November 23, 2024

VIDEO: The CUTE and the UGLY About Keeping Ducks


In this video, I give you my opinion about the good and bad or cute and ugly about keeping ducks, especially with chickens.

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28 thoughts on “VIDEO: The CUTE and the UGLY About Keeping Ducks

  1. ? did he seriously have a hole in the ceiling that he saw a hawk fly out of, with dead chickens, and leave the hole and just put up some shiny tape then, let another chicken get killed again? maybe i'm wrong and need to finish the vid, but if he didn't fix the hole, then why bother having animals that you can't really take care of?

  2. I personally use a baby chicken drinker (the nipple watering). The think that chicken need to peck to get water. My duck can drink it too without problem. I align 7 of this in a small pipe and link a 1meter 4inch pipe as reservoir change or put water once a week. Works great so far since more them a year. For the pool, no solution neither. It's a mess ahah, need to put fresh water if the duck want to take a bath. I was think about a grey water pond but still figure out how to clean and filter it to avoid soap. Any way, that a good range that your chicken have , look pretty happy

  3. Agree with a lot of comments. Think you need a higher duck-drake ratio and a decent sized rooster preferably hand reared he will protect the Chickens from the Drake and will be first warning and even take on the Hawk. I’d go as far as to add a single female goose as well she will maintain order and be a greater deterrent to aerial predators, if they are roaming then Drake's and Cockerels will figure it out especially with a goose present but I think you need separate sleeping coop areas so they have separate time away from each other.

  4. I had rouens and the drake or girls never fussed with the chickens. I have some mini ducks thay are about the same size as the rouens. But they can have different colors. But the chickens are the nad ones. My friend i got the mini ducks from. Some of her new chickens attack her ducks too. The only problem ive had is the normal ducks getting chased by the muscoys i got. The drake sometimes tries to mount the female duck. The female muscovy is mean to both of em.

  5. I know nothing about keeping ducks or chickens, so with that, big grain of salt here. But from the looks of it everything was fine until the hawk started bullying and killing the chickens. Perhaps the duck has some primal instinct to instead kill something else to feed the predator to save themselves? And now that it's been "triggered" that duck just wants to keep killing until it's "purpose" is fulfilled (reproduced until its death) to keep its species going. Everything wild just wants to survive, do its duty, keep what they are moving forward. At least that's my thought process.

    The thing that further backs that up in my mind, again with my limited knowledge, is that chickens just always run no matter what, ducks too until they cant run anymore but will spread their wings to appear bigger, but chickens just go go go. So to me would explain why no ducks died and the hawk went for the chickens. The duck seeing that, and only having access to that as a trade for its own life, would kill it to save itself.

    Primal instincts are vast and there is so much we still don't understand about why certain animals do the things they do, I've never personally heard of what I've explained but it does make sense to me. But again, very much not in the know, just watched a lot of animal related videos because they fascinate me and from what I've seen it would make sense. Hopefully the opinion helps in some way, and for sure hope you solve your issue. Love the videos, much love from USA.

  6. Hey bud,

    Long time watcher. Mostly for the veggies.

    I clean at a small "farm" three days a week. Ducks, chickens, goats and a token sheep and cow.

    They have their ducks in a completely separate enclosure and pen to the chickens. And while they dont actively breed either they do bring in hatching from tome to time, which are also completely isolated from each other. Its a lot more infrastructure but zero losses. Regards size I think they have about 12 ducks (not sure on sex of the birds) and about 20 chickens (no rosters)

    One group is pened on one side of the shed I clean, the other… on the other.

    Hope it helps in some way.

  7. I feel like you should have two separate enclosure for the ducks and chickens. Can just make an extra door on the other side and just make the cage 2 smaller ones?

  8. You need to make duck confee….ducks a,so need water deep enough to dunk heads to point of eyes being washed…..might be breed of duck….watch you tuber…gold shaw farm…..he is on a voyage to be farmer…and then there is JUST A FEW ACRES FARM…just up the valley and over a few hills from me…he has an operation that isn't mostly birds butt a good operation and been at it longer. Good luck.

  9. Another thing g …if keeping chickens and ducks together get a feisty chicken and a not so duck breed ..dad had big white chickens and they were not nice …and the neigh or ducks were not what you have and they were nice….like pets…but they sent them off to be slaughtered ND ddessed…we did our own chickens and it didn't bother me at all. Got even for all those people ked up legs I got….lol

  10. I kept a lot of male ducks and females too. Most of mine were incubated and tame. The males did like to breed a lot, but they had plenty of girls. We kept them as pets. Geese too. Ducks get bored easily. They need plenty of things to do in a grassy area and have a baby pool, at least, filled with water. They get excited over clean water they can get into…really funny. I had one female who was very broody and would bite if you got near her nest. She was not hand raised by me. She was one we started with. We let our rouens and pekins interbreed. They left eggs all over the place. I grabbed them and incubated them. Their babies were so pretty when grown. I had over 20 ducks. I did let them mingle with the chickens when free ranging. I never had a problem with them. I do think it is either boredom, the drake needs more girls, or it can just be the duck and how it is. You need a tub you can drain daily. I have seen people who fill a raised bathtub up inside their enclosure, let their ducks swim and poop in it, then they drain it into a garden bed planted next to it via a pipe that comes from the tub. It is good use of the water. You will have to rinse it after daily swimming along with providing a small sink you can drain for their having water at all times, but the people who use the tubs seem pleased with the setup. I see them on YouTube. Definitely separate the ducks and chickens in their own enclosures. Your female didn't feel secure and may be why she didn't stay in one place. They like to hide away from even those who feed them. They need water on their bodies to carry back to their nests due to their eggs needing more humidity than chicken eggs. My broody girl hid while free ranging. She liked the tall grassy edge not cut that had briers over it. I haven't had them in years, but I do plan to get more. They were easy to keep for me. I just worried about them, is all. I loved hatching out their eggs. I plan on getting more chickens again too. Someone mentioned Gold Shaw Farms. He has a good channel for waterfowl. I also like Cogs Hill Farm. They have restarted their farm because they moved to a bigger tract of land, but they have all kinds of birds…even an emu. They all seem to get along. I hope you can solve you problems. It is only my opinion they are separated for the safety of your chickens. As is the other ideas I mentioned. I am considering the bathtub idea myself.

  11. Remove all ducks and just focus on chickens, ducks are a right pain in the arse to keep and maintain. Some years ago I had both ducks and chickens and the ducks not only dominated the chickens but they really are disgustingly dirty animals, I found when I removed the ducks from the property, the chickens mental and physical health improved dramatically, plus with the removal of the ducks, it allowed for more chickens and the ability to keep more varieties, which controlled any dominating hens as there were a variety of breeds.

    I get that you like ducks Mark, but sometimes the trouble and effort that comes with them is just not worth it, now I just have hens and quails, the mix is harmonious!

  12. Sounds to me the drake needs be introduced to some orange and a roasting pan. Get another Drake and test. Maybe even a peacock I've heard not experience that peacocks are like the referee of poultry.

  13. Our Pekin Ducks attacked our other ducks and the chickens so we had to separate the Pekins from the other ducks. Now that we have two roosters the Pekins no longer attack the chickens. We have 2 drake and 2 hen Pekins. Also, our Khaki Campbell hen has now gone broody going into winter here in North Carolina, US. I agree ducks are cute but they are FILTHY AND NASTY.

  14. Several people have suggested offing Donald. My thought exactly. Stroppy Donald is just a bad egg- no pun intended. Turn him into something delicious and swap him out for another drake. Maybe one that's young and the chooks can give him the hint from the get-go that any sort of nonsense won't be tolerated.

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