Chicken and Ducks Together?

[Jaguar6]

Hello,

I was wondering if chickens and ducks coexist together. I mean if I introduce 2 ducks to my small flock of 9 chickens would they get pecked at or can they defend themselves? Also, during the winter when they are cooped up it the coop will they be ok all of them together? I love chickens but I would really like to get to ducklings added to my McMurray order for February. My husband thinks that they will make an absolute mess of everything but I would really love to have some.

 

[todd walker]

Ducks will defend themselfs,but your husband is right ducks are verry messy,you will never have clean waters again.
good luck

 

[Chickenaddict]

I bought my first pair of ducks this spring at a swap not knowing anything about ducks. I chose to dive in anyway. I had a coop outside not being used with an attatched dog kennel run so thats where they stayed during their quarentine. Once I saw they were in perfect health I began letting them out to free range. It wasn't 2 days before they wondered into the garage coop to be with the chickens and haven't left since. They do very well holding their own in there and if any of the chickens get out of line betty my duck hen breaks up the fight. They are EXTREMELY messy and if you set a water bowl out for them they will jump in it. They can empty a 1 gallon water bowl in a half a day. They scoop feed up from a pan and run to the waterers to dump the feed in it then slosh around in there making an aweful mess. I tried keeping the waterer on a platform about 6 inches off the ground to keep them from getting water all over the bedding but I lost that battle too. They will absolutely coexist with chickens but you can't keep them from making a mess.