Housing Ducks and Chickens Together

[V-NH]

I have a very large coop/run where I have 21 chickens and 3 pekin ducks. The ducks are causing a problem, though I realize they are causing it precisely because they are ducks. I have a 5 gallon hanging waterer that all of the birds have access to inside the coop. The ducks spend virtually every waking moment around that waterer and constantly pick up water and drop it on the shavings around them until the waterer is empty. The result is a coop full of soaking wet pine shavings and no water left for the chickens. Given that the floor of my coop is made out of cheap plywood, it's only a matter of time until this duck behavior causes it to rot through. Plus, I work 10-12 hour days, so if the ducks empty the waterer at 9am, there is no chance that they will have more water until after 6pm. Is there any way to discourage the ducks from emptying the 5 gallon waterer every day? I'm open to all different kinds of ideas. I'm not really motivated to have a second coop for the ducks because I only have 3 of them and I don't intend to raise ducks again after my first experience with them. Worst case scenario, a duck dinner might be in order

 

[keirys]

I have my ducks and chickens living together. You are right the ducks are nasty lol thats why i dont keep food or water in the coop. I keep all my food and water in the run i just bring the food in and dump out all the water at night. Maybe look into a chicken nipple if you have to have water in the coop.

 

[keirys]

Oh i forgot to add that i also put my 5 gallon waterer outside on a milk crate it keeps it from grtting tipped over.

{Typing on a tablet is no fun}

 

[cosbackyard]

So with ducks - if you have food available they need to have enough water nearby to submerge their bills/heads in. For this reason I do not keep food in the coop. Because if you have an open water source they will drench everything nearby.

That said you can have water available inside. Just use poultry nipples. They're cheap and alot less messy. Your birds may take a little while to get used to them, but in my experience they always do.

Just keep the food outside along with the open water.