Topic: hens and ducks

[sid]

can you keep hens and ducks in the same pen as i have been oferd as meny ducks and drakes as i want

[prink13]

Simple answer, it depends who you ask!!!!!!!

When we looked into this, a local chicken breeder would not sell us hens as we had ducks! Ducks are very messy, they will poop anywhere and everywhere, including in their own food! And hens tend to be a little more fussy!

The biggest problem that we could think of was the ducks swimming water - not all hens are all that bright, and if they wander into the duck's pond, they can easily drown, as their feathers are not waterproof, and they can get dragged down by the weight of soggy feathers - but this depends on your pond set up. our ducks never slept in doors, and therefore there may be a way to seperate up the duck end of the run from the hens end?

Kathi

[Robert_Brenchley]

We tried them. once when I was in Cornwall. There was no problem between the ducks and hens, but the ducks didn't lay (I don't think this was anything to do with the hens) so we ate them.

[sid]

lol were they tasty going to give it a try if it dosent work out i can allways make them a pen or eat them

[growmore]

Sid, You can run em together but you need loads of room for ducks otherwise your pen will be a quagmire when it rains and you will be  ankle deep in  stinky sludge... It's very rare they use nest boxes. So be prepared to hunt the eggs....  Also you will find you have to clean your shed floor out  a lot more regular than with hens too ...IMHO. If you ain't got grass to run em on don't keep ducks,,,
If you do lets know how you go on with em  :)  cheers. Jim
   

[alan42]

i run ducks and chickens together and like already mentioned i find they are very messy very noisy and am starting to look at them sideways now and think maybe an orange sauce recipe is in order. definitely only chickens after these are gone.
pity as i love the eggs more than chicken eggs.

[sid]

i have decided to get the ducks but i am building them ther own pen as i have lots of room left on the allotment thanks all

[james419]

We ran ducks and chicken together this summer - and they all slept together in the stable at night - the chicken even trained th ducks to go to bed at night  (well most nights) the chciks roosted on the bars provided and the ducks made themselves comfortable on the straw on the floor, no problems they are now all in the freezer and so far all taste very nice!!!

[Philbasford]

our chicks are like ducks, they just sleep on the straw and seem perfectly happy, does other peoples chickens do the same?

[sid]

my hens dont sleep in the hut dont know why they roost on top of it