Oh this is such a cool site - Im 22 just moved to the country in australia and have 'inherited'a chicken house with a good sized area for a run (12ft and 30ft) and was wondering 1) how chickens and ducks go together in the same 'yard'(if say, we had 2 chooks and 2 ducks) and 2) How big a pond type swimming hole thingy do the ducks need? Thanks a lot :) Catch ya later :)

-- joseph Mccallum (joeral@cybanet.net.au), April 01, 2001

Answers

Joseph, I don't know what the real experts say, but I've housed 5 Indian runner ducks and 12 hens and a rooster together for almost 18 months. No problems. The ducks eat out of the same trough the hens do, everyone drinks out of the same waterer, and the ducks let the hens drink from their wading pool. It's a kiddie size pool I got from the local WalMart store, about 8 inches deep by 5 feet across. They love it and run in for a splash every morning when they are let out of the henhouse. The only potential problem I've seen is that when the ducks are breeding, the rooster tends to want to get in on the act and hovers about. They all troop into the henhouse at night, although the ducks would stay outside at first. I'm sure there have been incidents of ducks and chickens battling, but mine peacefully co- exist.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), April 01, 2001.

Our ducks and chickens do fine as adults. However, I would recommend keep them seperate when they're little, just because the ducks get everything wet and chicks don't do well in a wet environment, BUT because you only are planning on 4 total, just make sure the chicks have enough room to find a dry spot and you should be OK.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), April 01, 2001.

They go great together BUT!!!! DON"T FEED DUCKS CHICK STARTER> Laying mash is ok but Medicated chick starter has stuff in it that harms the ducks. I read this somewhere a few years ago, maybe in was writen by J.D. (I think it was, or maybe just in C.S.) We had a Khaki campbell and a RIR hen that were buddies. where one went the other did also. I also agree about them getting wet, another good reason to keep them apart when young

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), April 01, 2001.

We house our ducks & chickens separately because the ducks make an awful mess. They use the same outside area. The drake & rooster only fought once & now leave each other alone. But the ducks are the "bosses" of the chicken yard. At first the drake couldn't tell a chicken hen from a duck hen, but he's got it figured out now!

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), April 02, 2001.

G'day mate. Where are you located? (currently Bathurst for me).

Indian Runner or Khaki Campbell ducks will do fine with hens - or instead of. They don't even need swimming water (although they'll use it if it's available). Ducks that don't need swimming water are a GREAT idea, as they also use their swimming water as a toilet, and it gets fairly noisome, and potentially unhealthy. They'll be happy with just a toddler's wading pool if you go that way, but even so changing the water can get fairly wasteful, even if your back can stand carrying it all out to use on the garden. Ducks do need a bit more depth of drinking water though - they need to be able to rinse off their nostrils (messy eaters). Also means the drinking water needs total changing fairly often, rather than just topping up.

Do you really need hens, or can you get by with just ducks? Ducks are a bit quieter, if you have neighbours who might object. It's even feasible to pass ducks off as pets, whereas most hens look to the local council like - well, poultry. If you're in an urban area, you should check out what the local by-laws are - there may be limits on numbers, or even prohibitions on poultry. Doesn't necessarily matter what the previous occupants had - they may have been allowed to continue doing something that later was regulated against, whereas new residents have to conform to the current (new) regulations.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 02, 2001.

I keep mine together, along with the geese, and get around the potential water mess by keeping the water outside. My mallards fly in and out as they please, the rest of them stay in the run. To cut down on mud, I used some old bricks to pave the watering area. For swimming, I give them a toddlers plastic wading pool, it's easy enough to rinse and refill when it gets emptied. (every other day with my crowd) If you are wanting ducks or geese to hatch out eggs, they need some way of wetting down their feathers, to keep the eggs from getting too dry.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), April 03, 2001.