Can chickens and ducks live together?

[Allie Grace Sanders]

Is there a way to end up with no drakes? Could I get a smaller breed of duck that would not hurt the hens?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Ducks aren't sold sexed that I know of. Get some ducks if you want but keep them separately to avoid problems.

 

[livnandlvn]

My adult ducks did not play well with my chickens. The drake accosted my hens, and tore their combs so badly that the ducks got rehomed to the pond across the street. Just my experience though.

Edited. Stupid autocorrect.

 

[Alaskan]

if the ducks and chicks are brooded separately they are much more likely to know that ducks are ducks and chickens are chickens. As a result, the ducks are MUCH less likely to breed the chickens.

You can buy sexed ducks from sme hatcheries.

The hatchery usually mentions which of their breeds are best for egg laying.

The cute little ducks (like call ducks), usually are not that great for egg laying. But runner ducks are pretty lightweight, and are great layers.

Lots of choices.

Again, I would not brood them together

I greatly prefer having my ducks and chickens in different coops.. but I do put them together in the winter with zero problems in order to reduce chores.

 

[Chickygirl63]

My Drake last year before three more ducks were gotten ...he mated with every hen he could get his beak on . He is an Indian runner about two years old now..when we got the other three we put all four in the pen with six seven week olds an they did fine together