could i put a duckling with my chicks

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

Do they have to eat special duck food or could I throw one in with my chicks till its old enough for outside? I'm thinking of getting one and I know nothing about them. Whats a good place to look up first timer info on ducks?

 

[Katy]

Do a search on here...there's been lots of thread on that topic.

I personally wouldn't ever try to house ducklings and chicks together, although there are people who do. Ducklings make a tremendous mess....it's just their nature. They need more water than chicks. I feed mine the same feed as my chicks, but they need to have deep drinking water to keep their nostrils washed out and free of food. I don't think it's fair to either the ducklings or the chicks if you throw them together.

 

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

Ok. I didnt know...like i said I know nothing about ducks.

 

[GwenFarms]

I would make a seperate brooder for your ducklings. Get a seperate tote, or whatever size you need. I use my barn floor when I'm brooding alot of birds and make a draft shield out of torn down boxes. With ducks you aren't going to want to use shavings they will stay soaked. You will want to use a thick layer of sand instead. It will drain better. You need a waterer with a wide base, I like to sit it up on half a cement block to cut down on mess. You need to keep a heat light on for them with lots of cooler area too and use nonmedicated chick starter, or specially formulated duck starter.

If you put them in there with your chicks, your chicks will stay wet and your liable to end up losing some. The ducks will grow much faster as well.

PM me if I can help you any more.

 

[kodiakchicken]

Annie,

I've got 6 chicks and 3 ducklings coming tomorrow and have been doing a LOT of reading on both.

I thought about keeping them together too, but there are two major drawbacks that I can see. 1) the ducks will grow much faster than the chicks and could end up stomping them. 2) ducks should not eat medicated chick starter. In fact, ducks really should have special duck or gamebird starter, as they require a higher protein level and niacin, which the chick starter doesn't have. You could probably get away with using unmedicated chick starter in a pinch, but absolutely don't give them the medicated. Apparently they aren't as prone to coccidiosis (sp?) as chicks are and they eat a ton more, so consequently could overdose on the meds.

Hope this helps! I'm very psyched about my duckies - even though I now know I'm not getting exactly what I ordered. Oh well! C'est la vie!

 

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to look around and figure out what to use for the duck brooder. How long till they feather out and can be outside?

 

[jamesrm]

I had 4 ducklings (pekin from TSC) in with my chicks for the first 2 weeks. At that point, the ducks were atleast twice the size.

Also, 4 ducklings produce the exact same volume of poop (runny, liquid poop) that 55 RIR and leghorns produced combined. They also drink the same volume of water as said 55 chicks.

I have a 3 tier brooder/grow out system, so they just got moved to grow out at 2 weeks and outside at 4 weeks.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
So very, very true!!!!!

 

[Struttn1]

Baby ducks love to grab a billful of food then run to the waterer and dabble in the water with the bill full of food. Big big mess in a hurry.

 

[dreammaker8482]

My two duckies are so messy! I had no idea really, but I still wouldn't trade them for the world. I constantly am changing their water and bedding since I don't have my coop/duck run up yet completely....they definitely keep me busy!