Chicken and Duck raising question

[MTNRGR]

Got my chicks and ducklings today. Can I just raise them together, if so for how long until separating them.
18 Buff Orpingtons
5 Rhode Island Reds
2 Leghorns
and 5 Pekin Ducks



*********how many roosters can I keep, together, with the hens

[blind ear]

If you raise them with as much as a mudhole available that one duck can get in they will seperate themselves. ear

[JonnyReb]

  Not sure about the ducks but welcome to the coop! Your chickens are going to be a lot of fun, a little work and an amazing reward. In about 6-8 months your gonna need a LOT of egg cartons

 Best quote on your Sig. line i might have ever read btw.  jeff

 

[MTNRGR]

Thanks Jeff, I got that quote from Steven Renella's new book, Meat Eater. Awesome book man.

[Bugflipper]

They are fine together. Can go from incubator to the yard without them hurting each other. The ducks will get messy with the water and spill it all eventually, soaking the litter. They will also put whatever litter you have in the water as well. If you want to sepperate them that would be the only reason. I've had chicks die from no water because the ducks would splash it all out when I was at work. Just switched to a bigger waterer. But the brooder was outside so it didn't matter. As far as aggression no real trouble. I raised geese once with black toenails. The banties would peck their toenails and the geese would run away with a little bant chasing it. No blood or anything. Eventually the little geese learned to peck them back and it stopped after a day or two.

[MTNRGR]

Thanks for the info bugflipper

[Couger]

 
Not trying to play "the devil" here, but why the Pekins? 
unless you just like them - then enjoy and go for it!
 
But why not Guinea Fowl instead?  That are big and meaty, very hearty and independent (take care of themselves), and also act like watch dogs! (alledgedly this last one, as I don't have experience with Guineas)
 
I'm not where I can raise chickens or bunnies (dangit!!).
 
We bought some Pekins from a neighbor that had been butchered;  could NOT believe how tough the skin was, and the birds are nowhere near as meaty as chickens (expected; but I was still surprised how hard it was to prepare the Pekins for so little meat.  EXCELLENT flavor however.)  I was actually quite disappointed with our whole Pekin-experience.
 
The Orpingtons and Reds will give brown eggs and even great meat (two excellent choices for brown eggs    ).  The Leghorns will give white eggs but are considerably smaller as fryers or roasters.
 
How many of your brown-egg flock are roosters?  Gonna butcher and eat those?  Remember to butcher at 16-20 weeks, or as early as 10 weeks to make "rock cornish-looking little roaters!"

[Ranger99]

guinea fowl are very wary about
being approached and are a great
" alarm" if you're in an area where
your neighbors won't be bothered by
the racket. they are delicious to
eat and i think they are better than
chicken. my granny always told me that
guineas would kill snakes, although i
can't verify that. i can say that they will
clean up a yard of ticks and bugs and
they're not as bad as chickens around
a garden (mature plants) and they'll
clean up any cutworms or beetles.
low maintenance compared to any
other yardfowl.

[Oldshooter]

My grandma's would cook the ducks and older hens in gravy(covered in it) or in Gumbo. Simmered a while(90 to 120 minutes), the meat will be tender. We do the same for young roosters.

[MTNRGR]

I ordered all my fowl from tractor supply, guineas were a minimum of 25 so I went with the ducks because I could get 5, plus I thought pekins were good eating.....I bought 6 of the chicks a few weeks ago 3 buffs and 3 leghorns 1 died,  1 buff is a rooster and both leghorns are....the 20 new ones I ordered are all pullets so not sure what they are

[JonnyReb]

  I wanted a rooster to watchdog for the girls as they're open to attack from above and i thought the rooster was a good deterrent. My first rooster was killed by a blacksnake and so i went hunting one on craigslist. Went to a backyard bird raising operation with everything from ducks to quail and several critters in between. Lots of chickens but only a few roosters. Picked a $5.00 Dominique and brought him home. Hes almost as friendly as a dog and is smart, knows his name and likes to get petted. Is forever herding and corraling the hens to safe places and is ALWAYS watching for hawks and owls. He sounds alarms on them and vultures but knows the difference between threats and common birds, airplanes too he notices but just watches. Hes cool and does a good job, fulfills his purpose plus we also have our first year hengoing broody and on eggs. We're gonna hatch these and begin increasing the flock.

