Duck coop? vs. existing chicken coop

[Medda]

Hi all,
I started the chicken adventure 3 years ago and now I‘m adding ducks. My chicken coop is a Woods (10x16) coop and I will have about 25 birds in it. I am adding about 7-9 ducks depending on my hatch rate. So now my questions:

1) could i house the ducks in with the chickens? I do a modified deep liter in the Woods coop with pine shavings.

2) if I need to build a duck specific coop, I was thinking an 8x8 footprint, 8 ft tall in front sloping to 6 ft at rear. Would have hardware cloth ventilation around the front and 2 sides from roofline down to the 6 ft Mark. Would that provide adequate ventilation for ducks?

3). What would be the best option for flooring? Build directly on ground? Actually put in flooring and raise the coop off the ground? In the chicken coop I actually have the flooring built like a “pan” and covered in blackjack for moisture issues - would that work in a duck coop?

Any insight and advice from duck owners would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Medda

 

[nmr]

We got our chicks in March, moved them to their newly built coop in mid-June and immediately got Cayuga's the next day lol

From what I've read, ducks can share coops with chickens. Chickens roost and ducks don't, so the floor space can be all theirs.

I've read a bunch about how messy ducks are, but until we build our duck pen and house, they'll be going in with the chickens.

 

[3bird]

We only have ducks (six large breed--1 drake and 5 hens). They have an elevated duckhouse that is 4'x8' with four windows for ventilation with sliding plexi for protection from the elements. There is an attached 16'x8' covered run that is predator proof so they can have access 24/7 (no food or water in the duckhouse). We use the deep litter method in the duckhouse but with no specific nesting boxes (they just build nests in the corners).

We have kept as many as two drakes with five hens, but now we have just one drake with five hens. I would be apprehensive to have more than two drakes in that size flock. Even with our one drake, we have to manage him between April and August. If you plan to keep a drake (and we can't imagine a flock with out one!), you will also likely need to build partitions into your run and house so that he can be separated from some or all of the girls. There can also be severe trauma to chickens if a drake tries to have sex with them.

Even if you don't plan on keeping a drake, I would make sure you have a way to separate a duck while keeping her with the flock. We've found this helps in the case of injury or illness, and it really helps when it comes to reintegration.

Keep us posted!