Ducks and Chickens in Same Coop

[jennyman]

Hello All. We are getting 5 ducks and 5 chickens in May. They are going to be housed in the same coop. I would like to have a covered section within the coop to protect the ducks from roosting chickens. Any suggestions on design or space? Or any ideas really on them living together in the same coop?

 

[aart]

@oldhenlikesdogs can tell you.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I personally would make separate areas to keep them separately. Ducks are messy, and will make everything wet. Drakes can be dangerous to chicken hens. I have muscovy. What type of ducks?

 

[SamuelMcF]

I personally would make separate areas to keep them separately. Ducks are messy, and will make everything wet. Drakes can be dangerous to chicken hens. I have muscovy. What type of ducks?

I am also curious about keeping ducks together with chickens. I have heard that if you have a rooster he will protect the hens from the drake. Is that true?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I am also curious about keeping ducks together with chickens. I have heard that if you have a rooster he will protect the hens from the drake. Is that true?

Generally no. Some roosters might, and others don't. I definitely would never brood the species together as they can become confused.

I only keep muscovy now because the drakes of mallard based breeds are nutty as far as mating, and harassing the duck hens for mating in my experiences.

 

[jennyman]

I personally would make separate areas to keep them separately. Ducks are messy, and will make everything wet. Drakes can be dangerous to chicken hens. I have muscovy. What type of ducks?

It is a bit of a hodgepodge. All females including Rouen, Buff and Black Swedish.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Since they are all females at least you don't need to worry about drakes mating chickens. As far as the moisture you will need to figure that out. Ducks will mess up waters with residue of feed that drops out of their mouths, so their water needs to be dumped daily.

You can make a separate area for the ducks to sleep, but you will need to lock them in nightly or they will sleep where they please. They probably will avoid sleeping under the roosts naturally.