Call Duck Drakes and Chickens

[Autumn Leaves]

I have 9 laying hens and 7 (young) Magpie ducks. I'm not sure the sex of the ducks yet - I'm waiting for them to quack. I was going to keep one drake of the bunch because I want to have the ablity to hatch ducklings in the future. I cannot have a rooster for fertile chicken eggs. I planned on making a separate pen for the drake when he was getting too "frisky" but I keep reading about drakes injuring or killing chickens so it is making me nervous and now I am reconsidering keeping a drake at all. The ducks and chickens will share a large coop/pen once construction is finished. The coop is 8X10. The run size hasn't all the way been determined but it at least 300 sq feet. I am planning on keeping 16 adult birds.

I was wondering if call duck drakes are safer to have around chickens than the larger ducks? My Magpies can easily overpower a chicken at their current size. I initally wanted call ducks but I was not sure about the noise. I now know that my neighbors adore my ducks and chickens so I could get some calls. If I had calls I could also have more ducks for the drake due to their smaller size.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I saw this right after you posted it and hoped someone with the mixed duck/chicken thing going on would respond since I don't have chickens. Since you haven't had any responses yet, I'm going to offer you some random thoughts and questions hoping to give you a little to go on.

• When you say "coop," do you mean an enclosure with mostly solid walls with nest boxes and so on? I know that sounds like a dumb question, but my hubby says "coop" when he means "pen" and says "pen" when he means "run." It's a source of endless frustration for me, but I've seen other people do the same thing.
• Whether one breed of duck would be okay with one breed of chicken would probably depend a great deal on the size and disposition of each breed. Some chickens are very large, and agressive or dominant ones can do a lot of damage with their pointy beak even to a duck of similar size.
• Call ducks aren't necessarily as small as you might be thinking. You'll pay a premium for small ones, even if they have nothing otherwise going for them as far as quality. I've seen pet quality Calls that weigh around two pounds. Still a small duck as far as domestic ducks go, but not in the one pound range you want if you're showing or breeding.
• Call ducks aren't necessarily as noisy as many people make them out to be. Mine are loud when they're all on a roll about something like knowing treats are coming, but they don't make much noise at all other than what they make around "events" like feeding/treats/waiting for their outdoor time if they see the pen is about to be unlocked. I've seen comments on other sites from people saying their Calls "scream" all the time, and all I can think about that is that these people are doing something wrong in their care for their Calls.
• You don't say anything about bathing water, but all ducks need that. Nothing elaborate, but a kiddie pool is nice if you don't have a pond. They need at minimum something they can dunk their entire head in, not just drink from. They love something big enough to splash around in, and they often prefer to mate in water.
• As far as what the drakes do? Well, they want to mate. They try to mate often during mating season, often meaning that's what they spend much of their time trying to do. They mate and mate, then they mate some more, or at least try to. They can wear the ducks down, especially if the drake to duck ratio is low. You want at least three ducks to every drake, preferably four or five. This is because drakes can decide they like certain ducks best, and ducks can decide they have a headache and don't want to be bothered. Please believe me on this. Mating season can be a harrowing time for both the ducks and the drakes. How chickens come into that mix if your duck/drake ratio is right, I really don't know. I've seen many posts from people who say their drakes try to mate with their chicken hens, but I can't remember if that's because those people didn't have many ducks for the drakes to focus on.

Hope this helps at least a little!

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Thanks for the reply!

My coop is a 8X10 shed that I built with an attached run. Hardware cloth all around - predator proof.

My current ducks have a shallow pool that I dump daily. They are so cute when they get fresh water. The pool is shallow enough that any adult chicken will not drown but the ducks can still splash around and be crazy. The ducks are currently kept in a tractor during the day with their pool and in our attached garage at night. I have been free ranging them with the chickens when I'm home to make sure everyone gets along before combining them in an enclosed area. So far all has been peaceful after some initial chasing.

The ducks were hatched Memorial day, they are big now but still not mature. I don't know what sexes I have yet but I was not planning on keeping more than one drake. I was going to make a "bachelor pad" in the run that could be closed off with a small house for the drake during the summer months. That said, now that I have ducks I can really appreciate how messy they are, I don't know if I want to have another area to clean.

Right now I'm leaning toward just keeping the girls and not risk the chickens. Maybe I'll just get some call girls to have some variety.

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Now you have me thinking, I could divide the shed coop interior so that they cannot mingle inside, add a second pop door and add a new run out one side for just ducks . . . ahhhhh chicken math!