Brand new duck owner!

[llombardo]

Do you have a house for them yet? Mine were in the house wY to long because it took me forever to get the enclosure done.

 

[nursebecky99]

House is going to happen this week. Right they are in brooder at night on back porch, and out in a large dog crate during day. With their 4 chick friends who are roughly the same age.

 

[chickens really]

My Husbands favourite saying..
What came first, the Chicken or the egg?..
He always says the Coop..

 

[nursebecky99]

My Husbands favourite saying..
What came first, the Chicken or the egg?..
He always says the Coop..

I almost always build/rehab the coop when I desperately need to get the growing chicks out of the brooder. Isn’t that the right order of things?!

 

[UBF]

It's advised not to keep chickens and ducks together when babies.

 

[nursebecky99]

Got a shelter built but they are too little unless I can figure a secure run area. The goats will eat all their food otherwise.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hardware cloth makes the best secure area from goats and predators.

 

[Clousic Chicks]

We separated our chicks from ducks in the brooder with a screen that my husband made. This allowed us to give the ducks their water and food in different containers. It amazed me the difference in the mess! DUCKS ARE MESSY! We would put them in the tractor out on the lawn during the day together. The chicks are now 11 weeks; the ducks 7 weeks...the ducks are considerably larger than the chicks. We put a "duck house" inside our run as I did not want them in the coop, especially during our winters which can be quite cold and snowy. It also gives the chicks an opportunity to have CLEAN food and water LOL.

 

[Clousic Chicks]

I have several water containers available for the ducks and chicks. They have recently had full access to our backyard. Our 2 year old white boxer is doing quite well with both--funny, the ducks aren't afraid of him at all--so we have been letting them roam pretty much every day..otherwise they are in my garden and have shaded area of our yard that is their "yard." `I have an old 2-gallon dog waterer available for all; an automatic watering bowl, a horse treat bowl (big rubber bowl), and a couple of buckets so the ducks can put their heads fully in the water. It's been quite warm here so we've been making sure everyone is well-hydrated. We had a reprieve today but it's going back up beginning tomorrow. My ducks know when I'm filling their pool and they come running! My husband put a plug in the bottom so all I have to do is unplug it where it is at and it waters our lawn right there!

 

[nursebecky99]

Thanks so much for all the help!
I did separate the chicks and ducks last night. My chicks simply didn’t need the lamp at night anymore. They are in their coop, with the wire up to partition for “look and no touch” from other chickens.
Ducks were peeping so I think they missed their feathered friends!