Ducks with chickens?

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Pocahontas7799

Pocahontas7799

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I'm going to start a new flock of chickens in the spring and I wanted to know if I could also bring home a few ducklings with the chicks? I have decided on Cayuga ducks since they originate from NY and I live in Ohio so they would be perfect for my climate. I have an 8'x8'x10' shed I'm converting into a coop. I will be getting 10 hens and 2 ducks and 1 drake. Can they be housed at night together and free range without chaos? Anyone have any advice or personal experience with this?
 
Welcome to BYC! We're glad to have you.

I don't have any experience with ducks or raising them with chickens. However, I know that other members on BYC keep mixed flocks, and hopefully they'll come around to this post and help you out. You may also want to post in the Duck section of these forums: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/42/ducks

Good luck with your future flock!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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The one big problem with keeping chickens and ducks together is that ducks need a lot of water and they make a mess of this water. Chickens can't take such damp conditions and this can make them sick. So it is best to keep the two separate.

Definitely stop by our duck section. Wyandottes7 has left you with the link.

Enjoy this new adventure you are on and welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC. Ducks are messy, and this can be a problem in mixed flocks - far less so in a free range situation. Upon occasion a drake may start mating chicken hens which can cause injuries and possible the death of the hens - this is far less common if the drake is imprinted on duck hens.
 
Welcome to BYC!

I house both just fine. As little ones I did separate the ducks when they got too messy for the chicks, but at about 5 weeks they were all ready for the coop so out they went. I have 13 chickens and a pair of ducks that free range all day together and are housed together at night. Just make sure to have a nice covered area for the ducks since they'll be on the floor. Once in a while my ducks will "move" a chicken out of the way of a tasty snack, but for the majority of the time they get along good.

I had started with two roosters (on accident) and one was a menace to the ducks. He would really bother my female and eventually bothered the male so he went to camp freezer. The rooster I have now never bothers my ducks, and my drake never bothers my hens (mounting wise)

As stated you want to make sure you have lots of water. ...no really...a lot haha For winter I have one heated chicken waterer and three heated bowls. For summer I keep two chicken waterer (3 gallons) and one bowl (1gallon) for cleaning their nose. These get filled every day because my ducks like to play in them. We put a pond in for them and they hate it haha. Also, I keep all water dishes in my run to prevent wet bedding.
 
Thank you! I am trying to get used to the different threads on the forums. It's easier to do on my desktop but I use my phone more frequently. Yes I will have a large run added onto the coop to keep everything cleaner for the most part. I won't be keeping any "swimming" water for the ducks in the coop and I'll take extra percaution by raising the waterers so the ducks cannot attempt to swim or contaminate the water. I stay at home so they will free range most of the day and I plan on adding a goldfish pond to my yard too so they will have somewhere to swim where I won't have to worry. The coop will have plenty of ventilation and I plan on using sand litter which I have seen a lot of people mention on here as a good idea for moisture control. I have been doing tons of research about mixed flocks and I really get the most on here! I will move my further questions about ducks to the correct forums. Thank you all again! You guys are awesome!
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