In May I am getting some more chicks and I'm getting ducklings for the first time!

[azure_]

Very best of luck to you on your chicken and duck journey!!! I hope you find it very satisfying, as I have.

thank you

 

[wordgirl]

I have more experience with chickens but kept ducks for about 2 years in the middle. Let me say--I LOVE DUCKS. But ducks are also super messy. So I don't have them anymore, as I'm not up to putting in the necessary work. hit) But I love ducks, they are cute and hilarious and get along among themselves better than chickens (at least in my experience).

I had Anconas (what are you getting?? ). I got 10 hatching eggs from a fellow awesome BYC'er and got 5 of them to hatch (at least 9/10 were viable and made it close to term, but 4 of the developed eggs didn't hatch--I put that on me and my incubator, as it was my first time). The ducklings would follow me around and it was the sweetest thing. I had them in my bedroom for the first few days and they were aDORable, but started to kinda stink after a while.

Ducks are super sweet as a flock. My chickens, who I've often free-ranged, do at times move as a group and are often in little smaller groups, but the ducks move as one. There's a reason ducks are sometimes used for herding dog training. We all know chickens would never cooperate. Ducks, however, love to stay in a herd and do things together. I found it hilarious when they were babies that they liked to eat together and drink together--it was a very important group activity. Even when older they'd still do things together.

Out of the first hatching, I had two drakes and two hens, after my dog killed one of the hens (with the most gorgeous plumage--I was so sad). I later allowed one of my hens to brood and she hatched three ducklings--thankfully all hens! I didn't keep chickens and ducks together, so I can't offer any advice on that, but I will say that my setup for my ducks was very different than my setup for my chickens, so you may need to be a bit creative to serve the needs of both in the same space.

I didn't offer my ducks a pool or pond on a regular basis, though they loved it when they had the opportunity. But one thing that ducks must have (at least as adults--I don't know if this is the same for the babies) is deep enough water to submerge their entire bills in. This is because the way that they eat their food gets up into their nasal passages and they have to literally rinse their nostrils out in order to keep them clear. (Funky, but kinda cool, too.) This process (along with the inevitable joyful billing of water down their necks and over their shoulders to "stay clean"), creates a lot of water spillage. For my adult ducks, I initially gave them water in a bucket that was on top of a hardware-cloth-covered, low-sided plastic tub to catch most of the spills. I upgraded this system later on and built a "water porch" that was exterior to their pen, with a ramp leading up to an enclosed, hardware-cloth-covered platform with a plastic tub under it. This kept their pen so much nicer and drier, because there was no water in the pen itself. It wasn't an entirely foolproof solution, though, as I still ended up with lots of ice in the winter that gradually built up around the bucket (I live in a pretty cold climate--I imagine having ducks in a temperature climate would be soooo much easier, as you could just keep their water outside if they had secure access to it overnight!).

For their food, instead of a typical hanging chicken feeder, I used a small black rubber livestock feed dish (after using a trough) on the ground, which was easy for them to eat out of. Ducks don't peck quite like chickens, so I think I fed them pelleted feed at least part of their adult lives. Pellets are easy for them to pick up and probably less dry in their mouths (I don't know if that actually matters, but I do seem to recall reading that drinking during/after eating is something they prefer to do or need to do).

Duck bedding, even when dry, gets trampled down tight, because they don't scratch it up at all. I kept a hoe for loosening up the bedding periodically. Their droppings are wetter than chickens, so you may notice this in the bedding, but the bigger issue for keeping the bedding dry is making sure they're not spilling their drinking water into it.

I don't remember exactly what all I did for their food/water when they were little, but I think I used a standard chick waterer and a trough feeder at least at some point. Handling their heat is similar to chicks, and adjusting temperature based on their behavior. Ducklings, despite their love of water, do need to stay warm and dry, just like chicks, so it is important to keep their bedding dry despite their constant attempts to splash their water around (normal, healthy duck behavior). This will be an uphill battle, but worth it. Newborn ducklings are some of the absolute cutest creatures in all the animal kingdom (don't tell your chicks--or mine--that I said that), and you will fall in love.

