To respond to your later question first, yes, pine shavings make great bedding, clean straw is also really nice and doesn't soak up quite so much water. Just don't use cedar--when it gets wet it's supposed to let off toxic vapor to the birdies and it WILL get wet. When the bedding gets wet and messy it's actually better to just load new clean bedding on top of the old for a while, and then you need to upset all the residents to do a full cleanout of the box less often.
Do NOT use an open bowl for water. I use a chick waterer and the waterfowl still make a mess with it but at least they aren't standing in it all the time now like my first batch was.
Ducks and geese are ridiculously messy and noisy. They pay you back with their crazy antics so it's worth it in the end but trust you me, there's a celebration the day the baby swimmer birds move outdoors.
Good idea sticking with females. Ducks have libidos like rabbits. If you had a mature sexually frusterated drake your chickens would not be safe. I'm sure it looks funny but they can seriously hurt the chickens. If you decide you like ducks another male/female pair would be a perfect little flock.
Ducklings eat a lot more than chickens and that is why they have problems with medicated feed, they eat themselves to overdose. Just choose an unmedicated starter and both your ducks and chicks will love it. Feeding them seperately will be too big a hassle, they won't know any difference between the feeds. Side note... If you want your ducks to eat up common weeds in your yard and garden, provide clippings of them for snacks. They'll develop a taste for them as a favorite and zero in on that plant in adult foraging.
The ducks you chose will not be able to fly much at all. Most domestic farmyard ducks bodies are too heavy to lift off at maturity. They can really only fly about 4 feet off the ground for about 50 feet distance so they are easily fenced in. A little kiddie pool will keep them very happy (easy to clean, fun to watch.) The only bird I have that can really fly is a mallard hen I got in a hatchery choice run and I clip her wing everytime she molts and the whole process takes about 2 minutes. Most of it spent finding the scissors!
They will go looking for water if they don't have any, but as long as they have their own little paddle pool and fences in the way they won't go to the lake.
