Integrating Chickens & ducks and new chicks......

[SassyKat6181]

I have 6 month old laying hens and just moved my 3 week old ducks into the coop. They are separated by a dog pen lined with chicken wire and bird netting over the top. It is hard for me to get in and out of the duck area with the netting over top. All seems well in the coop....the ducks watch the chickens and the chickens watch the ducks. Everyone basically goes about their own business as usual and egg production hasn't dropped. Do I need to keep the netting over top to protect the ducks from the chickens hopping in there? I also have a new batch of ducks and chicks in the brooder. When they are bigger, I'll move them to the pen to integrate as well. Any suggestions?

 

[rouenedmylife]

I dont see a problem with just throwing the ducks in there unless there especially wimpy ducks I mean a duck is pretty feisty and I cant belieave your brooding your ducks with your chicks that has been such a nightmare for me too many sleepless nights thinking the ducks are going to soak the brooder and the chickens will pile up (again) a couple weeks ago I lost 2 of my four sebrights to them piling up

 

[SassyKat6181]

I've got a huge problem with chicken math going on here! A few things happened: 1) Yesterday I picked up my 10 ducks from the post office and the hatchery included 4 red roos as packing peanuts. 2) Again I only got 11/12 eggs from my girls 3) I had the great idea that the roos needed chick friends and I needed more laying hens to get at least 12 per day to sell. So I ran over to TSC and picked up 6 Red pullets. I made two separate brooders out of XL rubbermaid totes and put the chicks in one and the ducks in the other.