Ducks and chickens living together?

[cdover15]

I currently have 5 call ducks and I was wondering if i could keep chickens with them. I have a small run and small coop so I could only have room for a couple of smaller chickens. I would also want the chickens to be around the same size of the call ducks. I let the ducks out to roam everyday and put them back at night and I would do the same with the chickens. Would the chickens try and get in the duck pool? Anyway I guess my question is can you successfully keep ducks and chickens together, and if so what breeds would do best with the ducks and in an Ohio climate? Please include pictures and information if possible! Thanks

 

[Kevin565]

Yes you can keep the two together. However we really need more information on the dimensions on your "Small" coop and run. Even though calls are small they are still ducks. Meaning the drakes could try to mount the hens and some ducks have been known to drown chickens.

 

[Heat]

I am currently 'experimenting' with ducks and chickens. Although I have more chickens than ducks (11 to 2), they seem to be getting along. The chickens are 13 weeks and the ducks are almost 4 weeks. The chickens seem to be more afraid of the ducks than curious, and they are liking to drink out of the ducks little pan of water (will upgrade to a small kiddie pool soon).

i think the main thing to keep in mind is that chickens aren't water fowl so you want to be mindful of their pool and make sure the chickens have a way to exit if by chance they do get in there, and that it is still deep enough for the ducks but shallow enough that the chicken would have a fighting chance to get out.

Right now one of the ducklings is trying to crow I think... when our Roo crows the duckling will stretch its neck out and open its mouth (only a little chirp comes out though).

Good luck with your decision! I personally love chickens and am excited to love my ducks too

 

[RileyB]

I recently began experimenting with chickens and ducks living together as well. I've found that ours get along great, but the ducks definitely get things pretty wet. I'm figuring out ways to get the water/mud issue fixed so that the chickens will not live in a wet area. That is the only difficulty that has arisen so far in terms of keeping them together. I hope I can figure out how to keep everything dryer so that I do not have to separate them!

 

[NeTNChknLover]

We have geese and chickens living in the same run, they do just fine together!

 

[HollerLady]

For the past 3 months I've had 1 duck living with 6 chickens. The only time there's any conflict is at mealtime and one of the hens sometimes pecks him, but then she pecks the other chickens too. Nothing serious. I let them free range when I'm home and the duck is the leader of the flock! Re water, a duck does not need a deep container of water. I'm sure they would like it, but just deep enough to sit in and bathe is enuf.

 

[nickie]

My chickens have never tried to go in the duck pond. A few have wondered over to check it out, but never even on the rocks lining the edge of the liner. Some people not have the same experience as me. I do not house them together though, my drake and head rooster fight when confined together. My drake is a punk though. I have found that the ducks run the show around here, the girls run the chickens off (even the roo, he found out the hard way messing with my 12 lb pekin duck was a bad idea), my drake who is a cayuga (medium sized maybe 8 lbs.) runs the turkeys off.

I think a bit more info on your setup would be helpful.

 

[cdover15]

okay the water was one of my main concerns with cthe chickens so i will have to watch that.
and we have two small coops that are 1.5 feet by 3 feet. the run is 10 feet by 8 feet and its about 4 feet tall. i have my run and coops set up to where i could easily seperate them. plus i recently bought an antique bench thing that i can turn into a coop. the ducks never use the coop part, they dont like to be up high i guess. so the chickens would have that part all to themselves.
and my duck pond is actually a kiddie pool with ramps going up to it, do you think that would be okay for the chickens? and what would i have to put in the water for them to get out in case the chickens got in? thanks!

 

[nickie]

To me, please remember I err on the side of huge, your setup sounds a bit small for the ducks you have. Most people recommend a minimum of 4 sq ft per chicken... I don't know the recommendation for ducks, I just went big and called it good.

 

[cdover15]

compared to the breeders we have seen with small breeding pens, the area we keep our ducks in is plenty of space. like i said, the ducks never use the coop and they are let out to roam 10 acres (although they never leave the area surrounding their home and pool). the 5 ducks are very tiny and when they are locked up at night hardly take up any space and they do fine in the space they have.