Does anyone have Chickens and Ducks living together?

[Connorrm]

I'm brooding six ducklings with 15 silkies. It's going very well. The silkies push themselves under the ducklings and they just let them. It's so cute!

 

[adelore]

I'm not going to have afree range area. I was wondering about the mess the ducks would make. Not only of the shed they will all live in but of the fenced in area. Any ideas I would be more than thankful for.

 

[adelore]

Does anyone have any pictures of the inside for their ducks and chickens? What about your fenced in area outside with both? I've posted pictures of the fenced in area we are working on. It's going to be about 25 feet long and 15 feet wide. Im going to put a wire roof on the pen to keep anything from getting into it from the top. I hope to finish the outside of the shed and lean to also. The ducks and chickens will have a door just below the large window to go in and out of.

 

[jk216]

hi, my 7 chickens live with my 3 duck without any major problems now. They all get feed together and roam in the garden when we are around until their run is finished. We are thinking of bringing a couple more ducks into the flock as they are so cute, does anyone have any ideas how best to do this? many thanks Julie

 

[m.kitchengirl]

@ Adelore-

Your area looks good. How many ducks is the yard for?
Ducks get things wet. WET, wet. Then they burrow their beaks down into the mud looking for gooey bits to eat.

It is a different mess than chickens make. Their house gets icky.
I clean my secure night yard once every 2 days - scrape out the damp straw, spray down the pea gravel, then when the gravel is dry, add new straw (in winter, in summer I leave the pea gravel bare).
The duck's house area I have a layer of plastic over the floor, then 3 bags of play sand, then about 8" of hay which I rake around & remove the gross, damp stuff, and cover with straw every 4-5 days. It is usually less disgusting than the night yard, because the ducks like to sleep out there, rather than where it is warm & cozy.
I planted climbing plants that the ducks could nibble along the outside of their coop/run/yard - peas, green beans, calendula, comfrey (okay, so they aren't all climbers) plus there are some wild raspberries that abut their run. It looks much nicer from the outside, and the ducks nibble at the peas & beans & their leaves happily from inside the run. I just toss beans & peas in to them from right outside the yard. It is pretty convenient.


@jk216 -

Adding new ducklings is a little easier than adding new chicks.
Most ducks don't seem to be as viscous about pecking order as chickens, though I had a dominant pair that were pretty ruthless. They moved on, not the new duckies.
Once my babies were able to go out for field trips on nice days I used an A-Frame rabbit hutch I have that sits on the ground as their safety zone. I put it right against the ducks' enclosed yard, and the ducklings would spend their days there, where the big ducks could investigate them, but not get to them.
Once they were old enough to spend nights outside I put their safety zone inside the duck house & left everyone in there for a few days.
Once the big ducks stopped running at the hutch & chest bumping it (I think in excitement) I took the hutch out.

 

[emryst]

I also raised my ducks with my chickens (and a turkey!) and I only had a slight problem when they were a few months old. The chickens started pecking a duck's wings, causing them to bleed. And we all know how chickens are with blood....

so they were separated for awhile but when I put them all back together they got along. I have 12 ducks and 9 chickens. I wouldn't say they love each other, but they tolerate each other. One of the hens hatched out 3 babies in January (yeah..) and I separated them for about 2 months but now the 'babies' are in with the ducks and the ducks don't care. The chickens had a harder time accepting the babies.

 

[Habobanero]

In one pen I have a pair of Rouen, a pair of India Blue Peacock, and a pair of Australorp/RIR mix. They all seem to get along fine, lately though, the Rouen drake is chasing the hen and peahen around until they roost up high. He stops and goes on with his business and then a few hours later he does it again but it's only been in the past month he's been doing this. The other pen is a little more comical, I have 17 chickens and 3 Muscovy ducks and they get along fine as well, maybe a little too fine. I have observed my Americana rooster mating with the Muscoveys, I couldn't believe my eyes at first. But, sure enough, the ducks just allow it and sometimes even encourage it by following the rooster around. It's not an everyday thing but I have observed it five times now in the past 3 months. Now I just need a turkey in the mix and can hatch Turduchens

 

[farriersgirl]

I have 6 red sexlink pullets that are now about 8 weeks old and 2 ducks i got from a straight run assorted breed bin at TSC that are now 9 weeksold (im guessing they are Rouens) And i just got a6 week old Rhode Island Red rooster 2 days ago and i have all of them together with no problems so far. As soon as i set the rooster down, the ducks seemed to be very curious about him. I checked on them an hour later and the 2 ducks were following the rooster around the run, and all three seemed like they liked each others company. The ducks did seem to like chasing the poor little chicks around but ive never seen them hurt them and i check them regularly and they have never looked hurt. I notice as time goes by the ducks are getting to be a lot nicer to the chicks as they get bigger.

 

[LKirts]

I have 40 chickens who live with my two ducks. I had the chickens first, then introduced the ducks, I had an extra large dog house like in the fenced in chicken run for the ducks, but they decided they liked the coop better. So they live together peacefully. I just purchased 4 more ducks and 9 more chickens since I just lost 5 chickens in this terrible winter we had here. Brought them home and kept them I the same cage for over 3 weeks. they get along just fine... but since the chicks were getting a bit wet, and the ducks were growing so big, I separated them in two different cages... The chickens are mad as heck! they keep trying to climb thru the bars of the cage and get back in with the ducks! lol ( they cant go thru, they are safe from harm) I have the cages close together so they can still be by one another... I think that when animals are raised together, they get along... Soon , ill have to introduce them to the old flock... that's gonna be the fun part lol.

 

[mrbuch]

I have a rooster 5 hens and a turkey that just hatched 8 baby chickens and I have 2 ducks and they all do fine together