Raising Duck with Chickens

[Preservation Acres]

If I were to raise a few ducks with my chickens, could I expect them to naturally return to the coop at dusk as the chickens do, or do they need to be trained to do so?

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

HM? Good Question .I'd like to know also....

 

[MissPrissy]

If you train them they will know where home is.

For the record - ducks do not go to roost like chickens. They are usually very active and live on a very different schedule from chickens. Ducks are super messy and spread their wet and poop everywhere. These are conditions that chickens do not like and also opens the door for cocci to go through your flock with often sad outcomes.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

My did till I built a small pond an then they started sleeping there.

 

[WriterofWords]

My first hatch ever was Babette my Runner Herhey's baby. Babette is now the Matron of the Coop. She is charge of getting everyone in a settled in for the night and does a fantastic job! She is the last one in the door after she informs me the chickens are in bed by quacking at the top of her lungs as she stands by the fence looking at the house. When I go out to close the coop she ducks her head twice, quacks and then goes in with everyone else. You can see her in another post on the perching contest, she is my honorary chicken. The other ducks don't sleep in the coop because there is not enough room and they would rather not be bombed from above, so they have a small area I've put together for them with pallets for protection and they sleep there. When it gets really cold they will ask to go in the coop and that is fine and they get along ok. My chickens and ducks have grown up together and are one big happy family.

 

[KellyHM]

I have one duck who lives with the chickens. He immediately wanted to follow the chickens around, so he went in the coop with them the first night w/o me having to teach him. He sleeps right next to their roosts on the floor in some hay. The problem now is that he's a teenager and trying to mate w/ the hens.

Silly duck...I guess it's time to get him a girlfriend!

 

[MissPrissy]

As drakes get older they are nasty and vicious when they mate. If you find any bloody hens you'll know who did it.

 

[Preservation Acres]

Too funny. I wanted to get a pair of runner ducks just for the sheer humor of the breed. I don't mind them staying outside of the coop at night, but I don't want any predators getting them either.

 

[Preservation Acres]

Quote:
Interesting. So if I get one drake and say, 2 or 3 females, will I still have this problem with my chickens?

 

[MissPrissy]

They can get fixated on a hen and want to mate her and not the female ducks.

I have a rule and I never mix fowl. It just isn't worth it in the long run in most cases.

Some people do mix them and it works out fine but if you happen to be one of the ones that things don't work out fine you'll have a horrid mess on your hands. I don't risk it.