Topic of the week - Keeping different poultry types together

[CertifiedChaser]

I have no experience with this but whenever I go to the park to walk my dogs or run there are always several different types of geese and ducks and the occasional swan or two.

I feel like this image I found online shows it best. Seems waterfowl have a greater tendency to get along than their land counterparts.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Thwy do.Wild geese just land and my ducka have ni problem with it.There was even a small crane type thing at our pond only naybe a littke bit bugger or same suze as a very large roo and the ducks were eating and playling in thw water with it.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Here are my observations of my mixed species flock:

Water fowl seem to get along with just about everyone. My ducks and Muscovy interact freely with all the other animals on the farm. The chickens are a bit pushy, as in they will go where ever they please whether or not they are welcome. The guinea fowl keep to their own kind. The turkey could care less and seem to just wander around aimlessly. Although, I read somewhere that turkey should be kept separate from chickens for biosecurity reasons that could affect the turkey moreso than the chickens. The quail have their own separate pens away from the others. However, the chickens routinely try to perch on the pens and drop little poop bombs on the quail.

While all the interaction is mostly friendly and sociable, you can tell that there are obvious separate pecking orders within the various species. There are even a few distinct groups among a single species as well.

 

[TrueStockFarms]

I currently have about 25 ducks, 2 geese, and 3 guineas that live together and free-range over my 2-acre property. I also have 3 bantam chickens that stay locked up in the coop for their own safety from predators.

All of my free-range birds get along very well! The geese are the boss but they are not mean to the other birds but just act like the others are more of a nuisance. The geese prefer to use the kiddie pool on their own and will complain and sometimes chase the ducks away. They are never very aggressive though. It is quite comical to watch the guineas because they run around screeching and playing. They LOVE the ducks and follow them everywhere but the ducks are afraid of them most of the time! I think it is because they will fly up to the ducks and it startles them. I have about 8 different breeds of ducks and about that many drakes as well. The drakes all have their girls that they hang out with and sometimes they will try to steal a girl from another drake but that is quickly resolved by a small scuffle.

At one time I had a male muscovy and he was much larger than all of the other ducks. He was very dominant and violent. He claimed all of the girls as his and would be very bossy to the other drakes. I had one pekin drake that he absolutely hated. He would attack the pekin and chase him constantly. I eventually had to get rid of the muscovy male but I kept the female muscovy and she makes a great addition to my flock. She is very broody and will try to hatch anything. She is also very smart and aware of her surroundings and will "pip" if she senses danger.

As far as food goes, all of my free-range birds get free choice of Purina Flock Raiser and Dumor layer crumbles. It seems that usually the laying ducks choose to eat the layer crumbles and the rest choose to eat the Flock Raiser.

I also have a barn cat who roams freely. He gets along great with the birds (except for the bantam chickens, who he likes to chase). He tries to befriend the birds but they just won't have it.

 

[DuckGirl77]

I do brood and house different types together, and it has worked well for me on my limited budget. When brooding, I do keep ducks separate, as they are so messy I feel it might cause cocci issues in chicks. Guinea fowl I just keep with the chicks, and they get along just fine. I put all poultry types outside after about two weeks of age, and start letting them occasionally meet the adults (with supervision) by week 3-4. Integrating them young helps reduce the amount of fights, IMO.

Again, getting young birds is conducive to preventing fights.... When keeping drakes in with chicken hens, make sure there are duck hens for him to apply his attentions to, or you'll likely have issues with the drake trying to breed the hens.

My male guineas have not shown any aggression towards the drake or any of the multiple roosters.

I've only ever had guineas, chickens, and ducks, but they seem to get along just fine, and I don't see having to separate them anytime in the near future.

Got a question for you, Banti

: did you raise the male guineas with the roosters?

 

[ocap]

I am having reasonable success with Australorp chickens (10), African Geese (5), guineas (15) and peacock (one) free ranging together in a 3/4 acre area. Space and younger males might be the reason.

 

[tmelber]

We have 5 "teenage" hens (to be fair, we suspect one may be a roo... stay tuned), and 5 guineas.
Everyone gets along when out in the yard together, and like others I've noticed the different species form "cliques" but ours still do a fair amount of mingling. Right now, they have different pens/coops at night but I'd like to move the chickens in with the guineas. We just got a new batch of day-olds (5 guinea keet + 7 chicks), and I'd like to use the current chicken run for them when they get a bit older.
So far, we're just feeding the teenage hens with the guineas, and there don't seem to be any problems other than our suspected roo likes to boss everyone around, chicken and guinea alike, so I'm keeping an eye on that. I figure worst case, we abort and maintain our current sleeping arrangements. Has anyone transitioned into a shared sleeping pen before? Did it work? Were there issues? How large was the space, and were there visual barriers? We have a 100 sqft pen with a large coop in it- again, they're only in there at night. Any tips or tricks are appreciated

 

[ItsKendall]

well, myself i haven't had an issue housing a roo with any males, he was with male turkeys and a male duck with no problem though he grew up with them. but i've never had guineas. all of my birds get along. were yours chicks together?

 

[Jesusfreak101]

I have five ducks and 23 full grown hens and 12 chicks together they do great I am hoping to add turkeys, geese to the mix. I be getting quail they will be kept separately

 

[tmelber]

They weren't, but knowing yours get along tells me it can be done! We'll just move slow and keep plenty of enrichment on hand. Thanks, Kendall!