Almost 4 week chicks and ducklings.. playtime?

[JulieBeth07]

I posted this under raising chicks and didn't get any responses.. so I thought maybe if I reposted it here I may..

Background .. we're newbies and jumped full force into this flock thing We currently have 16 chicks and 2 pekin ducklings (I believe one is a drake). They'll be 4 weeks old in a couple of days. They were in a brooder together but I separated them a couple weeks ago. They're right next to each other and can see one another.

I take the chicks out for playtime outside in a temporary coop and I let the ducks out for a bath .. but they don't play together

Fast forward to their permanent home... the chicks will have their own hen house and the ducks will have a separate duck area but they will have a common run.

Questions...
Should I let them have playtime outside together at a young age so they're used to one another? How do I introduce the two? Should I give treats (mealworms or some egg) during the "introduction"?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Miss Lydia]

If you have a drake your going to be better off giving your ducks their own pen too, Especially since you only have one female. Drakes will want to breed with anything in feathers if they don't have enough females to mate with plus your one female ducks will be over mated. Best to have 3 and up females per drake and still give them their own run and coop. Just safer that way. Drakes got way to much Hormones and once they become sexual kind of go nuts on the breeding thing.

 

[JulieBeth07]

If you have a drake your going to be better off giving your ducks their own pen too, Especially since you only have one female. Drakes will want to breed with anything in feathers if they don't have enough females to mate with plus your one female ducks will be over mated. Best to have 3 and up females per drake and still give them their own run and coop. Just safer that way. Drakes got way to much Hormones and once they become sexual kind of go nuts on the breeding thing.

We're planning on ordering a couple more females online once we get these 2 out of the brooder. Would that be an ok thing? We were thinking about doing it now but were afraid of the age gap

 

[Miss Lydia]

You can order anytime because you’ll have to brood tiny ones separate anyway the size difference will be over whelming but one way to introduce littles to older is to take them out on nice days to spend time around the older ones with supervision. That way when the little ones are ready to go out they will all already know each other.

 

[Isaac 0]

If you have a drake your going to be better off giving your ducks their own pen too, Especially since you only have one female. Drakes will want to breed with anything in feathers if they don't have enough females to mate with plus your one female ducks will be over mated. Best to have 3 and up females per drake and still give them their own run and coop. Just safer that way. Drakes got way to much Hormones and once they become sexual kind of go nuts on the breeding thing.

You can order anytime because you’ll have to brood tiny ones separate anyway the size difference will be over whelming but one way to introduce littles to older is to take them out on nice days to spend time around the older ones with supervision. That way when the little ones are ready to go out they will all already know each other.

's

 

[JulieBeth07]

You can order anytime because you’ll have to brood tiny ones separate anyway the size difference will be over whelming but one way to introduce littles to older is to take them out on nice days to spend time around the older ones with supervision. That way when the little ones are ready to go out they will all already know each other.

Do you think staying with the pekin would be better to add to the flock or would it be ok with a different breed?

I'm still trying to figure how to introduce my current ducklings and chicks... they're the same age.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Keep the chicks and ducklings side by side so they can see each other and then a few times a week try and put them together with treats to keep their minds off each other. Sometimes that can work. As for other breeds yes you can just try and keep your choices in the same size because a Pekin drake will be heavy. Something like Rouens,Swedish ,White Layers. Breeds that can stand up to your Pekin Drake.