Ducks & Chickens Living together

[I dig chicks]

I recently got 2 pekin ducks along with 6 chicks. They are all about 2 months old and are living in a fully enclosed run with coop access. The problem I am having is with the ducks being ducks and using all the water in a matter of hours and not leaving any for the chicks to drink (plus they are bigger and thus poop more and are messier in general). I want to eventually let them live cage free (at least during the day). So my question is, at what age can I do that (for the ducks)? Or is there some other way of not letting the ducks use the chicks drinking water that I'm not thinking of? They all get along well, but I need to solve this issue somehow. TIA.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

yes, this is a problem for more than one person keeping chickens and ducks together. What i do to keep the chickens water clean and full is i have the ducks tub of water and also have chicken nipples. They are a good way to provide the chickens clean water without the ducks getting it. When they are chicks i use rabbit bottles. You will have to look up a way to build a fairly cheap pvc pipe system. I found more than 1 plan

http://www.google.com/search?q=chic...Xv4K4Bg&ved=0CB4Qsxg&biw=1066&bih=758&dpr=0.9

 

[I dig chicks]

yes, this is a problem for more than one person keeping chickens and ducks together. What i do to keep the chickens water clean and full is i have the ducks tub of water and also have chicken nipples. They are a good way to provide the chickens clean water without the ducks getting it. When they are chicks i use rabbit bottles. You will have to look up a way to build a fairly cheap pvc pipe system. I found more than 1 plan

http://www.google.com/search?q=chic...Xv4K4Bg&ved=0CB4Qsxg&biw=1066&bih=758&dpr=0.9

Thanks, I definitely try this. But hopefully the ducks don't just waste water through through the nipples.

 

[I dig chicks]

yes, this is a problem for more than one person keeping chickens and ducks together. What i do to keep the chickens water clean and full is i have the ducks tub of water and also have chicken nipples. They are a good way to provide the chickens clean water without the ducks getting it. When they are chicks i use rabbit bottles. You will have to look up a way to build a fairly cheap pvc pipe system. I found more than 1 plan

Thanks. I will definitely try this. Hopefully the ducks don't waste all the water through the nipples.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Sure! As long as my ducks have access to water, they don't really mess with the nipples. Hope it works for you! Once your ducks are outside during the day, you don't have to water them in the coop...i don't because it causes me to go through tons of bedding.