Chickens and Ducks Together???...

[wbruder17]

Quote:
Same here. I have a huge enclosure with a plastic pool in one half, seperated by a tunnel. The pool half is filled with straw and mulch, keeping it much dryer. The pool is also surrounded by rocks. The other half is sand, pumice and dirt. The ducks do make a big mess, and I have to clean the waterers twice as often because of it. They all get the same food, but I give everyone layer pellets and a 6 grain mixture, as well as lots of greenery and sunflower seeds.

Anyway, I don't think its fair to keep ducks without a swiimming source for them, and if you don't have a large enclosure that you can keep fairly dry, I would give up the ducks and stick with chickens. Ducks are very high maintenance.

 

[zyklonbetty]

I currently have 3 chickens (bantam roo, wyandotte hen and ameraucana hen) with two drakes (blue swedes.)
They are free range during the day so mainly only nest together. the coop is about 4'X4' so there is plenty of room for them.
Only in the last 10 minutes or so have I started to get nervous about them being together. I have never seen my drakes attempt to mate my hens at all, but it is not to say they haven't/wont. My concern based on that is "how will I know?"
As adults i just mix the food together which I continue to hear mixed reviews on. They fill up mostly on bugs and grubs and worms compared to their feed so I honestly do not see a major concern with diet as my vet even stated that the diet is fine as long as they can forage to supplement whatever they may be missing. the ducks have a pool that the chickens do not go near and they all sunbathe in the grass as a group.
My biggest problem is the ducks being messy, but they have separate water for that reason.

Does there seem to be a legitimate (EDUCATED) concern here?
I know that everyone has their own opinions and experiences, but unfortunately that is too often not the best advice. Is there anyone aware of actual concerns I should be having?

**keep in mind I am not in any way disregarding the opinions of others or saying that I do not read great advice here- I am simply distinguishing between experiences/opinions and FACTUAL INFORMATION which do not necessarily go hand in hand. I hope you understand

 

[michelle89]

I keep my one duck with my chickens, they free range during the day and at night they are all in the same coop. The chickens have their own hen house and the duck has the bottom run all to herself. Theres no way the duck can climb up to the hen house, the ramp is too steep. I feed the chickens and duck the same food and there is a bucket of water for the duck to drink, my chickens use the self waterer. I've had zero problems with them not getting along in fact the duck has really taken a liking to the chickens since she lost her duck buddy. Every situation is different sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. Good luck!!

 

[Sillydreamer]

I have kept chickens with ducks for several years. The only time I separate my ducks and chickens are when they are little. I have found that ducklings grow much quicker than chicks; and the ducklings think that chicks make nice cushions

. I keep them in the same pin but separated with a "wall". They live happily together when they are both full grown. I had 20 chickens, 6 ducks, 1 pygmy goat and 1 fainting goat all living together under one roof until a few months ago. The goats got thier own playground because they were desrtroying the barn. The chickens and the ducks are still together and doing fine.

 

[tritty74]

Every situation is different. I personally have my ducks with my chickens and they get along just fine. Ducks are messy. Mine all eat the same food. I keep food out 24/7 in a 18" round dish and my chickens and ducks will eat together. I have a couple perches in the run for the chickens to get away if they want but primarily you will see them all hanging out in the same area. As for water i keep the ducks swimming water in a corner of the run and a seperate waterer also. My run is filled with sand and other than by the water it is dry. The lady we bought 3 of our 4 ducks from let all of her animals range together. She has chickens, ducks, geese, pot belly pigs, goats, 2 rabbits, a cat and a bunck of llamas. I've been there several times and all of them seem to get along just fine as long as the area is large enough to be able to get away from each other if need be. I would keep baby's seperate until they were big enough to have some defense unless supervised. In fact we had two pekins that were a month old one was taken by a owl or hawk. Thus we decided to get more ducks. While at the farm choosing the ducks the kids talked us into chicks. We left with 5 chicks and went back a few days later to pick up the ducks. In the mean time on nice afternoons we would take the chicks out to play supervised. Our pekin (1 month old and pretty big) would stay literally wtihin a foot of the chicks at all times. If one wandered off the pekin would corall it back to the others. When we would gather up the chicks and take them back in the duck would flip out and qauck like crazy. When we would bring them back out again the duck was excited to see them and acted like a mother to them. For us coexisting works fine. Even with the new ducks.

 

[jwoo]

We have our ducks and chickens together as well. In fact they are pretty much one big family. The chickens and ducks all get along and I've never seen any food aggression. The ducks do get ticked when the chickens all site on the tree in the middle of the run and the ducks can't get at them. It's a game they play everyday with the chickens clucking down at them and the ducks laughing at the chickens. The ducks don't go into the coop because I've designed the ramp to be too narrow for them. This keeps the coop cleaned and I keep separate water for the chickens so that it's cleaner - all though to be honest the chickens usually end up just using the waterers or the pool in the run for water. The ducks sleep under the coop which I have three walls on to block the weather from them. The run is big enough that only the area by the pool stays wet. I will say that because we raised the ducklings with chickens I think it has made a difference. I don't think the ducks think the chickens are chickens. I know for a fact they would sleep in the coop if I made the ramp wider because when they were smaller and could navigate it better they would every night. I just got sick of a messy coop. I feed everyone lay pellets as well.

 

[tritty74]

I do pretty much what you do jwoo. It works fine. Mine have the same sleeping conditions for the very same reasons. The only difference for me is I feed chick starter as i have 3- 7 week old chicks in there but there are oyster shell available.

 

[FarmrGirl]

Quote:
2X Yep... me too. It's important to keep the wet mess clean for the chickens but I have no problems. They have their own houses but it would be easy enough to have one large house for both as long as it addressed all their needs.

 

[ChickInDelight]

I would NEVER advocate housing them together.... but my chickens demanded entry.

I feed everyone Purina Flockraiser. I have auto-waterers high for the chickens and low for the ducks. I have perches (and hay) for chickens. The ducks like the sand floor.

The house is just for sleeping. I am interested to see how it works for everyone. Ducks like the sand in front by the vents. The chickens either roost or go in back with the hay.