Welcome to BYC. If you put your location into your profile it will always be there to reference so you can get better-targeted advice. Climate matters.
I have a variety of general questions:
- how many chickens is the minimum for a healthy flock
- how many is the maximum for this coop
- what is the optimal male/female ratio
- what breeds should I focus on (we are looking for eggs not raising them for meat
- can I mix and match certain breeds? Would love a variety
- what are the best hatcheries for chickens
- should I start with all chick's or get older chickens/roosters and from where
- are there certain breeds that would work with the ducks should they come across one another while foraging/free roaming
The usual accepted minimum flock is 3 -- because chickens are flock animals and are unhappy without other chicken companions.
What are the dimensions of the coop?
The Usual Guidelines
For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:
- 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
- 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
- 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
- 1/4 of a nest box,
- And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.
Does the rear section of the structure stay the same temperature as the front, open section? If not, you need more ventilation back there.
Here's my article on Hot Climate chicken-keeping:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/
And my article on Ventilation:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/
And here is an article on why the commonly-used numbers are *guidelines* rather than hard-and-fast *rules*.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-room-do-chickens-need.66180/
The usual number given for females to males is 10 hens for every rooster. This is not a magic number. Sometimes chickens can be kept in pairs or trios. Sometimes a young, vigorous rooster can maintain fertility for twice that many hens. Sometimes rooster will tolerate each other and work as a team. Sometimes, regardless of the number of hens, they will fight.
People here often recommend that for your first flock you go with all females in order to learn the ropes of chicken keeping before you have to deal with the complications of males -- particularly hormonal cockerels. This is recommended even more strongly if you have young children in the household because an aggressive rooster will attack at face level for a child and tragic, permanent injuries are possible.
*However* some people's goals for their flock require a male from the beginning and it *can* work -- if you learn the signs of possible trouble and are willing to cull any males that become aggressive.
As far as breeds,
Go Ahead, Pick the Prettiest Chickens!
More seriously, you're in an extreme climate so you're going to want to consider heat resistance when making your choices. The most heat tolerant are the Mediterranean breeds but any of the common, dual-purpose breeds with clean legs and large, single combs are likely to do well.
Here in the Steamy Southeast, my Australorps and my California white have done best and my Wyandotte, while not in danger, has been less happy and active on blistering-hot days.
I personally like raising chicks and my favorite hatchery is Ideal, both for their small order policies and because they're in Texas and I believe that pre-selects their birds for heat tolerance since their breeding flocks have to produce in the heat. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to deal with young chicks, however, and you can often find "started" and "point-of-lay" pullets on Craigslist -- I sell birds of those ages myself.
I can't speak to the question of ducks. About the only thing I know about ducks and chickens is that drakes must NOT be allowed to attempt to mate with chicken hens because a drake has a penis but a rooster does not and thus a drake can kill a hen since she doesn't have the anatomy to cope with his anatomy.
Here's a good overview:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-raise-chickens.47660/
Feel free to ask as many questions as you can think of. People here are always happy to help.
