Hi guys, I'm getting this years chicks hopefully tomorrow....I was considering adding a duckling into the mix....I know they can b brooded together if care is taken to clean up after the duckling....my question is when the duckling grows up what about housing? I have a pretty good sized coop for the chickens and am expanding the run. I know a kiddy pool canon be adequate for the water aspect of the duck...will she/he live in the coop with the chickens or will I need to provide another form of housing such as a dog house for the duck? Any other advice for a new duck owner? Thanks in advance! ~manbear
I had ducks once...on the brooding ducks don't need it as warm so make sure they can get out of the heat...also you need to at least get a pair of ducks they will be house separately and will need a buddy and a dog house will work.
Together can be done. Be be aware you might need to do separate if it doesn't work for whatever reason. And I'd get 2 ducks so the duck has a friend of their own to hang with if it decides adult chickens aren't all that fun to hang with.
I tried brooding ducks last year with my chicks. Eventually I had to brood then separately. The ducks just got too messy. I did have all my birds coop up together at one point. I had converted an old shed into a coop. The ducks slept on the floor, the chickens roosted on bars. Recently I changed this and they have their own coops. Ducks in one, chickens in another. It took a few weeks to teach the ducks to not coop up with the chickens. But it worked out very well in the end. Right now all the birds have free range of our backyard during the day. But I am working on building them a pen. Though I really doubt they'll be in the pen much. But the ordinance here says I have to have a pen.
Ducks grow MUCH faster than chicks. That can lead to problems like bullying/trampling. I house my ducks and chickens together and I can tell you that they tolerate eachother but there is no love between species. As soon as the run door opens and they free range they're off to separate parts of the yard. For that reason I'd recommend two ducks, as mentioned by others here. If you do manage to get everyone to get along then housing a couple of ducks with chickens shouldn't be a big deal. Just know that you'll have to clean more often since ducks are messy. Don't keep food and water inside the coop. Ducks will make a mess of that. And you don't strictly need a pool for ducks, but they sure appreciate it. Keep that in an area you don't mind getting muddy. Because they'll make a muddy mess and then drill into that mud with their beaks.
