ADVICE. Tell me all you know! i'm wanting to raise chicks and ducks!

[fishwithaface]

Hey everyone. So i've let the poultry life get the best of me. (Newbie here) And i've recently gotten chickens they are now just 4 weeks old. But we went to Cal Ranch the other day, and i'm starting to fall inlove with the ducks too!

This year we built a 8Lx4Wx5H foot chicken coop with three nest boxes, and the other side for storage. The run we attached to the coop is 13Lx8Wx6T foot. I was thinking of making an extension to a lean-too for the ducks, but i was going to free range my ducks with my chickens durring the day.

Oh and how long should i free range for? I was thinking 7-4pm?

TIA!

 

[Mrs.H]

Free ranging all depends on what you have for predators around including Hawks etc. I wouldn't free range them for awhile till they know where their home is. Are you planning on having the ducks and the chickens in the same run? Male ducks can injure/kill chickens if they try to mate. The chickens may not get along with the ducks, can you divide run if they don't get along so the ducks and chickens are seperated? Just a few things to think about! Congrats on getting chickens, and soon ducks!

 

[Amiga]

Good advice from Mrs. H!

If you have never raised ducklings before, please know that 1) they are wonderful beings 2) they are waterfowl.

They have a special relationship with water. Get the water management handled and you will be so much happier, and so will they. Here are some ideas.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/641902/created-a-water-saver-for-my-duck-brooder

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/679433/water-water-everywhere/10

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/858161/feed-water-solution-for-brooder#post_12901321

http://frankiemakes.blogspot.ca/2012/06/watering-solution-for-ducks.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/259876/do-your-ducks-have-water-at-night/10#post_13568197

post number 8 from this
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/959603/ducklings-getting-stuck-on-their-backs#post_14939819

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/969751/help-baby-ducklings#post_15125952


Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks and The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook are my two favorite book resources for ducks. Also the stickies (link in blue letters near top of Duck Forum index) are loaded with important detailed information, including one on Raising Ducklings and one on Treats.

 

[fishwithaface]

Free ranging all depends on what you have for predators around including Hawks etc. I wouldn't free range them for awhile till they know where their home is. Are you planning on having the ducks and the chickens in the same run? Male ducks can injure/kill chickens if they try to mate. The chickens may not get along with the ducks, can you divide run if they don't get along so the ducks and chickens are seperated? Just a few things to think about! Congrats on getting chickens, and soon ducks!

We planned on penning them for about 10 days both ducks and chickens. And only taking them out for about an hour to range with supervision. We do have hawks, ravens, and once a year late in summer we get CA condors. Those are the only daylight preditors. When we find out if we males or female ducks, we wanted to sell the males because of that mating issue :\ so we are hoping we don't have 4 males lol. But if there is an issue with the chickens not getting along with the ducks when they go to the same pen, we were gonna build an attachment to or pen for the ducks to divide them.