Hi all!
I have been keeping chickens for about 3 years. I have kept Pekin and Blue Swedish ducks in the past, but never ducks and chickens together.
This Spring, a friend's Ancona duck abandoned a nest that was about a week from hatching, and we stuck the eggs under our broody French Copper Marans to help her out. Of the "chucklings" that hatched, most went back to live with the original Ancona flock. We let Mamma keep 2 to raise. Of those, only one survived. We now have "Waddles" the duck, who lives with our 7 chickens and is almost 4 weeks old.
We would like to keep Waddles, but we have some questions. Waddles is fully accepted by the flock and seems to be part of the pecking order. Mamma hen sits near the pool or perches on the edge of the pool when the duckling goes for a swim. I know ducks are social, but I feel pretty confident that the social needs are being met by the hens. Having only the one duck I am not too worried about shared housing as the mess is minimal. Here are my two questions:
1) I keep reading horrible stories of male ducks aggressively mating with female hens. Is this always the case when a male duck is raised with chickens? Or is there a possibility that they can co-exist without female ducks and without chicken-rape?
2) Waddles is about 3 1/2 weeks old. Having just the one duckling is making it more difficult for me to guess the sex by listening to the noises than in past years, because I have no other ducks to compare to. Here is a video of Waddles swimming in his/her pool. Can anyone with ducks of similar age, or experience with Anconas venture a guess about the sex?
VIDEO: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhv5ptvagb8ydjh/video-2012-05-17-13-12-20.mp4
Thanks so much for your input!!!
I have been keeping chickens for about 3 years. I have kept Pekin and Blue Swedish ducks in the past, but never ducks and chickens together.
This Spring, a friend's Ancona duck abandoned a nest that was about a week from hatching, and we stuck the eggs under our broody French Copper Marans to help her out. Of the "chucklings" that hatched, most went back to live with the original Ancona flock. We let Mamma keep 2 to raise. Of those, only one survived. We now have "Waddles" the duck, who lives with our 7 chickens and is almost 4 weeks old.
We would like to keep Waddles, but we have some questions. Waddles is fully accepted by the flock and seems to be part of the pecking order. Mamma hen sits near the pool or perches on the edge of the pool when the duckling goes for a swim. I know ducks are social, but I feel pretty confident that the social needs are being met by the hens. Having only the one duck I am not too worried about shared housing as the mess is minimal. Here are my two questions:
1) I keep reading horrible stories of male ducks aggressively mating with female hens. Is this always the case when a male duck is raised with chickens? Or is there a possibility that they can co-exist without female ducks and without chicken-rape?
2) Waddles is about 3 1/2 weeks old. Having just the one duckling is making it more difficult for me to guess the sex by listening to the noises than in past years, because I have no other ducks to compare to. Here is a video of Waddles swimming in his/her pool. Can anyone with ducks of similar age, or experience with Anconas venture a guess about the sex?
VIDEO: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhv5ptvagb8ydjh/video-2012-05-17-13-12-20.mp4
Thanks so much for your input!!!
