[flangey]

Hello, can anyone give me some advice about mixing my girls with a couple of ducks.  I've got 10 chickens, mixture of different hybrids, and we'd like to add a couple of ducks, but I know nothing about keeping ducks and would like some advice please.
Do they mix well with chickens or should they be kept separate? Do you need a pond, or can a makeshift pool/big tub suffice, and if so, how big? Do they as much as or more space than chucks?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks ever so

[tode]

We have both in the run, but a couple of ducks certainly do make more mess than a few chickens.  To be fair to the ducks, I think they should have daily access to at least 4 sq ft of water.

[death of rats]

I got a couple of call ducks which were being reared by a broody bantam.
They have got on extremely well with the chickens.
Especially when i got a trio of black silkies, the ducks thought that their mum had come back and there were 3 mums so they mobbed the silkies and have got on fine ever since.
They are very messy though, much more than chickens, water goes all over the place.
We had a garden pond which looked quite nice, plants and everything. Not now the ducks have destroyed wverything in it, but we knew they would and are not unhappy about this.

Ducks and chickens can get on well. Therse are call ducks os they are small and get on with the gentle silkies. They can bully them a bit but the cock stops it.

There is not a probelm apart from the mess.

[Sassy]

I can't offer any experience but just repeat what my research showed up.

Some people say they should not be kept together. Apparently this can be because the drakes are not always partial about keeping their sexual activities to ducks!!

I have a friend who keeps them together and they free range all day and they are fine.

[Tattyanne456]

I posted about this topic a while ago, one of the things that came up was that you need a seperate house for them.

[flangey]

Thanks for  the advice everyone.  Very exciting, I'll keep you posted 

[colliebird]

I always used to mix ducks, chickens, turkeys, geese together, but ducks make a real mess of the ground, whereas geese don't, and they keep the grass looking like a lawn.
Good guardians too

I'm mixing my geese with chickens (I now also have a 5 month old Greylag goose that was given to me).  At night the geese and hens are separate, as the geese tend to bully the hens and the young Greylag.  So tonight I'm going to put the Greylag in with the hens.
They'll be roosting, so the Greylag will have some peace.  She doesn't seem to mix with any of them, geese or hens.  She's a pretty little thing and less than half the size of the goose, and still has that lovely "whittley sound" that goslings have. 
Methinks she's my favourite.  I've called her Lilli.  The other two are Kwee-Kwee and Miranda.  The hens get called by various names, except Molly, the big jet black Black Rock shy girl.

[janet12000]

My 2 Khaki Campbell girls are fine with the 4 ex batts. They have a separate house, but always want to follow the chickens into their house at bedtime. 
I think it makes them all a bit crowded at night but its their choice!
My ducks have an 8 foot paddling pool which cost 7 quid at some bargain shop.

[flangey]

Thanks again, it sounds like they should all get on, thanks for the info about the paddling pool janet, I've got one a similar size, I brought it for the dogs in the hot weather, but they ignore it and prefer smelly ponds and puddles!! Can anyone expand a bit on the 'mess' they make.  Do you mean more poo or do they trash the grass etc.  I'm just trying to imagine how they can make a lot of mess waddling around the place, but i'm probably being a bit naive.  I'm thinking of two khaki campbell girls

[janet12000]

2 khaki girls like mine make a bit of mess, but it depends on how much you love your garden. They love to dig with their beaks and eat everything. Wouldn't be without them now though.
The duck c*** makes great fertilizer for the lotty!

[newchic]

We have 2 ducks (1 drake, 1 duck - formerly 3 drakes until 2 killed by a badger), recently joined by 2 goslings - now massive and head of the pack - they threw themselves at the ducks, extremely sociable gorgeous goslings (no herding required, as with ducks - instead they follow us around like dogs). And we have 3 hens, normally kept in a separate yard. On the day we got the goslings we put them with the hens - and right away the goslings were chasing/following the hens around - wanting the company! The hens didn't think too much of it, preferring their own end of the yard. And so now we sometimes mix the hens and ducks/geese (the latter are like 1 big family) and there's absolutely no probs - they basically seem to go about their own business. We've had trouble with our drake before and his affections - but he's not tried anything with the hens. So, based on our experience I'd say hens and ducks - no problem; of course, the younger they are the more likely they attach on each other and be firm companions. Duck poop? We don't find it that bad at all, but then we started with ducks - and have been amazed how less messy everything else is (hens, geese)! Ours have a paddling pool, which ducks and geese adore.

Good luck

[flangey]

That all sounds great, I'm not precious about the garden or the poo, with 6 chucks, 4 cats and 3 dogs I can't afford to be! We've got a bit of garden we keep nice for us and the rest is for the chucks.  I think I've made up my mind to get a couple of Khaki Campbells, but one last question, is a big paddling pool enough for two ducks, mine is about 6ft round withnrigid sides, and about 2 foot deep?

[death of rats]

The ducks have a need to get their beaks and nostrils wet which inc=volves them shifting water. If you have water in the cop it will get chucked all over theplace by the ducks. They will squash plants in the garden and eat them. They tread water all over the run from the pind.
hat is just where the difference is between ducks and chickens.

[janet12000]

That paddling pool sounds ok to me. With mine I have to keep refilling it as they splash all over the place and flick all the water out! I made them a step out of bricks both inside and outside of the pool so they can get in and out. They seem happy enough with this set up.

[colliebird]

Sadly I will have to rehome my goose and gander.  They won't leave the little Greylag alone and are really bullying my hens.