So my wife and I are pretty new to chickens and ducks but we have a situation that needs some advice.
We started out with 10 chickens (New Hampshire reds and RIRs) and 2 pekin ducks. They are all about 2 months old.
Last week I finished their coop and run and thought I had secured it well (including burying welded wire fence and have knotted mesh netting over the top. I was very proud of everything I had done until one of my father-in-law's dogs vicously ripped at the fence and got in and killed one of our ducks and one chicken (needless to say after this he was gone, we can't have that around our animals). Just to note the ducks area is just a small area close to the ground while the chickens have a coop that they can go in and out of. One of the chickens has thought it was a duck since day 1 and stays with the ducks but the other ones were up in the coop, but out of the two of the ducks the female was killed as well as the chicken.
Miraculously when I went out at 4am (I was getting up for a 7am flight) and went out to check one duck had gotten out of the enclosure and the dog didn't see him and I was able to drag the dog away and lock him up until we could take him back to the shelter we got him from.
So now that I have rambled here is my question:
Should we get another duck to keep the one duck happy? Currently he seems to herd the chickens and protect them and isn't quaking for his mate (we showed him the dead duck and he seemed to "know" what happened). Or should we leave him as he is and see how he does.
If we do get him a mate should we try to raise a duckling around him (separately but where they can see each other) or should we try and get one closer to his age?
Thanks in advance!
We started out with 10 chickens (New Hampshire reds and RIRs) and 2 pekin ducks. They are all about 2 months old.
Last week I finished their coop and run and thought I had secured it well (including burying welded wire fence and have knotted mesh netting over the top. I was very proud of everything I had done until one of my father-in-law's dogs vicously ripped at the fence and got in and killed one of our ducks and one chicken (needless to say after this he was gone, we can't have that around our animals). Just to note the ducks area is just a small area close to the ground while the chickens have a coop that they can go in and out of. One of the chickens has thought it was a duck since day 1 and stays with the ducks but the other ones were up in the coop, but out of the two of the ducks the female was killed as well as the chicken.
Miraculously when I went out at 4am (I was getting up for a 7am flight) and went out to check one duck had gotten out of the enclosure and the dog didn't see him and I was able to drag the dog away and lock him up until we could take him back to the shelter we got him from.
So now that I have rambled here is my question:
Should we get another duck to keep the one duck happy? Currently he seems to herd the chickens and protect them and isn't quaking for his mate (we showed him the dead duck and he seemed to "know" what happened). Or should we leave him as he is and see how he does.
If we do get him a mate should we try to raise a duckling around him (separately but where they can see each other) or should we try and get one closer to his age?
Thanks in advance!
