Keeping ducks with my chickens at night?

[DorothyH]

Oh my goodness Goingquackers - what an adorable picture of your ducks playing in the mud right next to a clean pond! Ha. Thank you. That made my day. That's how my chickens are. They have the best clean water possible but they will try their best to find the dirtiest little puddle to drink out of instead if they can. I've wondered if it were because of the mineral content? But you put me at ease a bit regarding the cleanliness issue.

I did some research into quaquaponics or duckponics last night and I'm hooked! Oh boy - yet another project.

I talked to a geneticist who has aimed his powerful mind onto indian runner breeding yesterday and oh - what a wonderful resource not only for eggs soon but for information on the characteristics and care of indian runners! He said that indian runners need exactly 4 - 5 females to one male for the best ratio. No hesitation, no waffling - he said the 4 - 5 like it was an absolute truth when it comes to indian runners. In his breeding program 1 out 10 hens will be sit well on their eggs. He told me his indian runners will refuse to eat their kibbles if the water isn't clean enough so he has to clean his water twice a day - OY! Hello quaquaponics for me if that's necessary! We'll have to see what that's really like when they get here. I'm sure my backyard situation is different than his large farm situation! Since only 1 out of 10 will go broody he says that he does keep his indian runners in the pen until about 10 am so as to not have to find eggs in strange spots. Not feeding the duckies until 10 sounds a bit late. Hopefully 9 will do enough of the trick. 9 seems ok even in the hottest of South Texas sweltering summer weather - but I don't really see a problem with leaving a little water in the coop - it's the food that worries me. I don't want to attract any kind of predator ever to the inside of the coop when it's just their sleeping quarters. I don't want anyone working at digging or trying to get in. When I am attracting the chickens into the coop with treats I always put it in bowls where as when I feed them outside it's always scattered so everyone can get a chance of getting their share.

The farmer confirmed what you said about using 5 - 8 gallon small containers for ease of emptying. I guess I made a mistake getting that big trough.

I bet I can figure out to use it in my quaquqponics when I finally get to that - but looks like the chickens aren't going to lose their favorite cooling off area right away at least. Figuring out quaquaponics is going to be a longer term project - especially how to make it not only functional but attractive in my little yard.

I have a much better idea of what to expect thanks to this and the farmer. You never really know until the actual animals living in your actual space tell you the real deal but it makes a big difference being able to prepare (like modifying the coop for them at leisure before they actually need it) and have an idea of some of what to expect.

I'm absolutely delighted that I'm not going to have to build another coop because of some kind of bacteria or something. Whew! Modifying what we have shouldn't be that hard, but if I had to build another one I'd probably not get ducks. That idea of portioning off a section with a separate entrance inside the bottom of the coop to make a sort of coop within a coop changes everything. A relatively tiny bit of work doing that and finding some good small tubs and I at least can tell myself that I'm ready. lol.

 

[malndobe]

Just an FYI about the water, I also have Indian Runners and mine have no issues with dirty water and eating. They seem to prefer it actually, and will happily use the water from a mud puddle runoff from a clean pool has created when eating.

They do love it when the pool is emptied and refilled, it becomes a bathing frenzy. But then again they do the same thing when I just top it off with the hose, without a drain/rinse. The chickens also seem to prefer the pool water over their nipple waters, so I think when the pool looks dirty it's really not as disgusting as we may think. IE water and dirt mixed together vs water and poo.

How dirty the pools get depends on how much use they are getting. I just drain and rinse based on look and if there is any odor. The water will look filthy within 10 minutes of me filling it with completely clean water, so just looking dirty doesn't mean it needs a refill. With my pond (pre formed pond liner) I was doing a full water change about once a week, depending on the weather (more in hot weather, less in cooler weather). It's about 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep (approx) and 10-15 ducks in the pen at different times. With the kiddy pool and 5 ducks it's about once a week also. But it needs to be topped off every day, they splash about a 1/3 of the water out of it each day.

I did take the pond out of my pen and replace it with a shallower pool, one of the chickens fell in and drowned. It has shallow sections at each end (normally they wade in those sections on hot days) but she must not have been able to get to one, I found her floating in it one morning. I will use it again once I get my big pen squared away, but plan to put a few rocks or other structures in it so the ducks can still swim and dive, but if another chicken falls in it can find some footing to get back out.

 

[DorothyH]

Just an FYI about the water, I also have Indian Runners and mine have no issues with dirty water and eating. They seem to prefer it actually, and will happily use the water from a mud puddle runoff from a clean pool has created when eating.

They do love it when the pool is emptied and refilled, it becomes a bathing frenzy. But then again they do the same thing when I just top it off with the hose, without a drain/rinse. The chickens also seem to prefer the pool water over their nipple waters, so I think when the pool looks dirty it's really not as disgusting as we may think. IE water and dirt mixed together vs water and poo.

