Keeping Ducks and Chickens together?

[HollyParks]

I have a well-established flock of chickens and four runner ducks. Two are fully feathered and spend all day outside with the chickens. I started by having them outside of the the chicken run while the chickens stayed enclosed but now they are all free ranging together. Tonight the ducks walked themselves into the coop. My question is, do you keep your ducks and chickens together? My older two ducks are sexed as female while my other two are straight run, so I guess I’ll be watching for a drake (I’ve heard the horror stories).

Some more helpful information:
I’m in the middle of building a new coop, which was originally designed to have 3 different “rooms” or dividers. One would be for my mature flock, the second for breeding/brooding, then the third for ducks. Would the third even be necessary if my chickens and ducks coexist so nicely?

 

[WhiteCollarWeezy]

I have a well-established flock of chickens and four runner ducks.

have never raised runner ducks before. if chicks and ducklings are in a brooder together, the ducks will consume and play in the drinking water and sometimes the chicks will get trampled by the ducklings.

Two are fully feathered and spend all day outside with the chickens.

Are these 2 female? how old are the members of your flock?

I started by having them outside of the the chicken run

Ducks tend to roam further than chickens. Perhaps looking for any body of water.

while the chickens stayed enclosed but now they are all free ranging together.

from my experience ducks tend to form cliques with the ducklings they were hatched with. If something happens to the members of their clique, they will become lonesome doves. Solo. Until another clique accepts/dominates them.

Tonight the ducks walked themselves into the coop.

Security. Ducks don't roost off the ground so they will find a safe, comfortable,and most familiar place to rest.

My question is, do you keep your ducks and chickens together?

as long as each can have clean water to drink. ducks are aquatic so they bathe, dive, swim, play, and poo in their water. messy

My older two ducks are sexed as female while my other two are straight run, so I guess I’ll be watching for a drake (I’ve heard the horror stories).

Some more helpful information:
I’m in the middle of building a new coop, which was originally designed to have 3 different “rooms” or dividers. One would be for my mature flock, the second for breeding/brooding, then the third for ducks.

sounds quite nice and organized. Good idea

Would the third even be necessary if my chickens and ducks coexist so nicely?

depends.... observe them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My chickens and duck coexist nicely. I don't put food and water inside except over winter for my chickens in case of frigid days the chickens want to stay inside I put this up on a shelf where the ducks can't get to it. But they all go into the coop in the evening chickens first and up on roosts then about an hour later the ducks begin going in. I have 2 drakes neither bother the chickens becasue they have plenty of girl ducks to have fun with. The only 2 females of my flock who are in this mix are my 2 older Muscovy females they have their own coop because the Runner drakes won't leave them alone.

 

[HollyParks]

have never raised runner ducks before. if chicks and ducklings are in a brooder together, the ducks will consume and play in the drinking water and sometimes the chicks will get trampled by the ducklings.

Are these 2 female? how old are the members of your flock?

Ducks tend to roam further than chickens. Perhaps looking for any body of water.

from my experience ducks tend to form cliques with the ducklings they were hatched with. If something happens to the members of their clique, they will become lonesome doves. Solo. Until another clique accepts/dominates them.

Security. Ducks don't roost off the ground so they will find a safe, comfortable,and most familiar place to rest.

as long as each can have clean water to drink. ducks are aquatic so they bathe, dive, swim, play, and poo in their water. messy

sounds quite nice and organized. Good idea

depends.... observe them.

I have a pretty individualized brooding system for all of my chicks and ducks. My little ducklings are kept in a dog crate in the house next to a brooder that I built for my chicks. Within my chick brooder I have a wire divider to separate different aged chicks because I hatch them. Once my chicks are feathered I put them in a aneclosed area within the chicken coop to get acclimated to the weather and the rest of the flock. I don’t mix chicks and my ducklings because of their size difference and their individual needs are so different.
My older ducks seem pretty content with my mature chicken flock. They have a kiddie pool that they drink from and play in occasionally. I also feed them their own feed before I let the chickens free range with the ducks. Because those two are females I’m not worried about my chickens’ safety. My runners are super sweet and quite shy so they don’t start anything. My rooster has even accepted them into the flock with no issue, and even displayed protective behavior when I picked up one of the ducks. There hasn’t been any pecking order issues because they do like to sleep on the ground away from the roost in the coop and they are seperated by fencing for the first part of the day (inlet the ducks out of the coop and run and the chickens stay in the run until afternoon). I’m a stay at home mom so I’m able to watch my flock all throughout the day.

 

[HollyParks]

My chickens and duck coexist nicely. I don't put food and water inside except over winter for my chickens in case of frigid days the chickens want to stay inside I put this up on a shelf where the ducks can't get to it. But they all go into the coop in the evening chickens first and up on roosts then about an hour later the ducks begin going in. I have 2 drakes neither bother the chickens becasue they have plenty of girl ducks to have fun with. The only 2 females of my flock who are in this mix are my 2 older Muscovy females they have their own coop because the Runner drakes won't leave them alone.

I’m really hoping the other two (babies in the brooder) are female, or at least one of the two. I wouldn’t mind hatching some little runners but then I’d have to have a sectioned area. From what I’ve been told is that this breed is pretty flighty and doesn’t like to cause any drama. Males are supposed to be quieter. I also don’t think my rooster would let a duck mate with his girls but I’m also not going to give that scenario an opportunity. I feel pretty lucky that introductions went as smoothly as they did because usually my chickens are little beasts to new members of the flock.