Last thing--they love peas. And don't just take my word for it.

 

[azure_]

I have more experience with chickens but kept ducks for about 2 years in the middle. Let me say--I LOVE DUCKS. But ducks are also super messy. So I don't have them anymore, as I'm not up to putting in the necessary work. hit) But I love ducks, they are cute and hilarious and get along among themselves better than chickens (at least in my experience).

I had Anconas (what are you getting?? ). I got 10 hatching eggs from a fellow awesome BYC'er and got 5 of them to hatch (at least 9/10 were viable and made it close to term, but 4 of the developed eggs didn't hatch--I put that on me and my incubator, as it was my first time). The ducklings would follow me around and it was the sweetest thing. I had them in my bedroom for the first few days and they were aDORable, but started to kinda stink after a while.

Ducks are super sweet as a flock. My chickens, who I've often free-ranged, do at times move as a group and are often in little smaller groups, but the ducks move as one. There's a reason ducks are sometimes used for herding dog training. We all know chickens would never cooperate. Ducks, however, love to stay in a herd and do things together. I found it hilarious when they were babies that they liked to eat together and drink together--it was a very important group activity. Even when older they'd still do things together.

Out of the first hatching, I had two drakes and two hens, after my dog killed one of the hens (with the most gorgeous plumage--I was so sad). I later allowed one of my hens to brood and she hatched three ducklings--thankfully all hens! I didn't keep chickens and ducks together, so I can't offer any advice on that, but I will say that my setup for my ducks was very different than my setup for my chickens, so you may need to be a bit creative to serve the needs of both in the same space.

I didn't offer my ducks a pool or pond on a regular basis, though they loved it when they had the opportunity. But one thing that ducks must have (at least as adults--I don't know if this is the same for the babies) is deep enough water to submerge their entire bills in. This is because the way that they eat their food gets up into their nasal passages and they have to literally rinse their nostrils out in order to keep them clear. (Funky, but kinda cool, too.) This process (along with the inevitable joyful billing of water down their necks and over their shoulders to "stay clean"), creates a lot of water spillage. For my adult ducks, I initially gave them water in a bucket that was on top of a hardware-cloth-covered, low-sided plastic tub to catch most of the spills. I upgraded this system later on and built a "water porch" that was exterior to their pen, with a ramp leading up to an enclosed, hardware-cloth-covered platform with a plastic tub under it. This kept their pen so much nicer and drier, because there was no water in the pen itself. It wasn't an entirely foolproof solution, though, as I still ended up with lots of ice in the winter that gradually built up around the bucket (I live in a pretty cold climate--I imagine having ducks in a temperature climate would be soooo much easier, as you could just keep their water outside if they had secure access to it overnight!).

For their food, instead of a typical hanging chicken feeder, I used a small black rubber livestock feed dish (after using a trough) on the ground, which was easy for them to eat out of. Ducks don't peck quite like chickens, so I think I fed them pelleted feed at least part of their adult lives. Pellets are easy for them to pick up and probably less dry in their mouths (I don't know if that actually matters, but I do seem to recall reading that drinking during/after eating is something they prefer to do or need to do).

Duck bedding, even when dry, gets trampled down tight, because they don't scratch it up at all. I kept a hoe for loosening up the bedding periodically. Their droppings are wetter than chickens, so you may notice this in the bedding, but the bigger issue for keeping the bedding dry is making sure they're not spilling their drinking water into it.

I don't remember exactly what all I did for their food/water when they were little, but I think I used a standard chick waterer and a trough feeder at least at some point. Handling their heat is similar to chicks, and adjusting temperature based on their behavior. Ducklings, despite their love of water, do need to stay warm and dry, just like chicks, so it is important to keep their bedding dry despite their constant attempts to splash their water around (normal, healthy duck behavior). This will be an uphill battle, but worth it. Newborn ducklings are some of the absolute cutest creatures in all the animal kingdom (don't tell your chicks--or mine--that I said that), and you will fall in love.

Last thing--they love peas. And don't just take my word for it.

Thank you