Large and bantam ducks together???

[rlhbond]

Has anyone kept large breed ducks suck as Cayugas or Rouens with call ducks or BEI's? I was thinking of getting some BEI's next spring but was worried that my larger ducks might injur them if they tried to breed them.

 

[shelleyd2008]

A friend of mine did exactly that. She had some blue swedish and some calls. The male swede started trying to breed the call ducks, and would chase them pretty badly. He would also fight with her male call, not even close to being a fair fight. So my friend got rid of her swedes. I wouldn't recommend keeping the two together

 

[tonini3059]

I have Roens, Calls, Pekins, and some Cresteds living together for 2 yrs. I never have any problems. Mine are free ranging so I do not know if that makes a difference.

 

[CityChicker]

As long as you have have enough space and feed/water areas, you should be fine. I brood them together for the first few weeks of life and then sometimes house them together as adults. The only times I have ever had problems is when they are in the rapid growth phase between like 2-8 weeks. It is during this time that I move them to two feedings a day and I have had bantams get injured during the feeding frenzy. This is avoided now by either keeping them apart at this age or giving lots of extra room.

 

[L0rraine]

I have a BEI and a silky in with a Magpie drake and a HUGE mix breed drake. They are ALL buddies, though the two larger ducks appeared irritated with the 'little' ones at first (that only lasted for a day or so). I also have two silkie chickens (a rooster and a hen) that hang with the four ducks and they all seem to get along great. They all congregate together in their 'duck' house at night.

 

[TrystInn]

Let's see, I have 22 ducks, the smallest are our lightweight Campbells (7), Magpies (2) and Runner (1) who live with considerably larger ducks - the Swedes (5) and Rouens (2).

All but three live together in a large flock, so 19 ducks foraging in 1/2 acre of wooded property. The large Blue Swedish drake is too aggressive, so he's scheduled to become dinner on Wednesday. The only other ducks he gets along with are the 2 cayuga mixes, which is why they live with him in a separate pen for now.