Can chickens and ducks be raised and/or kept together?

[Blackberry18]

Next year I'm thinking about getting ducks for the first time. My friends have raised them before and I've been studying poultry for year, so I have more than done my research on them. I've read and seen varied opinions about keeping ducks and chickens together. It seems to have few complications; one of my friends even keeps one duck with her chickens because he seems to think he's a chicken. I know that ducks need to have a deep dish of water to swim in and flush out their eyes, but do they need different kinds of food? Would it be all right if I kept only three ducks with my flock of 15+ chickens? Would drakes and roosters be aggressive? Intermating? I want to get medium-sized ducks, like Khaki Campbells, so I don't think size would be an issue.

Also, can ducklings and chicks be raised together? They have the same heat requirements, but what about food or water? I want to get some bantam Salmon Faverolles or maybe some Black Australorps or Buff Orpingtons next year as well, and it would seem to be easier if I raised them together to avoid the hassle of having to different pens, and introducing them to the flock together would increase the number of new birds I'm bringing in. So is it possible to raise them together? Is there a time when I can introduce them as young birds before putting them with the flock? Thanks in advance.

 

[Amiga]

Well, I don't have 200 anything, I have sixteen ducks.

Their pens are not nasty, and they are perfectly happy without a pond. Just goes to show, there are different experiences out in the big wide world.

The night pen uses pine shavings for bedding, and I have a watering station that keeps the splash from the drinking water confined to that station. It is easy and quick to clean up once a day by scraping the top moist layer with a little manure off, and occasionally replacing the sawdust shavings.

That means the rest of the bedding stays pretty dry, so I spot pick most days and then with the time interval depending on the weather, replace sections of the bedding from time to time. No ugly odors.

The day pen has a base of chopped straw and manure that combine into a nice, earthy, compost. The area around the swim pans (small livestock troughs or concrete mixing pans) needs the most care. A couple of times a year I rake out the gummed-up top inch or so of pea gravel and replace it. Oak leaves really help neutralize unpleasant odors in the warmer months. Setting up the area so that it drains properly makes a huge difference as well. Sometimes folks put their ducks in a flat or bowl-shaped area and then they have problems with mud and yuck. It does not have to be that way.

I use the used bedding for mulching around the garden, it's excellent for holding moisture and keeping weeds down.

 

[TLWR]

I have 5 chickens and 4 ducks. They free range, but when penned for whatever reason, they share a pen.

If they are penned 24/7, your biggest issue will be water management. Ducks are happy as can be if they have anything to swim in. That can be a pond, kiddie pool, cement mixing pan, etc. My birds have all 3 and the chickens are thrilled to bits to drink nasty water even when they have clean water available.

Some people house their ducks and chickens together. My chickens live upstairs in the house and the ducks live downstairs. The chickens have no issue going downstairs during the day and taking over to lay eggs in the duck bin LOL

 

[arrowti]

We actually have the opposite problem as a few of the former posters.

We have ~40 chickens and 5 ducks (1 is a drake). The ducks have two pools to swim and play in, and are actually pretty clean. The run is rather large though, and they have a wooded area to go to. The duck poop is mostly water because during the day they don't really eat any grain and prefer to eat weeds, grass, and vegetables, so it sinks into the ground rather fast. They tend to poop in the same area in the duck house so it's only in one spot, although the area around the water is always wet.

And then the chickens...

The chickens poop everywhere. They go in the duck house and crap in their water, in their food, and all over their eggs. They fly up on the aluminum cans where we store food and crap all over the lids.

Long story short: depends on your ducks I guess. Ours are cayuga/pekin crosses but we haven't experienced any major dirtiness from them. The water's in one corner of the coop so the other side is always dry and that's where they sleep.

The chickens are far more disgusting.

 

[Mortenson1987]

I keep my ducks a chickens together, the biggest thing I can think of is try and keep the water outside in the run or yard rather than the coop. Otherwise, they eat the same thing and do just fine as long as you provide some oyster shells as they require more calcium than chickens if laying.

