Does chicken and duck harmony exist?

[annabobbob717]

Hello everyone!
So I've decided to build a duck coop this spring and bring home some ducklings! My question is, will my 8 chickens have a problem with them? Are there any tips to keeping the two animals in the same yard???

 

[QueenMisha]

You can have as many species together as you are willing to spend time managing them. Luckily, ducks and chickens cohabitate easily compared to many other species. Your main problems are going to be A. The ducks will dirty the chicken's water, and B. Male ducks may attempt to mate with hens.

Nothing can really be done about the water issue, except perhaps installing nipples (not my favorite watering method but will keep things clean). However, any male ducks who begin trying to breed your hens need to be separated immediately. They can severely injure hens, as unlike roosters, they possess a penis. Hens are not designed for that kind of breeding. Not all male ducks will do this, but some may.

 

[TLWR]

My chickens never cared about the duck mucked water. The chicken has her own water the ducks can't reach and she just drinks out of their dishes, their pool, the pond. I don't know that I ever see her drinking her clean water.

I now have 1 chicken. She does her own thing, but she does hang out in the duck group a lot as well and follows them around and hangs out with them.

 

[DonnaMiniFarm1]

I Have both ducks and chickens. They have their own coops but spend their days in the same run. Yes the ducks dirty the swimming pool but my chicken don't seem to mind. Once in a while someone gooses someone else but they never fight. I had a time where my male duck was looking to make my silkie his own. She wouldn't hear of it and from what I know duck and chicken can't mate not made the same.

 

[Black Choctaw]

My female mallard sat on my chickens - they hatched and now the baby chicks thinks the duck is their momma.
So cute watching them following behind her and how protective she is off them.

 

[DonnaMiniFarm1]

I had the opposite my silkie raised a duckling . My little duckling was so attached to her it was amazing to watch. I had a brooder fire and lost the mama and one sibling chicken but now the duckling and the other chick are doing really well. Now i'm not sure how to merge them into their duckling and chicken family's.

 

[Black Choctaw]

Momma duck and her two chicks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Momma duck and her two chicks.

Hope she doesn't try to take them swimming.

 

[BantyChooks]

I had 3 ducks (they are at my neighbor's pond now) and they got along fine with my chickens, but I couldn't STAND the water mess! I dug them a pond in my run, but that didn't help..... they were all females, though.

 

[jofanx]

Mine cohabited fine (until the chickens got picked off one night I forgot to close the coop) and the funny thing was the ducks followed the chickens as their alarm system. If they saw the chickens go into the coop at dusk, they ran in right after, if I opened their coop in the morning, the ducks always let the chickens go first, if the chickens panicked about something, the ducks were first to race to shelter. I have muscovies though so not sure if that plays a part. The ducks were a bit more dominant, and if the chickens did something they didn't like, the ducks would nip at them.

However, when I first introduced the boy duck, one of the female ducks decided to establish the pecking order and jumped on him and had a small squabble--the chickens raced in and tried to separate them. It was really, really funny to watch.