chicks and ducklings.....

[2hot2chicken]

I am planning on ordering a few more chicks from ideal poultry in a couple months. I have a serious slug problem and read that ducks love to eat slugs so that got me thinking......

You know where this is going! LOL

Im thinking I want to add a baby duckling or 2 to the order.
My problem is that I have 1 brooder so if they are together from day 1 would the chicks and ducklings get along?
Also as far as food goes I buy an organic food from a local supplier and they sell chicks and ducklings and the food appears to be the same for both so I don't think that should be a problem but are there any real concerns I should worry about?

For my coop I feed a natural game bird pellet with higher protein levels as all my birds seem to be doing so well on it. with my own organic scratch mix and oyster shells on the side. Would this be ok for an adult? Oh and my birds all free range my 1/4 acre yard almost every day from morning till they put themselves to bed and they get lots of the neighborhood left over veggies and fruits.....

Im also wondering as an adult if I only have 1 duck can it sleep in the coop with the chickens or should I keep it seperate?

I am considering just a common mallard duck or comparable size. I have mostly bantam size silkies and other hens but I do have a couple LF as well.

I know this is chicken forum but I figured some1 on here would be able to offer a little advice.

 

[pamperedpoultry]

You should be fine with the ducks and chics. I have both and have raised ducks and chic's together..

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

I end up having two brooders as the ducklings are so messy. When they are adults I have the water in one spot in the barn so they can be together. I would get three ducks as they will hang with their own kind.

My mallards are more hyper than the other breeds and of course can fly...

 

[SueBaby]

We had one duck with our 5 chicks. It worked fine at first. The duck was a week younger than our chicks, which helped to keep them on equal footing in the brooder, as the duck grew much faster than the chicks. The duck was messier than the chicks, but when I tried to separate them the duck was so upset that I put them back together. When we finally got everyone moved out to the coop the duck would not go up the ramp to the henhouse to sleep. She slept down in the run by herself. We had a tub of water in the run, but it was not the best situation. It's a long story, but in the end we got rid of the duck. If you are going to do it, really think about the logistics and how it will work for your household. You will have to clean more often if you have a duck and then deal with a pool for them when they get older.

 

[pamperedpoultry]

I agree with the comments about the ducks being alot of mess.. I'd get calls if you don't want to have to full with all the mess. They make less of a mess than the average size ducks.

 

[2hot2chicken]

Thanks for the advise. I clean my coop daily and when I have my brooder going it gets cleaned throughout the day as needed and completely changed and wiped down every other day so I think the mess part of it is fine. The things I am more concerned about is having water in my brooder with the chicks and diet and if they will all get along. Call ducks are a good idea tho only problem is finding them in my area. I have a hard time getting anything but the most breeds of chickens so I'm sure ducks will be the same. Anyone know any good online suppliers? I was planning on ordering from Ideal Poultry as that is who I get my chicks from but I don't they sell calls? I was thinking about getting snowy mallards from them when I order my chicks in a couple months.......

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

When folks tell you that ducks are messy, it really needs to be in all caps with a lot of exclamation points after it. Ducks are not a little messy, they are super duper uber messy! i raised lots of chicks, so was not prepared for the baby ducks. They make a huge mess of the water - everything in the brooder will be soaking wet all the time. They grow very fast. i was switching to larger brooders every couple of days. Plus, i was cleaning them multiple times a day, at least 3-4 times, and then refilling waterers many times a day.

And, they do best with their own kind. My suggestion would be to raise your chicks, then once they are out of the brooder order a couple or three ducks and raise them. Or, if you can put together a second brooder, get them at the same time but house them separately. That's just my experience and suggestion. It might not be such an issue if you ordered just one or two.

You do want to make sure to feed them unmedicated food. i used Flockraiser by Purina. i ordered mine from Metzer's and was very happy with all aspects of the ordering and delivery. i ordered 4 white crested, 3 runners, a blue swedish, and two Golden Hybrid 300s. Those Golden Hybrids are the sweetest little things - very personable, and they love to eat flies. i already had one Cayuga and ordered the other ladies to be her friends. i only wanted a couple, but Metzers has a thing where you can order as few as three (i think that's the number), but you pay extra for ordering less than 10. So i ordered 10 thinking i would end up keeping just a few, the ones i liked, then rehoming the others . . . well, i ended up keeping them all (except for the drake they threw in extra).

Anyhow, that's my two cents. i just love my ducks. They make me smile every day. But they are very messy and a lot of work. Just be prepared for that.