It Easter and I thought for a learning experience I would get 5 chick, 4 ducks and 3 geese for my daughter to raise. I have the birds and all is going well! My question is: I am building a coop for the chicks/ducks. Will the chickens and ducks be fine together? Right now the duck are biting than chicks so I have separated them. Will they out grow this and live in harmony together?

The ducks and chicks are all 2 weeks old. The geese are also 2 weeks old. How will the geese interact with the ducks and chickens at a later date? Thank you in advance for any information you can provide!

You do know that you feed them different feed?

You do not feed waterfowl medicated chick starter. Nearly all commercial chick starter is medicated with a coccidiostat. You have to make sure that you have the plain chick starter without medication. Your chicks can eat the unmedicated starter, but they will be more prone to get coccidiosis, and the damp litter caused by the ducks will not help. Coccidia thrives in damp litter.

It is too late for this advice, but you should have brought them on your farm one at a time and learned how to raise each one before you tried something different.

You can't really house ducks and chickens together. They will get along alright, but ducks make a mess. They like to play in the water and will ruin the litter in your chicken coop. I've seen people with ducks geese and chickens in the same big barn sharing the same big yard, but each group has their own feeding and watering area. Like I said waterfowl can be counted on to mess with the water. You will have to have the waterers placed in some location that can be easily mopped up and dried out. Someone with a lot ducks can tell you how they work it. Geese are very territorial and they keep their areas pretty clear of other birds and animals especially when the female is laying.

Chicks need a good heat source to keep warm. Ducks and geese can get by with less, but people still have heated brooders for them. Swimming in ice cold water doesn't seem to phase them as long as they can get out of the water to warm up under mom when they need to.

I back up everything he said! I have allowed my hens & my ducks & geese the entire run of the barn for the winter. The ducks are messy!!!!! If you can keep them seperate do it!!!

THANKS and Yes I am aware of the two types of food. I am giving the chicks medicated chick food and the ducks duck food. I now know what you mean by a MESS! This chicks and ducks are in separate wood boxes with heating lights. The duck ARE MAKING A MESS! I have to change out the pine chips 3 or 4 times a day. Does anyone have a better bedding for them that is not as acceptable to getting wet? I guess I will be building two coops one for the ducks and one for the chicks! Thanks!

I made a wooden frame out of 1X2 slats (they are really only about 3/4 X 1.5 inches) with 1/2 inch hard wire cloth (1/2 inch wire squares) secured to the top of it. The wooden frame went in a tray and the waterer went on top of the wire. Most of the mess went through the wire and into the tray. It was a lot easier dumping the tray than trying to keep the litter dry.

We only had two ducklings and they could go through a gallon of water in half a day just playing in it and splashing it out of the waterer. They had the annoying habit of taking a bill full of feed over to the waterer, dumping it in the waterer and then they'd go fishing for the pieces.

I kept my chickens and ducks together in the same coop and they were just fine. Of course I did not put mine outside until they had most of their feathers. We had a wading pool for our ducks which was a good distance from the coop (to make it fun, you can go and get some minows and add in the pool for them to catch).

Mine were not in the coop much except at night when it was time to sleep. Of course the ducks slept on the floor and the chickens roosted up high. We built in an extra box that the ducks could go into and feel nice and safe at the bottom. My coop was rarely wet because of the ducks. Heck, my ducks would still be outside at midnight playing if there was enough moonlight. I do not really see a need to built two coops.

As far as feeding, we feed them all at the same time. There of course was seperate piles, but once they were all old enough, they were feed a chicken/duck food, but they all seemed to really love corn. Their picking at each other will stop and you will notice that the ducks will go in one direction and the chickens in another. Just keep something nice and big for them to swim in and they should stay out of the drinking waters. The reason that ducks can swim in ice cold water and not have it bother them is because their feet and legs have no feeling for this purpose. Also, beaware that ducklings can drown even in a few inches of water.

I think that your daughter will enjoy these. I love to watch them play. As far as the best bedding to buy, there really is none. I usually line the bottom of their containers with carboard and paper and then put the pine shavings down. Sometimes I use straw. To try and lessen their splashing you could add some marbles or rocks in the water and try to get waters that they can not get their bodies into. You could try the corn cob bedding that they make, or even putting cat litter below the pine shavings, but I am not sure if the cat litter will bother the ducks or not.

Now as for the geese, I have no clue, I am still looking for some to buy. Make sure that they are handled often so they are friendly towards you. They will help to alert the others when predators are around. They also are great for keeping the weeds out of the garden.

Anyways, I wish you the best of luck in raising them. Have fun and enjoy..

Please, what are minows?

Minnows are small little fish that are found in streams and creeks. People use them for fishing as well. You could go to a bait shop and ask for minnows. They will more than likely have them. If not go to a creek or a stream and catch a few. They are small and brown. You can get some bigger ones, and they are called chubs.

I would wait until they have most of their feathers before puting out a swimming pool and puting minnows in there for them. Ducklings can drown, believe it or not, I lost two that drowned in a small water bowl that had about a half and inch of water in it. Also, they probably will not show much interest in anything except their feed until they are about a month old. My little ones inside are about two weeks old and they will not eat anything except their feed, but my two month old ones love bread and corn and lots of other things.

I have built a "Watering hole" for the duck. I took a 1/2 inch piece of plywood about 20/20 and used 2/4 lumber to make sides. I then make a stair case out of 2 2/4 screwed together and placed this platform on two brinks right in the middle of a kiddies pool in my garage. THE DUCK LOVE IT they have a Simi dry place to get out of the water and can play and swim all day. The ducks personalities have drastically changed because of this change. I am planning on building one coop for the ducks and chick now. I am just going to bury the pool where the ducks can get to it. THANKS for everyone's help.

Jonathan,

Sounds like fun. I have 6 geese and four ducks who free range our farm (as do our Chickens). They do have food put out for them, however they prefer bugs and loose corn during nice weather. As to the pool, take my advice and don't bury it! My geese and ducks 'climb' into a water tank next to the barn. If you think the ducklings make a mess, you should see what they do with their adult water play. I have to drain and rinse the large metal tank ever few weeks. Food, grass, pebbles-- just about everything goes in. This creates a lovely slim the require cleaning. A built-in pool would not allow you to do this. My flock have taken to wandering down the road to a field tile drain that is running with water this time of year. They feel the need for this little shower at least twice a day, making local drivers very nervous. But they are a lovely white again, after a long winter of soft gray !!!