Coop for 4/5 chickens and 2 pekin ducks?

[IRL]

I will most likely be getting 2 pekin ducks and four or five buff orpingtons and or barred rocks. I'm thinking about buying a 4x8' coop with space underneath and making a 7x4.5' run. I'm planning on giving them about 4 hours of free-range daily. Will this be enough space and will the ducks and chickens get along fine in the confined space at night? Do you think it would be better to get a 4x4 coop for the chickens and make a small seperate coop for the ducks within the pen? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

The coop sounds ok for the chickens but I would think twice about putting the ducks in with them. Ducks are very very dirty they need their own space. I would consider building them a small compound where you could have some sort of pool for them to bathe in. We use the plastic kiddie pools here and they work very nicely. My ducks have their own house but prefer to sleep outside. We have to force them inside each night for their protection. Depending on where you live you need to consider this. will the chickens and ducks have enough room if they are snowed in during the winter. hope this helps Micki

 

[newchicksnducks]

We also found the ducks to be much messier than the chickens. We had planned on keeping them together in a 8x8 coop and 25x35 run. The chickens did put themselves to bed at night by going in the coop at dusk, but the ducks had to be chased, and placed inside each night (I've since read somewhere on BYC that ducks often like to go to bed an hour or two AFTER dark - which leaves the coop open during that time to predators, etc) The one night we did not catch the ducks to put them away, a weasel fit through the 2x4 welded wire and killed both ducks during the night. Another concern would be if one of your ducks would be a drake. They often will want to try to mate with the chickens,and they can be a bit rougher in their affections than the average roo. If at all possible, I would suggest you make another small coop for the ducks and possibly divide the run too. Check the duck section on BYC, Wifezilla had lots of good advice for me last year.