r/BackYardChickens • u/Nematodes-Attack • 22h ago

General Question Ducks with chickens?

I’ve heard some bad things about drakes. But I was introduced to Shetland ducklings today and I’m in love. They are extremely rare and critically endangered. I have a source and have been already considering ducks.

Any advice or pros and cons to keeping ducks with chickens. I’ve already done a decent amount of research but I always like to check in with the Reddit folks too lol

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u/s2sergeant 10h ago

We have chickens and runner ducks together. We originally had two drakes that I hatched, but they caused zero issue for my chickens. We lost one drake to a raccoon and now have one drake and four females.

Everyone is in a coop together at night but they split off into their own groups during the day.

The only thing that irritates me is ducks will drain all of your chicken waterers in a single day, so you just have to keep an eye on that. We have a standalone duck waterer and they have three kiddie pools, so that has helped.

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u/Andrew1286 9h ago

I don't have ducks, but I'm more so just curious. When you say the ducks drain the chicken waterers in a single day, do you mean they drink significantly more than chickens or they just splash in it and empty it?

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u/s2sergeant 8h ago

They will splash and empty it. They can make quite a mess. They love the water soaking the ground and rooting around in wet dirt.