How dirty the pools get depends on how much use they are getting. I just drain and rinse based on look and if there is any odor. The water will look filthy within 10 minutes of me filling it with completely clean water, so just looking dirty doesn't mean it needs a refill. With my pond (pre formed pond liner) I was doing a full water change about once a week, depending on the weather (more in hot weather, less in cooler weather). It's about 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep (approx) and 10-15 ducks in the pen at different times. With the kiddy pool and 5 ducks it's about once a week also. But it needs to be topped off every day, they splash about a 1/3 of the water out of it each day.

I did take the pond out of my pen and replace it with a shallower pool, one of the chickens fell in and drowned. It has shallow sections at each end (normally they wade in those sections on hot days) but she must not have been able to get to one, I found her floating in it one morning. I will use it again once I get my big pen squared away, but plan to put a few rocks or other structures in it so the ducks can still swim and dive, but if another chicken falls in it can find some footing to get back out.

That's two votes for ducks loving muddy waters! That's a relief.

Good info that even if the water looks "dirty" it might just be muddy and not nasty dirty and that's ok.... and the warning about the chickens.... oh thank you so much for that! I'm just wondering how a duck can still be able to dive and also have enough footing for the chickens. Those two seem to be opposites.

I can handle once a week. Again - thanks for this info because twice a day was scaring me.

 

[malndobe]

My plan is to build some sort of structure kind of like a table with legs so the chickens could be on the top of it but the ducks could go underneath it and that way they can dive under and still swim around. I will probably make it out of PVC or some other material that won't rot in the water.

 

[DorothyH]

I'm having trouble visualizing that. How would the chickens be able to get up onto the table from the water? The picture in my mind is probably not what you are thinking of doing. Can you describe what you are thinking in more detail please Malndobe so maybe my brain can catch up to you please?

 

[eggsellentfarms]

... I have 4 ducklings in a brooder right now with chicks, we'll see if that changes things....

Just a caution about brooding ducklings and chicks together. I hatched out a bunch of ducks and a few chicks at the same time once. They did fine, until they were old enough to go out in the run with the wading pool. Unfortunately the chicks thought they could swim like their "brothers" and I came home to some dead chickens in the pool.

 

[eggsellentfarms]

I've kept ducks and chickens together for years with minimal problems. The biggest problem I've noticed is that ducks are way messier than chickens, and their poop is often wetter and runnier to make things worse. Now that I've moved to a new location, I'm finally building the ducks their own coop which will be right next to the creek. This should help keep the chickens area cleaner at least.

Also, I've had a rooster who tried to chase down and mate ducks, but never had any problem the other way around.

 

[malndobe]

I'm having trouble visualizing that. How would the chickens be able to get up onto the table from the water? The picture in my mind is probably not what you are thinking of doing. Can you describe what you are thinking in more detail please Malndobe so maybe my brain can catch up to you please?

Visualize a coffee table, just 4 legs and a table top. Then submerge that into a pond so the top of the table is about 6 inches below the top of the water. As long as there is clearance around the table the ducks can dive down underneath it and swim plus be able to swim over the top of it. A chicken that falls in isn't going to sink, they float they just don't swim well, but they should be able to flounder around and get onto the table before they drown. My chickens wade in the kiddy pool all the time when it's hot, and have no problems getting in and out of 5 or 6 inches of water, so once the chicken is on the table it should be able to get out. Even if it can't get out it can stand there until someone comes along and helps it out. A ramp from one end of the table up and over the side of the pond would make it possible for the chicken to just walk out.

I think mine drowning was a freak accident, I'd had chickens in that pen for a long time without a problem. They like to perch on the side and drink from the pond, the water was kind of low, and she probably just leaned to far over, or another chicken bumped into her and pushed her in. But it doesn't hurt to be safe.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'd be concerned about one of the birds getting stuck under the table and not being able to find her way back out, perhaps that concern is totally ridiculous. what about putting a cinder block in the pool? that would provide good traction.

 

[DorothyH]

Just a caution about brooding ducklings and chicks together. I hatched out a bunch of ducks and a few chicks at the same time once. They did fine, until they were old enough to go out in the run with the wading pool. Unfortunately the chicks thought they could swim like their "brothers" and I came home to some dead chickens in the pool.

You know, I would never even have thought of hatching out chickens and ducks at the same time because of the different needs for humidity in the incubator but I might have eventually (because I'm such a curious cat) have wanted to try to throw in a couple of odd eggs as an experiment thinking they wouldn't hatch but wanting to try anyway so I really appreciate you letting me know this! I sure don't want any poor baby chickens thinking that they must be able to swim like their siblings and that makes perfect sense that they would. I'm sorry you had to learn this the hard way and thank you for helping me not to have to.