ducks with the chickens?

[tigerlilly2588]

I am planning on getting a few ducklings to raise. I was just wondering if it is acceptable and safe for everyone to keep them in with my chickens once they are large enough. I personally don't see why there would be any problem but my mother seems to think thats a bad idea and says they always told her that was a big "NO NO" when she was growing up on the farm when she was young.( but doesn't seem to remember why....only that maybe it was because the male ducks might try to mate with the female hens and hurt their backs or something) Does anyone have any opinion on this matter?

 

[monarc23]

the only thingi can see is mess and if the male duck (drake) doesn't have enough females he can over mate the chickens and can even kill them in the process.


If your area is a large area where they won't be getting messy from eachother then that rules out the mess issue

and if you make sure theres a good bit of female ducks for the male duck (or no male ducks at all) thennnn that solves that problem too!

My ducks and chickens are in a large fenced in area the ducks keep to themselves only come together during feeding and if the ducks feel the chickens are eating too much they will nibble the chickens out of the way that's about it.

theres 2 drakes and 4 ducks (females)

 

[ARose4Heaven]

Ducks are MESSY! The chickens might not appreciate the watery mess they make. I recently got 9 Rouen ducklings. I put them in a large dogrun beside my chicken yard. They are messy, muddy and smell worse than chickens. Now that the ducks are almost as large as the chickens, today I left the gate open on both pens so they could get to know each other. The chickens are definitely the aggressors. But that may change as the ducks get bigger. I still plan to keep them in separate pens, but will let them range together now and then.

Some people mix them, some don't. All you can do is try it, and decide for yourself. Watch them closely the first few days they mingle for naughty behaviors.

 

[monarc23]

ducks are only messy if the area isn't large and not everyone can keep them in a large area. The only area my ducks make a mess is the pond and that's theirs anyhow

 

[pbjmaker]

My four ducklings (7 weeks) trash the chicken water constantly. Other than that they get along fine and the ducks have been out there since they were about 2 weeks old.

I did have a 6 week chick drown in the ducks kiddie pool the other day also. So there are safety issues to consider for the chickens.

 

[tigerlilly2588]

ohhh....I didn't realize that ducks were so much messier than chickens, although I guess its not that surprising since you have to keep tubs of water for them.Thanks a lot everyone, that really helps me out on the decision making!

 

[akpeeps]

I have one duck that's been with 5 chickens since they were 3 days old. I didn't realize the one duck would make a bigger mess the rest of my chickens combined.

However, Puddles has an identity crisis and thinks she's a chicken. I tell everyone she a Ducken.

She afraid of other ducks. She and the two SLW's are the 3 Musketeers. Where ever I find the Wyandottes, I'll find the duck.

 

[Riven]

I keep ducks and chickens in my community pen and they all get along fine. There are minor squabbles, but nothing worse than the chickens have with each other or the ducks have with each other.

I agree that in small spaces ducks can be very smelly! They play in the water, that is just what they do. Can't blame a duck for being a duck!

 

[leearealake]

unhapply we just had to get rid of 2 male pekins because we did not have any hens and we could not keep them out of the chickens they were escape artists so we gave them away they killed 4 hens injured 2

 

[kipepeo]

I was wondering the same thing. I have 31 chickens I got this spring and wanted to get some more chickens and now have started wanting ducks. I have a second old coop I can use part of and wondered about putting ducks and getting a few more chickens (d unncle's and maybe some other bantams I don't know yet to many choices) and putting them together. So confused and somebody please tell me to wait till next spring and have things ready instead of diving in now and throwing things together and wait for the books from amazon so I can read up on all this.