Chicks and Ducks?

[mammadawn]

Hello everyone! This is my first official post, as I am new to the forum as well as new to raising poultry. I am very excited and have enjoyed my experience so far. I currently have 3 six week old chicks, 19 five week old chicks, 3 five week old ducks, and 4 five week old turkeys. Everyone is currently housed separately in small outdoor coops while the larger arrangements are being built. Can I house my chicks and ducks together in the soon to be, much larger coop? The coop dimensions are 20x20, double that for the covered run. Do ckickens and ducks co-habitate well or do I need to build a separate shelter for my ducks. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks everyone!

 

[kimb]

Well first off- welcome

they cohabitate fine... but it can get messy depending on what you have for a water source for the ducks (and where you have it!) ... ducks are VERY messy in their water ... then of course they climb out of the water and drip dry... so you get mud - and although chickens like to play in mud - they don't like to live in it

...

something like this is my idea for what might work

... to at least keep the excess water to a minimum

 

[P0U1TRYP3RS0N]

Ducks tend to like to make things a mess and baptize all the chickens

but they can get along just fine if the pen is big enough and the chickens can get to dryer ground when the ducks are busy making a mudmess.
Turkeys and chickens...Ive always had mine together, but I know they CAN pass each other diseases. So just be cautious.

 

[mammadawn]

Thanks so much for the advice! I will take all the advice with great consideration cuz it's true, we don't need any chicken baptisms

. And Kimb, the diagram is great and very helpful. Thanks so much, and YEAh for finding backyardchickens.com!