integrating ducks with chickens

[raymondjames]

i think ive decided on changing my male crested to a female. but if he has duck girls will he only court them? also i plan on putting their closed off brooder in the coop. see interaction. it will influence when theyll go out. if chickens love them to pieces, maybe a bit younger introduction. if they hate them, maybe a lot later.

 

[blondiebee181]

i think ive decided on changing my male crested to a female. but if he has duck girls will he only court them? also i plan on putting their closed off brooder in the coop. see interaction. it will influence when theyll go out. if chickens love them to pieces, maybe a bit younger introduction. if they hate them, maybe a lot later.

How did it go with the ducks and chickens? When I first bought chickens earlier this spring, the feed store was also offering ducks so I couldn't resist

Anyway, I raised my 4 hens and 1 duck together in the brooder and eventually turned them out into the coop together. I had no idea the sex of the duck but I was hoping for a hen. Of course, with my luck, HE turned out to be Paul, the Pekin drake. At 3 months he began trying to mate the chickens. Everyone on here said re-home him. It was sad, but necessary. He has a great life out in Caldwell living with a lady who works at the hatchery he was originally born at. Almost all the stories I read about drakes with chicken hens ended in disaster. I would NEVER reccomend housing drakes with chickens, even if they did have a couple females. Not all drakes will want to mate all female ducks. If you had a couple chicken roosters you might be okay but even then....if it were me, I'd go ducks with ducks and chickens with chickens unless they are free range in a wide area.
As it is, I now have my 4 original pullets and an older hen I got off an old friend of mine. Paul having been re-homed, I bought 2 brand new Indian Runner females from a hatchery. They are GORGEOUS.

They are 4 weeks now and it is warm enough that they are living outside in their doghouse in the same run that my chickens and chicken house are. So far, I have been keeping them in the doghouse with the door shut so the chickens can't pester them. They are still a little small to defend themselves. I let them have supervised free range time, and the ducks are slowly getting used to living with the hens around (they've recieved a few pecks but nothing bad). I've not left them alone unsupervised though. The city ordinance says no roosters so this all-female flock will have to get along eventually. I'm taking a nice slow approach with the ducks, but does anyone have any other hints on integrating them? They have imprinted pretty strongly on me as well. Sorry this was a novel....

 

[EggLuver]

Quote: That is funny to me. You can have songbirds that you can not shoot that wake you up early in the morning but a rooster, no way. I hate subdivisions. People need to get a life and wake up. More food is wasted in this country than could feed multiple third world countries. If people were more self reliant, the economy would not hurt as bad.

 

[blondiebee181]

That is funny to me. You can have songbirds that you can not shoot that wake you up early in the morning but a rooster, no way. I hate subdivisions. People need to get a life and wake up. More food is wasted in this country than could feed multiple third world countries. If people were more self reliant, the economy would not hurt as bad.

I agree with you eggluver, and thankfully I don't live in a fancy subdivision where there are association fees and lawn ornament rules or I really would be screwed lol. In fact, I believe the limit for backyard poultry is techincally 5 birds total. They just raised it from 3. If I had more property, I would totally have a huge garden and more birds and such. It's a dream for one day down the line hopefully.

 

[blondiebee181]

Does anyone have any good advice concerning integrating the ducks? Besides them getting a little bigger, they are only 4 weeks or so still.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Does anyone have any good advice concerning integrating the ducks? Besides them getting a little bigger, they are only 4 weeks or so still.

Like you said supervised time together at this age and taking it slow. eventually the ducks will be able to hold their own if a hen gets pushy. My flock lives pretty good together, i have drakes and a gander also 3 roosters so other than mingling with each other during the day they pretty much keep to their own species, once in a while if a hen has chicks she'll' get upset if a duck gets close and they will face off but it never amounts to anything. My drakes have always left my hens alone thank goodness. They have separate sleeping quaters also.

 

[furbabymum]

My chickens peck the ducks if they get too close. It's temporary for us as the duck run is in progress. Our ducks are about 4 weeks younger than our chickens. Chickens deff rule the roost.

 

[blondiebee181]

I'm pretty sure the chickens willl rule cuz they are older and I have an all-female flock. So far things have been pretty okay. The ducks have recieved a couple of pecks from the chickens because they were trying to eat out of their feeder, but learned quickly that wasn't a good idea. So far, they sleep in their little dog house in the run where the chicken house is too (there is a door on the dog house) and when I am not out in the yard with them, they hang out in there. I tried letting them into the run while the chickens were in the yard and leaving and they threw a fit. They are fine being left alone when they are in the dog house (which must be like the nest) but if I leave them alone anywhere else they cry. I'm assuming this is just because they are still very young.