could i put a duckling with my chicks

[SimplyAbundantFarm]

My three words of advice on this topic...

1. Don't get just one duckling. It will be miserable. They need a duck buddy.

2. If you feed your chicks medicated starter, your ducklings cannot eat it -- it will kill them.

3. I would not advise housing them together until they are bigger and you can let them outside. Duck poop is so messy and they are so wet that your chicks would risk getting sick -- either from dampness or from risk of coccidiosis that they picked up from the duck poop.

Mine are all together now -- once they grew big enough to be outside in a larger area and on grass, but I would never,personally, brood them together. You are just asking for trouble.

Have fun with them!

 

[conny63malies]

I put my three muscovys in with 3 six weeker and a gang of three weekers. They are doing just fine. There is no stomping,even tiny lttle dum-dum chicken is standing his ground and he weigs less than 2 oz. I dont see any more mess than usual. But i dont give them the chance to take a dip in the waterer. I think try it as long as you have enough room. Also i forgot to mention, i use two heat lamps . One is used by the ducks and the older bantys thae other by the little gang. Only dum-dum chicken goes over to the big kids annd sticks himself under their wings.

 

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

My husband really has his heart set on ducks. He wants to dig a pond and build them a palace. That should take him some time to complete before we actually get him the ducks. He wants Cayugas or Black east Indies.

 

[MissPrissy]

I do not advocate mixing fowl at any age. The above info ont he feed and water needs is correct. There are other reasons I don't advocate mixing fowl. You should be aware that male ducks (drakes) that do not have a female to mate with will mate your hens if they are kept in together. Drakes are viscious in this manner and can seriously injure and kill chickens by mating them. It is best to have 3 to 4 female ducks for 1 drake. It keeps him busy and doesn't put the females at unfair advantage.

 

[farmgirlie1031]

I had 2 ducklings living with one chick only when all the other chicks passed on so the chick would have some company but I agree the ducks are very messy and if I could I wouldn't put ducklings with baby chicks. I now have some two week old chicks so I put the 6 week old chick in with them and they are getting along great. I had them out running while I was watching them yesterday and my 6 week old was teaching the two week olds how to eat little bugs and worms in the grass. It was too cute.

 

[dragonshiner]

Ouchamagowza! Reading this thread has given me a few red flags in my head! Right now I have all our chicks and ducklings sharing one giant brooder. They are all a week or younger. So far there doesn't seem to be any trampling with all the space they have. In fact all of the ducklings and chicks band together to form a massive cuddle puddle. I haven't really noticed any excessive mess, yet.
Reading how fast they grow and how much they consume compared to chicks makes me realize that I need to build them a new pen of their own, like today!
The biggest warning that is going off right now is that my fiance bought a giant bag of medicated chick starter to save some cash and that's what they are all eating right now! Looks like I'm hoofing it to the feed mill after this.