New to ducks! Need help

[Britt2524]

Just wanted some advice on ducks. We just got our first two to add to the flock of 29 chickens
I got them from rural king in a mixed assortment, so I have no idea the breed of duck they are. Any ideas? And how can you tell the sex of a duck? Any help? Thank!

 

[Britt2524]

I forgot to put the age of them. They are about 5/6 weeks old

 

[CoriM]

They are beautiful. Not sure on the breeds - the white one could be Pekin or Duclair or White layer. Please know that if you have a male duck they can not be kept with chickens as the mating parts are different and he could kill a hen. If you have one of each the ratio needs to be much higher with females to males or over-mating can occur. Also, ducks need water buckets to dunk their entire heads when eating. They swish dirt and other food in the water, and they also need daily swimming to maintain their feathers and be happpy

 

[Britt2524]

They are beautiful. Not sure on the breeds - the white one could be Pekin or Duclair or White layer. Please know that if you have a male duck they can not be kept with chickens as the mating parts are different and he could kill a hen. If you have one of each the ratio needs to be much higher with females to males or over-mating can occur. Also, ducks need water buckets to dunk their entire heads when eating. They swish dirt and other food in the water, and they also need daily swimming to maintain their feathers and be happpy

thank you for the advice! Much appreciated, partly to help me understand what sex of the duck is to know if I need to go ahead and separate the duck from the chicken or if they are female to leave them in there. If not my husband is going to thrilled we need to get more

I do have a little due to some research I have done. They do have a pool in there until they get old enough to go to the pond at the end of our property, the owner of the pound gave us permission to let them swim! Which is so nice of them!!

I did not know about the bucket, I will need to get something going for them!