How high of a risk of Disease do ducks pose on chickens?

[MysteryChicken]

Curious of how high of a risk ducks pose Disease on chickens.

I'm gonna be trading some Porcelain D'uccle chicks for some Peking Ducklings, to raise for meat, & need to know before we get them.

My dad says we can't back out, which is actually kind of unfair.

What's the minimum length of quarantine should I do?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Ducks generally are healthy birds. I personally have never worried about them bringing in diseases like I do with chickens.

 

[Banana01]

When asking about risk, you have to know what is the potential loss. How big is your chicken flock that will be exposed? To answer your question most safely, start with a list of every disease that is undesirable.

Fowl pox, Cocciodosis, Mareks are the ones I can think of. Then find out if ducks can be carriers. Ducks can carry Fowl pox and Cocci, but not Mareks.

Then look up the quarantine time for those diseases. There are threads where people say they do not quarantine for Corrid because it's easier to just treat the whole flock. That leaves Fowl Pox, and now it's a bit fuzzy what to do.

The incubation time for fowl pox is 14 days. You can look at your ducklings for signs. You can ask the owner about his flocks history with pox. He may not know what it is, but ask if he has seen any scabs on his birds. If you visit his farm look around at his birds faces for scabs. Pox is transmissible even when dormant, so you just have to take the chance but it is best to ask. You do not want fowl pox, but then again some threads say fowl pox is the easiest to treat. I disagree, as I lose some birds to it. But it will not wipe out your whole flock.

Based on this, and my experience, I would take the ducks and not quarantine except for a day or two, unless you see an actual physical illness present. I have never seen physical pox on a duck. You don't want to introduce any Fowl pox to your flock, but even if you did, it may not even kill a single bird.

 

[MysteryChicken]

When asking about risk, you have to know what is the potential loss. How big is your chicken flock that will be exposed? To answer your question most safely, start with a list of every disease that is undesirable.

Fowl pox, Cocciodosis, Mareks are the ones I can think of. Then find out if ducks can be carriers. Ducks can carry Fowl pox and Cocci, but not Mareks.

Then look up the quarantine time for those diseases. There are threads where people say they do not quarantine for Corrid because it's easier to just treat the whole flock. That leaves Fowl Pox, and now it's a bit fuzzy what to do.

The incubation time for fowl pox is 14 days. You can look at your ducklings for signs. You can ask the owner about his flocks history with pox. He may not know what it is, but ask if he has seen any scabs on his birds. If you visit his farm look around at his birds faces for scabs. Pox is transmissible even when dormant, so you just have to take the chance but it is best to ask. You do not want fowl pox, but then again some threads say fowl pox is the easiest to treat. I disagree, as I lose some birds to it. But it will not wipe out your whole flock.

Based on this, and my experience, I would take the ducks and not quarantine except for a day or two, unless you see an actual physical illness present. I have never seen physical pox on a duck. You don't want to introduce any Fowl pox to your flock, but even if you did, it may not even kill a single bird.

My birds have been exposed to both Fowl Pox, & Coccidiosis in the past so that's not a worry.

There's 36 birds in the coop they'll be joining until they get butchered. There's only gonna be 4 ducks.


The lady is new to ducks, & chickens, she just started out with trying to be self sufficient not that long ago, & wants to get rid of the ducks because they're messy. That's the same reason we don't raise ducks, but I'm willing to this year for meat.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I know they can carry Avian Flu, & a couple other things, but can't remember what they were.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I found this, I believe this will be helpful.
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ps044

 

[Goosebaby]

As a duck owner I would say if you do take the ducks keep them in their own coop with their own food and water. Ducks like to dabble, their favorite things are mucking up their water with whatever they’ve dug up in minutes, it’s next to impossible to keep feeders and waterers clean with ducks. Ducks are less disease prone than chickens but because of that behavior I think they pose at least some disease risk to other birds because they’re constantly dirtying the water and feed with whatever bacterias, microbes, protozoas, micobacteriums are in the soil that the others might not have been exposed to as much without the duck dabbling.

A lot of people keep ducks and chickens together fine, so it’s just a possibly paranoid view of mine to consider.

 

[MysteryChicken]

As a duck owner I would say if you do take the ducks keep them in their own coop with their own food and water. Ducks like to dabble, their favorite things are mucking up their water with whatever they’ve dug up in minutes, it’s next to impossible to keep feeders and waterers clean with ducks. Ducks are less disease prone than chickens but because of that behavior I think they pose at least some disease risk to other birds because they’re constantly dirtying the water and feed with whatever bacterias, microbes, protozoas, micobacteriums are in the soil that the others might not have been exposed to as much without the duck dabbling.

A lot of people keep ducks and chickens together fine, so it’s just a possibly paranoid view of mine to consider.

I only have 3 large coops at the moment, so they're gonna have to share for a little while before butcher, but I understand what you're saying. We owned ducks a really long time ago, & they were very messy.

Should I provide them with a pool even though they're gonna be butchered at 6 months? We have a large kiddie pool we use for turkeys, which like pools surprisingly.

 

[Goosebaby]

I only have 3 large coops at the moment, so they're gonna have to share for a little while before butcher, but I understand what you're saying. We owned ducks a really long time ago, & they were very messy.

Should I provide them with a pool even though they're gonna be butchered at 6 months? We have a large kiddie pool we use for turkeys, which like pools surprisingly.

Ducks will be healthier and happier if you give them somewhere to bathe

 

[MysteryChicken]

Ducks will be healthier and happier if you give them somewhere to bathe

Okay.