OK, I'm officially insane and this may be what pushes my sweet husband over the edge LOL! BUT... a lady was selling cayuga duck eggs and they are nice, quiet ducks... and I just bought them. I've been wanting ducks for a long time but my husband is starting to get worried about the number of fowl living on our 1/4 acre suburban lot with us! [I do plan to sell about half of them this spring, but still...] My question - can my ducks live overnight in my hen house with the hens and be out during the day to swim in the kiddie pool, or do they need separate housing? Do ducks and chickens get along? Thanks for any help/advice! Kelly
We have 2 ducks living with our chickens. The only time we have a problem is if one of the hen are sleeping in the ducks nest. Then the ducks just push the hens out. Very little fighting. We do let our ducks free range in the summer so that they can go swimming whenever they want.
They can stay in the same coop. We used to have 4 cayugas, 3 mallards and a bunch of pekin reside with our chickens. They didn't bother one another. The chicken slept on the roosts and the ducks in the corner. WE gotr rid of them and replaced them with call ducks and now the same thing they get along fine. Then during the day the ducks spent their time in the big pond or their duck pond and the chickens roam the property.
I have a few Cayugas living w/ some of my polish chickens and they get along fine. The only thing about ducks w/ chickens I see that could be a problem is keeping their drinking water clean. Ducks can be pretty messy w/ the water so make sure you keep all the water containers clean and full of clean water daily.
My ducks lived with the chickens with no problem for awhile. The only problem I had was when they got old enough I learned I had 1 duck and 3 drakes! So I had to bring her and 1 of the drakes in the garage until spring. Now I have 2 drakes out with the chickens and the only problem is they like to chase Mr. Roo and grab him by the tail!
they can well live together. I have 6 ducks ( 3 drakes and 3 females) living with 5 hens. The ducks are usually out during the day, the chickens might or might not be out. They all grew up together and aside from the one drake with the identity crisis (he thinks hes a rooster) all is well and noone gets roudy w. anyone else
I too have 4 ducks living with my chickens and so far no problems. I have a separate water dish for the ducks and a waterer for the chickens.
