OK well as of yesterday I think that these two ducklings that we are taking care of are basicaly ours. I kind of knew it would play out like this but oh well.
We let them go in our pond for the first time yesterday. We figured the littlest one is strong enough to swim in deep water. They loved it! I don't think they realized there were fish swimming under them. We let them in as the sun was going down so they couldn't see clearly into the water. They swam and ate some lilly pads they would have loved the flowers if they hadn't already closed up. My hubby is growing to like them a little bit more. When we caried them back from the pond to there coop the ducks were squacking like they were being killed because they weren't next to each other, the little one is a LOT louder. My hubby said whistle to them so they calm down, that means he is liking them more.
Everytime I go out and see them I whistle to them and they both turn and look at me.
Ok to my question, so these ducks are about 2 weeks and 4 weeks I am guessing. We are getting our chickens next week, they will be day old chicks. In a month when our chicks are 4 weeks old we will be putting them outside were the ducks are. Our encloser has two areas, one where the ducks are now in a large cage with roosting boxes then a fully fenced run area attached to that. There is a piece of plywood with a door on it between the two parts so we can open the door so the birds can go from one area to the next. Our original plan before we got the ducks was to keep the chicks in the first part until they got big enough to not fit threw the fencing on the run part then leave the door open so they could go as they pleased in and out of the two areas. Now since we have these ducks we were thinking of putting them in the run area and keeping the door closed until the they get along.
The run has shade and sunny areas,we would need to put in some roosting boxes for them to sleep in and put there little pool in there.
How do you introduce the chicks to the ducks? At this time the ducks will be around 7 weeks and 9 weeks old and the chicks 4 weeks old. Will the ducks try and hurt the chicks. Should we just let them mingle and work things out or will the chicks get hurt? How did everyone else do this? When the chicks are big enough to be in the run area will they all get along? I figure only time will tell but I would like to have a heads up before.
We let them go in our pond for the first time yesterday. We figured the littlest one is strong enough to swim in deep water. They loved it! I don't think they realized there were fish swimming under them. We let them in as the sun was going down so they couldn't see clearly into the water. They swam and ate some lilly pads they would have loved the flowers if they hadn't already closed up. My hubby is growing to like them a little bit more. When we caried them back from the pond to there coop the ducks were squacking like they were being killed because they weren't next to each other, the little one is a LOT louder. My hubby said whistle to them so they calm down, that means he is liking them more.
Ok to my question, so these ducks are about 2 weeks and 4 weeks I am guessing. We are getting our chickens next week, they will be day old chicks. In a month when our chicks are 4 weeks old we will be putting them outside were the ducks are. Our encloser has two areas, one where the ducks are now in a large cage with roosting boxes then a fully fenced run area attached to that. There is a piece of plywood with a door on it between the two parts so we can open the door so the birds can go from one area to the next. Our original plan before we got the ducks was to keep the chicks in the first part until they got big enough to not fit threw the fencing on the run part then leave the door open so they could go as they pleased in and out of the two areas. Now since we have these ducks we were thinking of putting them in the run area and keeping the door closed until the they get along.
How do you introduce the chicks to the ducks? At this time the ducks will be around 7 weeks and 9 weeks old and the chicks 4 weeks old. Will the ducks try and hurt the chicks. Should we just let them mingle and work things out or will the chicks get hurt? How did everyone else do this? When the chicks are big enough to be in the run area will they all get along? I figure only time will tell but I would like to have a heads up before.
