Ducks and Chickens...Friends?

[SareBear0728]

Newbie here!

We have 8 lovely ducks...3 female cayugas, 3 female buffs, 1 male runner and 1 male mallard. Because of a hawk attack in July, I have been overly cautious and have not allowed our ducks to free-range without supervision. My question is...we just aquired 29 baby chicks and are building a large (45'x25') outdoor structure and a fairly large (15'x30') indoor structure for the chicks to live in. Can I move the ducks here as well? Will they get along? It would be great to allow the ducks access to this area as well-I know they would LOVE it!

If any of you do have a combination family, would you mind sharing how you introduced them? The ducks are about 4-6 months old, the chicks are 3 weeks.

Thanks for any advice!

Sarah and the feathered kids

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

The ducks might pick on the chicks if the duck are bigger then them? I had to put my ducks in with my moms chickens becuz their pen got gross. But they are getting along perfectly fine. I hope you get better help then this!

Oh, and

 

[dianaross77]

I let my silkie house chicken out to free range with my muscovies and they took her right in. There was no pecking, chasing, or bothering at all. The only problem was when the ducks would wander off and the silkie would holler to find them. Silly bird doesn't know they don't speak chicken!

eta: My drakes are easily 4 times the size of my silkie, too.

 

[SareBear0728]

Thanks for the replies! I plan to introduce them and let them get acquainted through some sort of temp. see-through fencing. I won't plan on leaving them alone together until they are close to the same size. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

I know the ducks will love the upgrade from their current location in the barn.

Sarah

 

[mandelyn]

You'll want to have some sort of plan to prevent the ducks from sleeping under the roosts and getting pooped on by the chickens. Because of the water issue with the ducks not keeping clean water, and the chickens needing clean water... I split my building in half and keep them separate but during play time they range together fine. The chickens SWEAR I keep better food in the duck house so the fist thing they do is run over there and eat.

Definitely wait until the chickens are adult sized before putting them together. Watch that the boys don't try to breed the hens, they can do some serious harm. They have plenty of duck girls it sounds like, but boys are boys.

 

[ChickInDelight]

My Mallard ducklings picked on the chicks. Now, my 4 hens (born last April) totally dominate! No real skirmishes, but a bit of bossing.

 

[homemakerjulie]

I have ducks and chickens together. My oldest hens are 8 weeks older than the ducks. The ducks were by themselves, in the bathroom with the chicks ( though chickens in a tub, ducks in a kiddie pool), and then when we moved them here (we were going to move our trailer to our land, but things didn't go well, and life was not cool for awhile, so it wasn't planned or ideal), they all went in the chicken house together. Now they all free range together all day, the ducks mostly stay together, and the chickens do their thing. The only time I have any issue is when I feed them in the morning, the head rooster will attack the ducks when they try to eat, a few nudges with my foot get him to leave them alone. Sometimes he'll really get into it with my drake (mallard), but the drake is persistent and thankfully not scared away. It's been colder now so I have been trying to get the ducks to go back to sleeping in the birdhouse, and there haven't been issues of fighting, but generally the ducks when the battle of being put to sleep because I am only willing to chase them around for so long!

In your case, I would wait until your chicks are older, at least feathered out so they have some protection in case of any scuffles. If you can hold off until they are about 8 weeks old I am guessing there wouldn't be too much trouble, first, there are a LOT more chicks than ducks! and also, ducks are so much more laid back than chickens.

 

[gryeyes]

I have four adult Cayuga drakes, a pair of call ducks, four female Cayuga younglings (past the duckling stage.... they were hatched / shipped on August 30th), and two not yet mature but fully grown Toulouse geese (goose and gander) in my flock of 70 or so chickens. The only little chicks are four hatched by broody hens about a week ago, and those two hens sharing mom duties will NOT let the ducks or geese anywhere near the chicks. Other than that, everybody ranges freely together and gets locked up in the large coop at night (transmorgrified garage). Plenty of floor space not under the roost ladders for the waterfowl to sleep.

There are three water sources in the coop, and several feeders of various types, so nobody will be prevented from eating or drinking by anybody from any group.

The only conflict is the occasional peck at a duck in somebody's personal space, or feather pulling by the ducks who want to get to the treats and there are too many chickens in their way. There's more "violence" in chicken sex than in inter-species disrespect.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

My ducks, chickens and geese all live together. They ignore each other all day and go about their own business.

 

[homemakerjulie]

Quote:
Ain't that the truth about chicken sex! The ducks are so polite, the chickens are so rough and rowdy!