 

[Duck Drover]

We have more than twice as many ducks than chickens and they are by far the easiest to care for and the cleanest. The chickens literally poop out goopy piles that have to be broken down with regular hosing in order to get them to absorb into the ground to feed the worms. We live in an area where it rains so we don't use any absorbant bedding of any kind except in the chicken coop. It is more economical to balance our ecosystem naturally than to buy shavings that go into our yard waste removal since we no longer compost them. The duck poop is already liquified and hardly noticeable, especially when it rains and cleans the ground for me. In dry conditions the liquid poop gets mixed into the soil or is hidden in the grass so a light spraying cleans it up and fertilizes the ground at the same time.

The ducks help the lawn grow while the chickens create bare patches with their scratching and chicken manure can burn the grass in penned areas if they are not hosed often because their manure is "hot" and requires aging. The duck poop is not "hot" so it does not burn vegetation and it is full of nutrients for fertile soil.

The ducks do poop in their bath water so it needs to be cleaned periodically but ducks prefer muddy water over clean water, perhaps because they like to dabble in the mud around bodies of water, so there is no point in trying to keep their pool crystal clean when they will just hate you for it and quickly bring in bills of dirt to fix it to their liking. Ducks have strainers on their bills so they dig around in mud and probably even poop out mud but they like it that way. We get algae growing in duck water and the ducks feed on the algae while chicken poop in water is a stinkier mess that would probably kill algae.

The basic difference is chickens need a dry environment with dust to bathe in while ducks bathe in water. Ducks are so much cleaner than chickens since chickens literally bathe in dirt. Ducks have superior preening oil that makes everything, including mud, roll right off their feathers while chickens poop on each other and it sticks to their feathers. I would snuggle a duck over a chicken anyday!

As mentioned, keep drakes away from chicken hens. Not only do they have a corkscrew penis but it is as long as their body and it has a highly explosive impact to penetrate a duck's corkscrew vagina. A drake will easily kill a chicken hen if he gets confused about his own kind. Chicks and ducklings should not be raised in the same brooder together because it adds to the confusion. Also, ducklings need their food to be wet to swallow it without choking (either you can wet it for them or let them make a mess wetting it themselves) while chicks need medicated feed or medicated water to prevent fatal diseases. Ducklings have a higher niacin requirement so they need a complete feed or a niacin supplement on their feed or in their water, which is almost the same if you let them mix water into their food themselves because they will likely get nearly as much food in their water as water in their food in the process.

Our two pound bantam Australian Spotted ducks lay the same sized egg as our 12 pound Orpingtons but they eat far less feed and forage more efficiently. They do not need regular ivermectin like the chickens and they are not vulnerable to chicken diseases, although they can be carriers. We separated our ducks and chickens because it is a NPIP recommendation, maybe even a requirement (we wanted to get NPIP certified to ship birds but we have not applied yet), but they have done fine together too. The chickens will bother the nesting ducks and even eat their eggs when they get off the nest but the ducks don't bother the chickens or eat their eggs. The chickens don't eat their own eggs but duck eggs are fair game for some reason.

If I was going to choose between having chickens or ducks we would keep ducks and not chickens. They are so much quieter than the chickens and thete are no ordinances anywhere prohibiting drakes like there are for roosters. We like eating eggs but we like hatching even more so we run roosters with our hens rather than keeping a flock of hens without a rooster. Everyone has a different experience depending on their set-up and their problem solving skills but I will always recommend ducks as superior to chickens.

 

[QueenMisha]

I currently run my ducks and chickens together. I would not at all recommend it. It's a big old hassle.

First of all, ducks are messy. Truly disgusting. They make a mess of water and drink water all day and leave big watery droppings everywhere. This results in constantly muddy water and slick, muddy areas in the run. Not ideal for chickens. It also results in wet nasty bedding.

Secondly, some drakes will attempt to mount chicken hens. This is very bad as ducks possess penises, something roosters of course do not have. As a result they can severely damage and even kill hens.

Third, they can't go on a basic layer feed. They require an all flock ration, 18-20% protein. The hens will need to be supplemented with oyster shell for calcium. (Note that really any flock which contains a rooster should be on an all flock feed anyways).

