New to ducks, what do I need to know asap?

[Chickentender7]

I have chickens that are a few months old and I just picked up some ducklings. What do I need to know?
Chickens are in the coop, ducks are in the brooder currently. I'm hoping they can live together once they're coop-ready? (Will be rehoming any drakes)

Food-wise, I'm seeing a lot of different answers. Same chick starter that my chickens are on or does it need to be duck specific? When do I take them of chick/duckling starter? And at that point can they eat the same layer feed that my chickens will be on?

 

[ruthhope]

Welcome to BYC.

You can use chick starter crumbles but you will need to supplement that to provide the extra Vit B3, niacin, that ducks need above chick needs. I recommend adding 1tblspoon nutritional yeast per cup of starter crumbles. The cheapest source I have found is Wal-Mart own brand nutritional yeast from the baking ingredients shelves.

I buy a 10lb bag of chick starter crumbles for upto 4 chicks and use it until finished, then start duck pellets (crushed a little if necessary) or all flock pellets. Continue with nutritional yeast 1 tablespoon per cup of pellets until at least 16 weeks old.

Your female ducks can go onto layer pellets when they start laying -- at about 6 months old. Layer pellets have added calcium that can be harmful if fed to juveniles that are not laying as it is not easily excreted. When they are changing on to layer feed, I stop the nutritional yeast and use brewers yeast for laying ducks. Brewers yeast is much cheaper than nutritional yeastbut not as bioactive. The cheapest source I have found is from Josh's Frogs on line. It can also be bought from Amazon. We found that 1 tablespoon of brewers yeast per cup of layer pellets is fine for laying females ducks.

Unlike giving extra calcium to juvenile ducks in layer feed, your chickens will not be harmed by getting extra niacin in shared layer feed bowls. Niacin will not harm your chickens as niacin is water soluble and excreted by the kidneys, not stored in the body.

Good luck

 

[StinkyAcres]

Ducks require more water than chickens and will make a mess of it. Ducks must have a source of water that they can dunk their entire heads in near their feed. They can choke on the feed if they can't wash it down with water and they must be able to wash out their nostrils.

I use pans under my ducks' waterers to catch as much spilled water as possible. And I drain their pool far away to reduce the amount of mud in their pen. A wet, muddy environment is not healthy for any bird, but especially chickens.