Chicken keeper thinking of getting a few ducks this spring. Questions. :)

[HouseMouseHens]

Bump for more responses and opinions. I could use all the info I can get!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Bump for more responses and opinions. I could use all the info I can get!

Housing a drake with chickens [hens] is never a good thing, drakes have such a high sex drive they will have no problem mating with hens and the out come is death for the hens, best to give drakes and their ducks their own space. it needs to be a very secure space. too.

 

[farmer boy]

thats not true my drakes never mated with my chickens and my ducks grew up with the chickens and my ducks are still with the chickens and none have died from a duck mating with them and it never happened .. in breeding season a drake will try but thats why u move him away and if you have enough females 3-4 for 1 drake you will be fine

 

[cosbackyard]

I'll be experimenting with keeping ducks and chickens together this year, just keeping an eye on the drake. Question - when is breeding season?

 

[farmer boy]

it begins in around spring time really soon it will be breeding season .. i raised my ducks with chickens for a year nothing happened yet but now breeding season is coming up and i never been through that yet at all so i will keep everyone updated

 

[HouseMouseHens]

Housing a drake with chickens [hens] is never a good thing, drakes have such a high sex drive they will have no problem mating with hens and the out come is death for the hens, best to give drakes and their ducks their own space. it needs to be a very secure space. too.

What do you mean by "very secure"? As in the coop needs to be predator proof? We will have a fort knox coop for the ducks just like we do for the chickens, but we are thinking of fencing off a large area of our backyard for the duck to roam during the day, which wouldn't have a roof, just a three to four foot fence around it. We ALWAYS lock the chickens in the coop at night, so we would do the same with the ducks. We live in the city, so we don't have coyotes and such here...though there are cats in the neighborhood (including our outdoor cat), I wonder if not having it fully predator proof is a bad idea... How do other people let their ducks free range in the yard without them getting eaten by cats???

 

[HouseMouseHens]

it begins in around spring time really soon it will be breeding season .. i raised my ducks with chickens for a year nothing happened yet but now breeding season is coming up and i never been through that yet at all so i will keep everyone updated

Definitely do, I am curious to see how it works for others. We are thinking if we do end up with a drake that we will make their own pen for them, but it wouldn't be fully closed in like our run for the chickens is, just fencing with no roof... Maybe that is a bad idea though since we have cats in the neighborhood.... It may just be ducks and no drakes for us for a while...Until I am ready to build another huge aviary type pen again, which won't happen soon. That was a LOT of work!

 

[farmer boy]

but im not going against miss lydia or anything thought it could just be my drakes though there could be others that are aggressive or something but idk

 

[Going Quackers]

I wonder if not having it fully predator proof is a bad idea... How do other people let their ducks free range in the yard without them getting eaten by cats???

Well, no yard i'm country but my ducks are huge.. all Muscovy and the ducks are full flight, most cats are massively afraid of them, now a smaller duck breed or chickens, yes that could be a concern. That said, a cat could do harm regardless but i have a farm cat, that takes care of most rogue cats anyways.

 

[Going Quackers]

I think ages of drakes matter too.. older, more mature ones definitely have a big mating drive. I personally will not keep my drakes with my chickens, i don't want to find out the hard way and lose a hen.