Fourth, they really should have a pond. It's not 100% necessary but it's ideal and they won't really be happy without it. A pond can consist of something as simple as a baby pool or animal trough, however when ducks are kept with chickens there is concern of the chickens falling in and drowning. I have seen hens fall in and drown in something as shallow as a baby pool.

Ducklings and chicks can be raised together, but issue one applies the same. They will turn your brooder into a sopping mess that requires daily cleaning.

 

[Blackberry18]

I currently run my ducks and chickens together. I would not at all recommend it. It's a big old hassle.

First of all, ducks are messy. Truly disgusting. They make a mess of water and drink water all day and leave big watery droppings everywhere. This results in constantly muddy water and slick, muddy areas in the run. Not ideal for chickens. It also results in wet nasty bedding.

Secondly, some drakes will attempt to mount chicken hens. This is very bad as ducks possess penises, something roosters of course do not have. As a result they can severely damage and even kill hens.

Third, they can't go on a basic layer feed. They require an all flock ration, 18-20% protein. The hens will need to be supplemented with oyster shell for calcium. (Note that really any flock which contains a rooster should be on an all flock feed anyways).

Fourth, they really should have a pond. It's not 100% necessary but it's ideal and they won't really be happy without it. A pond can consist of something as simple as a baby pool or animal trough, however when ducks are kept with chickens there is concern of the chickens falling in and drowning. I have seen hens fall in and drown in something as shallow as a baby pool.

Ducklings and chicks can be raised together, but issue one applies the same. They will turn your brooder into a sopping mess that requires daily cleaning.

All right, thanks! About keeping them together, do you think that just three ducks would really make it messy? Would smaller ducks make it easier, such as Call or Mallards? I've read about the mating issue, but I think that a drake would be satisfied with two ducks, right? Plus my rooster may not allow mating with the hens.

I'm a little worried about the brooding just because of the size difference and need for water on the duck side, as chicks need to be dry. I'd still like to introduce them to the flock together though, just for strength in number reasons. Would it work if I had them in the same pen separated by chicken wire or similar so they can see and interact with each other but still be separate, while letting them be together sometimes?

 

[QueenMisha]

All right, thanks! About keeping them together, do you think that just three ducks would really make it messy? Would smaller ducks make it easier, such as Call or Mallards? I've read about the mating issue, but I think that a drake would be satisfied with two ducks, right? Plus my rooster may not allow mating with the hens. 

I'm a little worried about the brooding just because of the size difference and need for water on the duck side, as chicks need to be dry. I'd still like to introduce them to the flock together though, just for strength in number reasons. Would it work if I had them in the same pen separated by chicken wire or similar so they can see and interact with each other but still be separate, while letting them be together sometimes? 

I own over 200 birds. 3 of them are ducks, and they alone make about an equal amount of mess as maybe 25-50 of the chickens do. Don't underestimate the absolute filthiness of waterfowl.

Drakes are more likely to mate their own species, but having hens won't stop them from going after the chickens. My other species all ignore the ducks.

There's no disease concerns between waterfowl and chickens, so proximity (such as sharing a fenceline) shouldn't be a problem. I just wouldn't recommend having the physical housed together, or avoid it as much as possible. Some contact wouldn't be too much of an issue (for example a shared free ranging space).

 

[debbiemay]

All right, thanks! About keeping them together, do you think that just three ducks would really make it messy? Would smaller ducks make it easier, such as Call or Mallards? I've read about the mating issue, but I think that a drake would be satisfied with two ducks, right? Plus my rooster may not allow mating with the hens. 

I'm a little worried about the brooding just because of the size difference and need for water on the duck side, as chicks need to be dry. I'd still like to introduce them to the flock together though, just for strength in number reasons. Would it work if I had them in the same pen separated by chicken wire or similar so they can see and interact with each other but still be separate, while letting them be together sometimes? 

. I have two Pekin ducks purchased at same time as chicks. The male is starting to mate and not only goes after the female duck but he won't leave my one hen alone. I have been trying to keep the separated till I can re-home the ducks. My poor hen is so hassled she isn't laying. It's awful.