can you keep ducks and chickens together?

[NajmoNests]

Call Ducklings and Cochin chicks are hatched & brooded together here for about a week. Due to the water-nymph nature of the ducklings, they are seperated about a week old.

Both are fed non medicated chick or duck starter. After a week they are put into kiddie pools with wood chips. Chick brooder pool stays dry and they keep it stirred. Duck brooder pool needs changing daily!
When they are housed with the other adults, they are in seperate enclosures also - divided by fencing. Ducks have large kiddie pools & chickens live high and dry.

This works for me.

 

[Frizzy Chicks]

I have three baby rouens and 11 chicks. I have kept them on the poultry starter feed. To those who have the adult ducks and chickens together, what feed are you feeding them? I would love to keep mine together but I was under the impression they had to have two different feeds?

 

[1234duck]

Quote:
ummmm... It might not be the GENTLE ducks you need to worry about lol I use to have ducks & chickens together, but in my case it was one of the drake ducks kept Raping the chickens. Not kidding! Now chickens won't go in by ducks. The drake duck still to this day stays right at the fence & stalks the chickens. Plus ducks are a lot messier than chickens. Good luck, ~Julie~

 

[CarolAnn]

I want to get about three baby ducks. Also wondering about housing them together once the ducks are older. Can I start them on the starter I gave my baby chicks then give them the crumbles I give the chickens?

I'm also wondering what kind of baby ducks I'm seeing at Orschlen that are tagged simply as Hatchery Choice. They're darn cute, but then they all start out cute. Not all stay cute.

 

[rockbottompottery]

I plan on taking a duck raising class... In the city its harder to raise birds because space is so limited and I want to know what i'm doing... I hear that Runner ducks are very popular, and they need just a bucket of water for themselves so they can get their heads wet. They also don't get picked on generally because they are so tall... I would like to raise Call ducks but plan on making them a nice in closed run and coop so they dont get pecked on by birds and more important fly away!.

as for the duck/ hen loving

... yeah i've heard that some ducks are like that. just like some birds may take to eating their own eggs.

 

[Paganrose]

I raised my ducks chickens and geese together..... they eat the same homemixed feed (the waterfowl do get extra protien type kitchen scraps) I have a small pond in the run, the chickens perch on the edge to drink while the waterfowl swim, never had anyone drown. They all shared a coop until this spring when the geese got ther own 4'x4' house to lay in since the male was getting very protective..... It helps that I have a very large run (after a year it still has grass!!!!) and the bird free range on my acre and in the landlord's orchard whenever some one is home, which is almost always.

My four ducks are defently capable of handling themselves!!! they even bully my lone goose (mate died) and chase her off of her nest and out of her "house" which they have taken over!! Now that the goose is not laying this is not a problem so much. In fact they often are fed outside of the run so the chickens and goose can also eat.

 

[Alla123123]

Our ducks usually peck our chickens if there is any pecking going on but that's just when we feed them

 

[cdevine]

So far we have not had any problems at all. We have 5 chickens and 2 ducks and for the most part they do well in the same pen at night and during the day they have free roaming and go about there own business they seem to get along fairly well.
I am glad I saw this discussion we have enjoyed reading all the BackYard Chicken blogs.
Duck "Dynasty" which my daughters named is our biggest duck and she pretty much makes sure everyone is in line or she chases them around until they behave
Carey

 

[Wilectric]

I'm considering adding some buff orpingtons to a pen with 10 Indian runner ducks will this work out for me?:cd

 

[NH-Chooks]

What are you feeding the chicks and ducklings while they are together??? Chick start or is there a general poultry starter??? We are considering adding 2 ducklings to our chick order this spring.
We will have 15 chicks and 2 ducklings Any advice would be great! Do the ducklings come out of the brooder earlier than the chicks? They will all eventually share a coop, outside run and would spend a good part of each day Free ranging

We feed both our ducks and chickens organic layer pellets. They don't like the mash. When they were babies we used a starter mash for both.

The ducks will grow much faster then the chicks but should not be put outside until 4 weeks old. They normally get oil from their mother but when ordered they have to develop it themselves. The chicks mature much slower and we noticed they were half the size of the ducks at 4 weeks so kept them inside in a pen for another 4 weeks.

We have 12 ducks (6 Cayuga/5 white layers & the drake is white layer), 18 laying hens (combo of buff orpingtons, blue/silver orpingtons, and australops), and the rooster is a Barnevelder (our buff orpington rooster died and this was the best replacement we could get as it was off season for ordering - picked him up at a "chicken swap"). We are adding 6 sex links due in tomorrow w/another 6 Cayugas - all female.

Currently we have an australop who just had a baby and we are curious to see what he/she will look like as it gets older. Right now it is just a puff ball that is black with a tinge of yellow on its chest. Mom and chick are currently occupying an "Eglo" inside the chicken house to protect the baby from the big ones.

We have both a chicken house and a duck house. Ducks need water 24/7 and we live in the NE so... the inside pool is heated during the winter. During the rest of the time they also have a "dog pool" that fits about 6-7 of them at a time in addition to their inside pool. Chickens need roosts, unlike ducks, so their house is set up to suit their needs w/laying boxes. Ducks will lay anywhere they want to! During the day the all go into each others space but at night... chickens go to their digs and the ducks go to theirs.

Ours are free-ranged over 2 acres but are behind an electric fence due to the "wildlife" that we have here. Too many foxes, coyotes, racoons, fisher cats, etc., to let them wander too far when we are not home. They all get along fine... I've never seen my drake or rooster go after the other ones "territory" so to speak.

All and all we've had a great experience with both the ducks and chickens but must admit the ducks are more amusing to watch - great personalities!

Good luck... they should be fine together... at least that is our experience.