Does anyone else have Chickens and Ducks housed together?

[kelly77]

If so how in the world do you keep the floor bedding clean? & dry? I love my ducks but the 4 make such a mess...my chickens have their perches and clean boxes but would rather eat with the rest of the flock and spend time on the ground...since its winter I clean out old bedding (esp wet) once a week...I would do it everyday if I could afford it

 

[rbaker0345]

I used to put straw OVER the sawdust. Straw is cheap and the duck poop get stuck on top of it AND its really easy to just pick up with a pitchfork. That way, you're not going through a ton of money in sawdust/shavings.

 

[kelly77]

I used to put straw OVER the sawdust. Straw is cheap and the duck poop get stuck on top of it AND its really easy to just pick up with a pitchfork. That way, you're not going through a ton of money in sawdust/shavings.

I have hay down ..is straw different? I haven't used shavings all winter because I noticed it gets soiled fast.

 

[rbaker0345]

Hay is more expensive (a lot more) and it has finer/smaller pieces.

 

[Suzie]

In a word no....

For some of the reasons you have already mentioned.. ducks are incredibly messy with their poop and make the floor of the chicken coop wet and smelly...

Also the issue of water comes to mind... ducks need a deeper water drinking source than chickens, they have a habit of making the water dirty and that ( in my opinion ) is not healthy for the chickens to drink from.... one solution to think about.... separate the coop into two distinctive areas..one for the ducks and another for the chickens.

My ducks have frequented the chicken coop during daylight hours and have left behind a terrible mess, they are now barred from entering the coop - I am lucky in that I do have plenty of housing for ducks,chickens and geese to be housed with their own kind.

Suzie

 

[kelly77]

In a word no....

For some of the reasons you have already mentioned.. ducks are incredibly messy with their poop and make the floor of the chicken coop wet and smelly...

Also the issue of water comes to mind... ducks need a deeper water drinking source than chickens, they have a habit of making the water dirty and that ( in my opinion ) is not healthy for the chickens to drink from.... one solution to think about.... separate the coop into two distinctive areas..one for the ducks and another for the chickens.

My ducks have frequented the chicken coop during daylight hours and have left behind a terrible mess, they are now barred from entering the coop - I am lucky in that I do have plenty of housing for ducks,chickens and geese to be housed with their own kind.

Suzie

I agree...ugg they are more of hubbies pets....hence the messy lol...As soon as we have Spring I think move them to another enclosure

 

[isis]

I have a pen with chickens and ducks... I use nipple drinkers on 5 gallon buckets. The nipples I bought off of eBay and the buckets are from home demo. Works great... Every now and then I fill some pans of water for the ducks to play in, but otherwise they are "pondless" ducks.

 

[kelly77]

I have a pen with chickens and ducks... I use nipple drinkers on 5 gallon buckets. The nipples I bought off of eBay and the buckets are from home demo. Works great... Every now and then I fill some pans of water for the ducks to play in, but otherwise they are "pondless" ducks.

How do they bathe?