Chicken coop and living with ducks

[Pollyyy]

Hi,im new in this kind of community so i hope i dir everything right XD,i want to start a coop,the size Is 3mx2mx2m,but since there's some stuff inside of It it is around 2mx1,5mx2m,i have 4 pigeons and a young male muscovy duck (i Will get the female soon),how many chickens can i put in?if i put a rooster Will he fight with the muscovy male? I want to buy chicks and not adult hens,Is there a way to know the male from the female? They can roam for 1-2h a day,only when im around since i live in a big countryside and we have 23 Cats (im not joking) and 3 dogs,the coop Is far away from the Cats "nest" and there are only 3 males Patrolling the area,but im still afraid that the cats Will hear the chickens and Hunt them down...as i said they Will only roam when im around :/

Thanks in advance to anyone who will answer

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Pigeons and ducks can get along fine. Pigeons and chickens can result in your pigeons being killed, advice I've seen is not to mix chickens with most other birds especially pigeons and gamebirds.

I believe keeping a drake and rooster is better than keeping only hens. The drake should keep an eye on his hens and the same with the rooster


I am sure there are breeds of chicken which can be sexed as chicks. If I remember right RIR and New Hampshire's are examples of this.

I do not keep chickens so I will not comment on amounts you could buy.

 

[Pollyyy]

Pigeons and ducks can get along fine. Pigeons and chickens can result in your pigeons being killed, advice I've seen is not to mix chickens with most other birds especially pigeons and gamebirds.

I believe keeping a drake and rooster is better than keeping only hens. The drake should keep an eye on his hens and the same with the rooster


I am sure there are breeds of chicken which can be sexed as chicks. If I remember right RIR and New Hampshire's are examples of this.

I do not keep chickens so I will not comment on amounts you could buy.

Thanks,so i think i Will build a small aviary for the pigeons, but i didnt understood what Is a Drake XD, searching on Google i Just found a guy,im from Italy so idk :/

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

A drake means male duck

Thanks,so i think i Will build a small aviary for the pigeons, but i didnt understood what Is a Drake XD, searching on Google i Just found a guy,im from Italy so idk :/

 

[Pollyyy]

A drake means male duck

Ooh thanks,in Italy a duck Is a duck,we have no name differences for males/females,sry XD

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I can't speak to keeping pigeons, but I absolutely CAN NOT recommend keeping chickens and ducks in the same space - certainly not so small a space as you propose, and certainly not a single male duck with no female ducks, only female chickens.
Ducks and chickens, mechanically, are not designed to mate. In close confinement, male ducks with their hormones up are known to attempt to mate anything they can catch, which is dangerous and potentially fatal to the chicken. One duck hen (female duck) is NOT enough to keep a duck male from seeking other creratures to mate with. My own experience is that 5-8 female ducks per male is a usually reliable ratio for tolerable behavior - though I've only kept ducks a few years.

If you do go forward with purchasing chicks, some can be sexed based on appearance, if they are of certain breeds. Not all chicks can be sexed in such fashion. Would recommend you get rid of the duck in that case.

Finally, about 2 chickens per square meter is close to the recommends we toss around for those of us who think in Imperial. Your coop is sized for 6 or 7 chickens. Every other thing you put in there (pigeons, ducks, etc) takes away from that space.

and yes, I do have chickens and ducks - but I keep them in an area measured in acres, and never force them into the same space. They have multiple "houses" to choose from, as well. By experience in keeping both should not be considered "typical".

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

I can't speak to keeping pigeons, but I absolutely CAN NOT recommend keeping chickens and ducks in the same space - certainly not so small a space as you propose, and certainly not a single male duck with no female ducks, only female chickens.
Ducks and chickens, mechanically, are not designed to mate. In close confinement, male ducks with their hormones up are known to attempt to mate anything they can catch, which is dangerous and potentially fatal to the chicken. One duck hen (female duck) is NOT enough to keep a duck male from seeking other creratures to mate with. My own experience is that 5-8 female ducks per male is a usually reliable ratio for tolerable behavior - though I've only kept ducks a few years.

If you do go forward with purchasing chicks, some can be sexed based on appearance, if they are of certain breeds. Not all chicks can be sexed in such fashion. Would recommend you get rid of the duck in that case.

Finally, about 2 chickens per square meter is close to the recommends we toss around for those of us who think in Imperial. Your coop is sized for 6 or 7 chickens. Every other thing you put in there (pigeons, ducks, etc) takes away from that space.

and yes, I do have chickens and ducks - but I keep them in an area measured in acres, and never force them into the same space. They have multiple "houses" to choose from, as well. By experience in keeping both should not be considered "typical".

Thank you very much for giving your input and again for teaching me something. Interesting side note that ducks have a similar ratio of males : females as Coturnix quail typically do - wonder if it's a more common trend in other birds.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you very much for giving your input and again for teaching me something. Interesting side note that ducks have a similar ratio of males : females as Coturnix quail typically do - wonder if it's a more common trend in other birds.

don't put too much weight on my experience there. I've seen similar numbers thrown around, it may be a common thing across species related to something in nature, or it may not. My experience is limited to a single flock and several generations of Pekins, which has never exceeded a score of ducks, and is usually closer to a dozen.

So my experience is barely worthy of anecdote.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

don't put too much weight on my experience there. I've seen similar numbers thrown around, it may be a common thing across species related to something in nature, or it may not. My experience is limited to a single flock and several generations of Pekins, which has never exceeded a score of ducks, and is usually closer to a dozen.

So my experience is barely worthy of anecdote.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

Understood, thankfully it's not me that's buying any chicks or ducks. I am sticking to quails

 

[Pollyyy]

I can't speak to keeping pigeons, but I absolutely CAN NOT recommend keeping chickens and ducks in the same space - certainly not so small a space as you propose, and certainly not a single male duck with no female ducks, only female chickens.
Ducks and chickens, mechanically, are not designed to mate. In close confinement, male ducks with their hormones up are known to attempt to mate anything they can catch, which is dangerous and potentially fatal to the chicken. One duck hen (female duck) is NOT enough to keep a duck male from seeking other creratures to mate with. My own experience is that 5-8 female ducks per male is a usually reliable ratio for tolerable behavior - though I've only kept ducks a few years.

If you do go forward with purchasing chicks, some can be sexed based on appearance, if they are of certain breeds. Not all chicks can be sexed in such fashion. Would recommend you get rid of the duck in that case.

Finally, about 2 chickens per square meter is close to the recommends we toss around for those of us who think in Imperial. Your coop is sized for 6 or 7 chickens. Every other thing you put in there (pigeons, ducks, etc) takes away from that space.

and yes, I do have chickens and ducks - but I keep them in an area measured in acres, and never force them into the same space. They have multiple "houses" to choose from, as well. By experience in keeping both should not be considered "typical".

Thanks,i think i Will Just make a separate enclosure/coop for the ducks or dedicate the coop to ducks,i hatched that duck and im really in love with him,he knows me as his "dad",hes a lovely boy that wants to cuddle all day