into the flock . It will happen sometimes even w a lil feather pulling or chasing it takes weeks sometimes
Let the younger ones out for supervised playtime with the older ones too to help
Also let them all out together and give treats to all it'll teach that everyone gets treats from you and treats are good

Thanks that's great advice! I didn't even think about the positive renforment that treats would give!!
This is what we have for them right now

The older ducks are enjoying watching the little ones and the little ones don't seem scared or anything at all!!

 

[BarredRockGirls]

soon you'll have this

 

[anniele27]

I got three embden geese about two months ago and since the moment I got them I had them side by side with my runners. Well the runners went down to the big duck house permanently so I started bringing the geese down in the morning and bringing them back into the garage at night. They seem to get along really well during the day and even lay and swim by eachother. I decided that tonight I would try letting the geese stay with the ducks overnight. I put the food and water in the pen like normal and the geese walked right on but the ducks wouldn't go near them. When they did the geese would bite at them causing the ducks to run away. I had no choice but to put the geese back in the garage and let the ducks have their Pen to themselves.

How can I get it so my ducks and geese can live together, even when there is food, peacefully?