Raising a duck with chickens

[sumatra]

i forgot to say that all my chix and ducks stay together in the coop easily. The ducks are a bit bossy, but they are also alert. If something wicked comes in the night, they wake up the turkeys in the trees and they sound the alarm, so the chickens wake up. The coop is away from any water, though, so it doesn't get all muddy inside. We built a small duck house so we could separate them if we wanted to. It is low, like a dog house, and the chickens don't like it because there is no high perch.

 

[MuranoFarms]

I'm only having 2 problems raising my Pekin duckling with chickens. About a week ago, ducky started feather pulling on the chickens. So he/she is seperated now. He can see them, just can't reach them to grab their feathers. Every chance he gets, he does though! LOL

Also, Angel wing. My Pekin is 6 1/2 weeks and its starting too look like those wings are sticking out too far. Apparently chick starter is too high in protein. He's taped as of today and I started giving him/her a lot more treats to offset the protein in the feed. He loves veggies...peas, lettuce etc. Hopefully it will heal up in a few days.

 

[toejam]

I am like barred roks rock's friend. I have a few roosters around 30 hens and a lone pekin drake. I have had no problems with the duck mounting or hurting the chickens. I do reccomend getting more than one since I thinks he is lonley since all of his buddies were killed by a coon. ( thats why he's with the chickens. ) You shouldnt have any problems.

 

[yomama]

What if I were to just get a baby duck, meaning not raising it with any chicks. Once he was old enough, could it be put out with the hens? Or would he be too much of a target for them? How old should a duckling be before I put it out with the hens? I believe I read that chicks can be put outside without a heat source at 14 weeks? Not sure if I'm right about that. Would the duckling be about the same?

Thanks!

 

[toejam]

That's what I did. The only time they were together prior to going in the coop was he was in the same garage different brooder. You should be ok.

 

[kysilkies]

We have 3 Muscovies living with 6 silkies, NO issues...

 

[spamee34]

Hello !!! I think it would be fine to have a pair of ducks with your chickens. I have 15 chickens and two roosters and 24 runners and seven guineas and they are all in the same 25x50 pen with one house and what we did was raise the hen house and close in the bottom for the ducks and the chickens use the coop . The guineas have roosts under the eves of the coop and EVERYONE IS FINE!!! Although for some crazy reason I did have a duck mounting a chicken yesterday. So now we are sperating the runners from the chickens. But we have seven male runners . So they are getting excited now that spring is getting closer. Oh an the male ducks do like to pull the roosters tail feathers out too if you have more than one male they like to gang up on the roosters occasionally. But no serious problems. Especially if you only had two or three. I hope all goes well and yes, they won't smell with just a few but they need a seperate drinking area.

 

[RedfogsFlock]

Quote:
We bought our baby duck from the feed store, and it was already with the chickens. She is with them now and does great! We have two other ducks too, and they not only like our chickens, but love our yorkie too. They follow him around! So I have to say it's all in the way you raise them. Raise them together, and they will do fine together. Ours do!

 

[Bunnylady]

In the movie Babe, there is an "anorexic duck" (played by an Indian Runner) that is desperately trying to make himself too useful to be eaten by the farmer. Ferdinand the duck (drake) tells the pig that "the rooster's job is to wake the farmer up in the morning, and to make eggs with the hens. I tried it with the hens, it didn't work . . ."

We had a Ferdinand here. He was a white mixed breed that was the only duckling to hatch from a batch of eggs in the incubator, so he was raised with chicks. When the whole lot was old enough not to get too roughed up, they were turned out with the rest of the flock. Ferdie hung out with the chickens, ignoring the other ducks. He, too, "tried it with the hens," the hens were not impressed! A raid by a fox killed all but one duck hen and Ferdie. Our only remaining web-foots were confined to a much more secure pen, and Ferdie finally figured out that he was not a chicken. He fathered quite a number of ducklings over the next couple of years.

Since Ferdie's time, we have raised several ducklings along with chicks. At some point, we segregate each with its own kind, and introduce them in "family groups." While the "old ducks" and the "new ducks" often take weeks to blend together, they always become one flock in the end. Our ducks and chickens live and forage in the same areas, but don't really interact much. Duck-on-duck hostility happens, chicken-on-chicken, too, of course, but the two species tolerate each other very well.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

One duck should be fine with the chickens, I had a 1 month old duckling and an older duck that I bought and kept with the chickens. The ducks got really attached to eachother and had their own little group

. BUt then once the ducks were a bit older the older one died leaving the other all alone with a bouch of chickens

but he got used to it and seemed perfectly happy. So I think that if you got the duckling when he was young enough it would be fine ( since the duck would bond with the chickens from a young age)