Raising Ducks With Chickens: 8 Questions From Duck Beginners

Ducks are such a fun addition to a backyard flock, and get along well with chickens. When I brought home my first ducklings, I really had a hard time actually finding information about raising ducks with chickens.  It took a lot of research and experimenting, and months of my ducks not laying any eggs before I started figuring it all out! In this article I am going to share what I’ve learned about raising ducks and keeping them with chickens!

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Duck Breeds

Most duck breeds are seasonal layers – no matter what you feed them they will pretty much just lay eggs in the spring and early summer. If you want duck breeds that will lay a lot of eggs like a chicken, then Khaki Campbells, Welsh Harlequins and hybrid layers are all excellent choices. These duck breeds are capable of laying over 300 eggs a year!

 

 

When Do Ducks Lay Eggs?

Ducks often start laying earlier than chickens, as young as 4 months of age. However, ducklings hatched in the summer might not start laying until the following spring due to daylight.

Ducks primarily lay eggs in the spring and summer, but will lay a reduced amount of eggs in the winter if you use a light.

When raising ducks with chickens, I use a light in the coop and get some duck eggs in the winter.

 

Raising Ducks With Chickens

Ducks have a higher protein requirement than chickens. Specialized duck feeds typically have around 20% protein, as opposed to chicken layer feed that normally has 16% protein content.

 

Can Ducks Eat Chicken Feed?

If your ducks are in their own pen, they can just be fed waterfowl feed, but what if you are raising ducks with chickens, or you want to stick to organic?

I’ve found that my ducks won’t lay at all with 16% chicken feed, or even 17%. Mine don’t lay unless they are getting at least 18% protein in their diet. 18% protein is also an acceptable amount for chickens, and seems to be a good compromise for a mixed flock.

To get this ratio, you can either mix 16% chicken layer with 20% chicken starter, for a total of 18% protein, or you can add fish meal to 16% layer. Fish meal is especially good for ducks, and has a whopping 60% protein content, so a little goes a long way to up the protein content of your feed.

Amazon used to offer organic, food grade fish meal, but I haven’t been able to find it recently.

You can, however, get it from Fertrell. I picked up a large bag from a Fertrell dealer in my area and the price was really reasonable.

Being waterfowl, the addition of fish meal, or a chick starter containing fish meal, really seems to benefit ducks. They can also have fish scraps if you know a fisherman. Ducks don’t do as well on an all vegetarian diet.

Ducks love calcium in the form of natural oyster shell. Mine don’t like the cheap feed store calcium, but go crazy over the high quality oyster shell that Scratch and Peck sells!

 

 

 

What About Medicated Chick Feed?

There has been a lot of controversy over whether ducks can have medicated chick starter. The medicine typically added to conventional (not organic) chick starter builds immunity against coccidiosis, a disease that affects chickens; the medication is not needed for ducks. A small amount of this medication shouldn’t hurt ducks; but since they eat more than chickens there is a potential for overdose.

Most experts agree that ducks should not have medicated chick feed.

I usually mix a local non-GMO layer feed with non-GMO chick starter that is not medicated. Chick starters that are certified organic should be non-medicated.

 

Can Ducks Eat Sunflower Seeds?

“Can ducks eat sunflower seeds” is another common question I hear about raising ducks!

Yes, ducks can eat sunflower seeds! All types of sunflower seeds are fine for ducks, but Black Oil Sunflower Seeds are the best as they have a thinner, more digestible shell.

 

What Else do Ducks Like?

Ducks love greens, even more than chickens. Feeding them weeds and garden scraps, or even growing extra veggies just for them, is a great way to cut back on your feed bill.

My ducks’ favorites include dandelions, alfalfa, clover, kale and lettuce.

 

 

Ducklings and Leg Problems

Ducklings need about twice as much niacin (vitamin B3) as chicks. A deficiency can cause leg problems while they are growing. This is important to remember when raising ducks with chickens!

As a preventative, or if you start to see crooked legs in your ducklings, you may want to add a little niacin to their diet. A little nutritional yeast sprinkled on their feed is a great way to get some niacin in. Brewers yeast is another option, but has a much lower percentage of niacin than nutritional.

Some breeders say they never add niacin and never have a problem, while others say that their ducklings quickly develop crooked legs without it. It probably depends on the nutrients in the feed they are using.

I’ve personally had ducklings develop leg problems and not survive to adulthood when I skipped the nutritional yeast.

How Much Do Ducks Cost?

Wondering how much ducks cost? You can expect to pay $7-$15 for ducklings of common breeds. Adult female ducks usually sell for $15-$30, while adult male ducks go for $5-$15. Rarer breeds can cost quite a bit more.

 

Do Ducks Need Water?

If you’re not breeding them, ducks don’t need a pond, although they do love splashing and swimming! They do, however, need a little deeper water than chickens to clean their bills. Ducks should have access to water that is at least 3-4″ deep. This can simply be an extra bowl or pan of water kept in their pen.

If you’d like to provide them with water for swimming, a kiddy pool or a shallow trough half buried in the ground are simple alternatives to a pond.

If you plan on hatching your ducks’ eggs, the heavier duck breeds will need a pond or pool for breeding purposes (I’ve found that the lighter weight layers do just fine without one!).

 

 

Ducks are one of our favorite animals on our little farm. Each has so much personality! We love our chickens, but enjoy our Welsh Harlequin and Khaki Campbell ducks even more!

 

-Kait

 

PS: If you have  ducks, Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks is a must-have reference book! This large book by lifetime duck breeder Dave Holderread literally answers every question you could think of about backyard ducks. It’s probably the best resource for raising ducks with chickens!