Duck Questions

[KYchickadee]

Can I house a duck (just one duck) with three chickens?

If the duck is a male, will it try to breed with the chickens?

What's the difference in personality in a male and a female?

I read they eat the same thing as chicks/chickens?

What keeps them from migrating south for winter? Do I have to trim their wings?

I'm assuming if it's raised with the chicks, they should get along?

Is there a breed selector like there is for chickens to help me know which is the best kind for me? I don't so much care about duck eggs, but I think ducks are cute and I want one as a pet

Thanks in advance. (BTW the coop can house up to 6 chickens and the run is 10x5' and 6' tall.)

 

[Amykins]

Well everyone here has experience and know what they talk about, don't trust the internet trust the people with the experience. i hope ya love your duckie

Well she's right, ducklings don't need starter crumble as long, but they do need one designed for duckies, not chickies! You CAN use chick starter if you still have some lying around, you just need to add brewer's yeast (NOT baking yeast!) or a crushed-up niacin pill into it. Again, the ratio of yeast/pill to crumble may be confusing so I'd just but the duck crumble. Then after two weeks you can switch to small pellets, then large ones as they grow.


A great book, if you're serious about being a duck owner, is "The Ultimate Pet Duck Handbook" by Kimberly Link. It's pretty cheap on Amazon, she runs a duck rescue and knows more about ducks than anyone I can think of. It helped me out immensely and is about as thorough as thorough can be when it comes to how to raise, house, and care for your ducks!

 

[needlessjunk]

One duck will be a lonely unhappy duck. You will need at least two. Since you do have chickens I would get females since males may try to mate your chickens and that can be deadly to them. It is possible to house then together but some people have great results whiles others don't. It depends on your chickens and ducks. Ducklings will not be able to go straight out with chickens and will need to be protected. Most domestic ducks cannot fly. Hete is a breed comparison from Metzer, but ducks are very much individuals so it's just a guide.
http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparison.cfm?CustID=3371390

How many chickens do you have now? That isn't a very big run and most problems arise when they are over crowed.

 

[Amykins]

As for food, no, chickens and ducks do not eat the same things. Ducks need niacin in their diet whereas chickens don't, and so their feed both are formulated differently. This is especially crucial when they're young.

You CAN feed ducks chicken pellets but it must be supplemented with niacin. I'm lazy, so honestly I recommend just getting the two different kinds of food.

I also don't recommend housing them together for the reasons Needless mentioned, but also because ducks are MESSY! Chickens are relatively clean by comparison and they don't like to hang around in wet, soggy, muddy pens. Ducks on the other hand? That's their paradise! They'll find ways to spill, slosh, and bring in as much water and mud as they can every single day.

 

[buff goose guy]

You should probably get a flightless duck breed so pretty much almost anything that is not in the bantam class.

No you need a duck recommended food,

If the only reason you want ducks is becuase you think they are cute, that isn't the best reason you have to want ducks so you can enjoy them everyday, love them, learn from them , and even spend countless hours with them when they are sick or injured, haveing ducks can become a big life change and they require work.

But haveing them is supper awsome and a great experience if your ready for them

 

[Amykins]

I disagree, I chose call ducks precisely because they're so cute! I just can't get over their chubby cheeks and tiny bills. If you don't care about eggs, bantam breeds may be perfect for you. Wing clipping isn't a difficult process, especially if you have light-colored birds. Plus, not all bantams are all that great at flying. Just look at my Wobbles. Gets three feet off the ground, then...THUNK.

 

[buff goose guy]

Can I house a duck (just one duck) with three chickens?

If the duck is a male, will it try to breed with the chickens?

What's the difference in personality in a male and a female?

I read they eat the same thing as chicks/chickens?

What keeps them from migrating south for winter? Do I have to trim their wings?

I'm assuming if it's raised with the chicks, they should get along?

Is there a breed selector like there is for chickens to help me know which is the best kind for me? I don't so much care about duck eggs, but I think ducks are cute and I want one as a pet

Thanks in advance. (BTW the coop can house up to 6 chickens and the run is 10x5' and 6' tall.)

I agree with you amy, call ducks are cute and that is why I am getting them.

But i disagree with the bantam you recommended, chickens being housed with a little duck like a bantam could really hurt the little guy.

 

[Amykins]

Oh, that goes without saying. In my earlier post I recommended that ducks be kept in a separate coop entirely from the chickens!

 

[KYchickadee]

So this is completely opposite from everything that I read on the internet last night. Everything that I read said that they grow faster, so they don't need the starter crumbles as long. Once they start to get substantially larger than the chicks, you go ahead and temporarily separate them. Then you start them on chicken layer pellets. Nothing was mentioned about any supplements. I also read that Pekin ducks could be housed either with chickens or by themselves, that they imprint on their humans and don't seem to need the interaction of another duck. This is why the internet gets so confusing. Obviously, I'm going to trust you guys since you're in the trenches, but I don't understand why EVERYTHING else I've read said otherwise. I spent a good three hours last night looking stuff up.

And, I will have three chickens. I was thinking of raising them together so the duck would just think it was another chicken. If they started fighting, I would separate them... But if they do need different food, then it seems I'd have to separate them anyway.

And 10x5x6'H is too small for three chickens? It was marketed for 6-9. I know that doesn't mean anything, but it's the biggest one I could find and it seemed perfect for only three (or for three and possible a duck). I'm a little frustrated because I feel like I've done all this research and just wasted my time. I can't even find anything larger that doesn't have incredibly poor ratings. So what am I supposed to do since everything I thought I knew is wrong? Not trying to come across as snappy, but I'm just frustrated.

 

[buff goose guy]

Well everyone here has experience and know what they talk about, don't trust the internet trust the people with the experience. i hope ya love your duckie