another question.. about ducks and chickens

[cwoods]

If I did buy a "chicken" pen. Can I put baby/adult ducks in with baby/adult chickens?? Is it hard to raise chickens? I was thinking about getting some. It would be nice if they could share a enclosure.. any thoughts? What about cold weather with the pen... do you usually put a heat lamp in there? If that is the case, I have no electricity where this pen would be. ..

[Bubbles]

I think you can put chickens and ducks together, though I'm not sure about that... ducks I know are very hardy birds, so unless it gets to be far below zero your ducks at least should be okay with just their shelter... one thing I've done to keep my ducks warm in winter is their pen is built right up against the houseand then heat that escapes from the house goes to warm up the ducks.

[cwoods]

Yeah, that is a good idea. I wish I could keep my pen that close to my house. But my house is in the middle of 2 1/2 acres fenced and I have my Mastiff protroling... so if one got out it would be all over! I do have a spot back where the horses are. I don't think my little mini horses would hurt the pen? Anyway, thanks for all your answers.. finally I have people to talk to .. I was driving my husband batty with all the animal talk. He doesn't believe there are people out there that care about animals like I do.. if he only knew.. right?

[Random Bantam]

I have ducks and chickens of all ages co-existing in one pen. They have no problems. Just make sure you provide a couple different feeders in various places; ducks tend to hog the food.

[cwoods]

thank you!

[euroecu]

hello. Yes chickens and ducks can all live together. when I was in europe I had chickens, ducks, turkeys geese and a dog living all togehter with no problem. the three geese i had ruled the back yard, lol. good luck and ask if you have any questions

[joko]

Chickens are the easiest to raise in my opinion just due to the fact that they are less messy and are somewhat more immune to diseases. I keep ducks and chickens in pens side by side but not in the same pen, I had too many problems with them spilling and wasting feed. It was mostly the chickens doing the wasting though because the ducks were woodies and they really aren't messy at all as adults.

[cwoods]

thanks!

[millipede]

Chickens are the easiest to raise in my opinion just due to the fact that they are less messy and are somewhat more immune to diseases.

Actually, ducks are more immune to diseases than chickens. Ducks are very hardy birds when it comes to illnesses...

I believe ducks and chickens can get along just fine, most of the time... its always good to make sure they have lots of room... as mentioned, seperate food, ducks are indeed messy birds. Ducks need a lot more water than chickens... The biggest problem I could see happening would occur when the birds reach maturity and it happens upon breeding season... a large rooster or drake could become aggressive... It would not surprise me to see a rooster picking on ducks or a drake trying to mate with the chickens... Overall I don't see a problem, especially if they're raised from babies that way.

Feel free to let us know what you plan on getting, and how many of each, and we can make some suggestions as to how much space is needed and such. Good luck.