Pros and cons of ducks

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I have chickens, geese and ducks. I love them all, but my geese are the neatest personality. My ducks (Khaki Campbell, Cayuga, MagPie and Msucovery) are wonderful layers. I recently purchases a fawn and white runner and a black runner. Their broody has to be cleaned every day (lots of water). But I love them and before you know it they will be running the pasture with the other ducks and geese.

And did I mention, they are laying machines. Last summer / fall, I consistently got 1 egg from each duck hen every day for a couple of months.

 

[Wifezilla]

Problem is, they are only cute for a week!.

My ducks beg to differ

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

is that an arrow? Be careful around those beautiful duckies

 

[Wifezilla]

Hee hee hee...practice was over when they were out

 

[Mahonri]

I've seen ducks DESTROY small back yards. MESSY!

 

[Preservation Acres]

Quote:
It seems that most people suggest against keeping ducks and chickens together. I'd like to get a few runner ducks eventually. How exactly do you build a "duck shed?" Is it basically a coop without nesting boxes?

 

[farmerlor]

Aw, those are the cutest ducks ever!!

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
It seems that most people suggest against keeping ducks and chickens together. I'd like to get a few runner ducks eventually. How exactly do you build a "duck shed?" Is it basically a coop without nesting boxes?

Wondering this too. We are moving to 4 acres most of which is horse fenced. My hubby wants some ducks. I had thought about letting a couple ducks and a couple turkeys wander around with my laying hens - basically free range the paddock around the barn. They would be housed in the barn at night.

Would this work? That is, would the turkeys, ducks and chickens all live happily ever after? If they are all babies when I start they should be ok right?

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

unless the turkeys have a lid, they will jump out and sit on your car... making icky poo and scratches....

 

[ChickenToes]

Quote:
It seems that most people suggest against keeping ducks and chickens together. I'd like to get a few runner ducks eventually. How exactly do you build a "duck shed?" Is it basically a coop without nesting boxes?

Wondering this too. We are moving to 4 acres most of which is horse fenced. My hubby wants some ducks. I had thought about letting a couple ducks and a couple turkeys wander around with my laying hens - basically free range the paddock around the barn. They would be housed in the barn at night.

Would this work? That is, would the turkeys, ducks and chickens all live happily ever after? If they are all babies when I start they should be ok right?

My duck coop looks like a large dog house. It's about 4 feet tall. Kind of a pain to bend over and get the eggs every morning, but it's not terrible.

The only reason I don't keep my ducks and chickens together is because ducks are too messy with their food and water. For my chickens, I always leave the feeder and waterer inside the coop. If I had ducks in there, the mess would be unreal. So, for my ducks, the food and water is always outside their coop. I lock them up at night and they do just fine overnight with no food or water.