Raising meat chickens and ducks together

[Evan__66]

Hello, is it possible to raise a species of meat chicken such as Cornish X with a meat duck species such a Peking? Thanks

 

[sourland]

It's possible, but would be an absolute mess. Both species are eating/pooping machines plus ducks make a mess with their water.

 

[mandelyn]

For the sake of cleanliness and level of care, I would do them separate. Ducks make a mess with the water and the fast growing meat types make a lot of poop.

It would essentially be poop+water.

 

[mominoz]

I raise ducks/geese for over a decade. I do have land. but I have 'night pens" basically a 4 ft fenced with hotwire top and bottom, with 2-3 ft.divisions for breeds or breeding pens with gates(I use small decorative garden panels and hotwire for 'hinges' and caribiners for latches). I then have 3 outer openings into fenced 'pastures'... I let my waterfowl in and out daily. I use awnings, and rubbermaid bins with a side cut out for duck nests. It is on a slope so mess runs downhill, I have some rubber mats around pools and water buckets. I'hose buckets, pools, mats for cleaning. I use woodchips and sometimes straw or leaves for nests. Easiest way to deal with messiness. (I do live in zone 7b).... Ducks need lots of ventilation... putting them into "coops" like a chicken isn't the best way to manage them. They love rain and outside and produce a lot of humidity... you just have to have a place for them to keep out of a mucky mess, and they don't need all the medications, supplements etc.Their health is much more resilient. I have only had a couple 'die mysteriously' , which was either botulism or West Nile . .....Chickens (which I have had and may again): need roosts, drier conditions and may need protection from rain/wind/cold.... and poo is more solid...duck poo is pretty much liquid (hence why when I did have them under a roof, it was matted so I could hose it down.)... They can 'free range together', but unless you have a huge barn and have a deep bedding system, I would think keeping them together increases your shoveling load... I do see where some keep birds in much further north... also depends on how many birds. I have over 60 in my night pens... if you are talking less than a dozen, that may be different. It is square foot per bird... Books suggest 2-4 ft. per bird depending on size as a minimum.... and for day yards triple that. You also need waterfowl yards to not be in a 'hole', building up base with gravel or woodchips.Mine are sloped, I do get some muck at the bottom for a few feet, which I then shovel into a wheelbarrow and put in my garden or around my trees once a year or so...

 

[Mtnboomer]

My Brahma juveniles shared a run with 4 ducks. Everyone seemed happy. My run went from thick clover and grass to mud with the addition of the ducks, mud and water maintenance was ramped up significantly but that was only "issue" i had