Adding wood ducks to flock

[Truecelt]

I was advised to post this here from the duck forum....

We have had a small-medium mixed flock of various chickens for several years. Low key breeds that all get along together. We have been thinking of adding some wood ducks to the group at large, and we are looking for advice, cautions, or any general information someone would like to lend us.

We live on 6 wooded acres in northern KY and have a creek running through the property. Due to their cost, we don't want to add them if we don't have the appropriate surroundings for them to thrive.

Any insight would be great!

 

[cajunfowl0]

I was advised to post this here from the duck forum....

We have had a small-medium mixed flock of various chickens for several years.  Low key breeds that all get along together.  We have been thinking of adding some wood ducks to the group at large, and we are looking for advice, cautions, or any general information someone would like to lend us.

We live on 6 wooded acres in northern KY and have a creek running through the property.   Due to their cost, we don't want to add them if we don't have the appropriate surroundings for them to thrive.

Any insight would be great!

Typically people are highly against mixing domestics with exotics. But also how big is your pen? How big are your chickens? How many wood ducks would you buy? Like I said tho it's not the best idea it would be smarter to just build a small 12x12 pen for the woodies and plant some brush in it

 

[BYC-user-174785]

Yes it is not a good idea to keep domestic ducks with ornamental ducks. But since you are talking about chickens then that is a big NO! Chickens should not be kept with many birds since they carry diseases other birds are susceptible for. A separate covered pen would be best since wood ducks will fly away. Keep in mind that you need a permit.

 

[cajunfowl0]

The only wild waterfowl I've seen with domestics are Canada geese mallards and I once saw someone who kept a pair of shelducks with a pair of domestic geese