  Well worth keeping a rooster around in certain scenarios and it works good for us. Only one though and "Jay Wallace" will remain the Big bird out back for so long as he lives. Wish i had some Guineas, but not 25:)

[blind ear]

If you get any gunies they will nest in the weeds. You have to watch them to see where they hide their nest and gather the eggs with a long spoon and not touch the grass that the nest is in or they will move. ear

[GeneRector]

   Howdy! We raised ducks for a few years. We would get about 20 from a hatchery through the mail. My Dad built a rather nice cage for them that we thought was snake proof. Thus, we lost a few to snakes. We live in the country and put the ducks down on our tank when they were about 60 days old. Some lived a long time; however, most were gone in a couple of years. I would probably try some guineas if we ever decided to raise some more fowl. It's fun in a way!  Always, Gene
 
 

[MTNRGR]

Yeah I'm kind of worried about the black rat snakes here, I've got a ton of em

[Couger]

 
Do you reload for a revolver?
 
Can see a need for snake loads, for more than rattlers or cottonmouths. 

[Bugflipper]

With the pekins they are good eating but you have to control their diet, they are worse than a hog when it comes to eating things. I had some eating pin oak acorns one year only to find them in their craw while butchering. Those were some nasty tasting ducks.
 I've gotten to where I will pen them up in cages off the ground and feed them a bunch of greens and  corn meal with their regular food for about a month.
I roast them breast up with slices through the skin about 3" long on the top of the breast. The fat will render out and make the breast crispy as it runs down. I've never had a tough one, but cycle them out every year. I imagine they would probably get tough when older just like a chicken does.
I just couldn't handle those guineas fellars. They have some a little over a 1/2 mile down the road. When I'm outside I can hear them fussing all the time about something. Those are a loud bird for just making a chattering sound. I think it may be because of it being a chant that they are all doing is what makes it annoying. And that it's constant and persistent. Silkies are pretty quiet and will give that dark meat taste similar to a guinea. But I don't think anything will keep ticks and things away as good as guineas do.

[Hodr]

Happy snakes,
Try buying some golfballs, wash well, take eggs out of nest and put in a golf ball.  A snake can easily swallow a golf ball, since it can  not digest a golf ball, net result one dead egg thief.
 
Hodr

[JonnyReb]

  Snakes have proven to be killers of my little flock as well as egg thiefs. I have not had a full sized bird taken by a snake but did have a 4 month old killed by a big black snake. I average about 1 blacksnake a month during the warm months. The are my number one problem followed by possums. Best of luck with them and check your birds several times every evening after darkness falls, 90% of all the predators i've found at the coop were from darkfall to midnight. For whatever reason i get less visits during all other hours. I monitor the coop with a set of Driveway "doorbells", infrared heat sensing\motion alarms sold by Harbor Freight.(15.00) The sensor for this unit goes at the edge of your coop and the reciever goes in the house. Mine picks up even so much as a mouse running by it and tells me somethings prowling the side of the coop. Works perfectly and well worth the inexpensive cost.  j

[tobster]

I like to start baby chicks out under a couple of heat lamps and use sand instead of sawdust or straw for litter. The sand stays warm and dry with the heat from the lights and isn't flammable. I keep them separate from ducklings because the little ducks are so messy and splash water all over everything.

[Oldshooter]

Never thought of sand, I love to learn.

[JonnyReb]

 Sand is a GREAT IDEA, Thanks!  j

[Bugflipper]

A big snake population usually points to a big rat population. I had both once, killed all the rats with poison then the snakes went after my eggs/chicks. I got two appliance boxes and laid them out flat next to the chickens at the edge of the woods. Early the next morning went out with a shotgun filled with birdshot. Didn't have enough shells for snakes when I lifted up the first one. Went back and got a second shotgun and a box of shells. Went through the 10 shells in the 2 shotguns and reloaded 2 shells in the empt one. I waited a week and checked the cardboard again and had another slew of them. Can't remember how many snakes but most likely 15-20 were killed before I got rid of the problem.

[Oldshooter]

A big snake population usually points to a big rat population.

myself. I had the same problem, not as many snakes but a few after the rats ate the poison the egg robbers got worse. killed several. Now I dont like house cats but they will kill snakes if they see em.

[Rock Home Isle]

Got my chicks and ducklings today. Can I just raise them together, if so for how long until separating them.
18 Buff Orpingtons
5 Rhode Island Reds
2 Leghorns
and 5 Pekin Ducks



*********how many roosters can I keep, together, with the hens

I'm guessing that you want hatching eggs and that is why you are including Roos with the flock?
 
Roosters that are raised together should get along...they will establish a pecking order; and there will be fights...some of them might be a bit bloodied. I'd keep an eye on them and make sure that you have places for a tattered Roo to hide if one of them begins to get to much attention from their fellow flock mates. For the numbers that you are quoting...2 Roos would be fine for the flock (so have 3, its always nice to have a backup).
 
Ducks and chickens don't really do well together. And with that said, I've raised them together many times....mostly the problems arise because the ducks love water so much. The ducks tend to spoil the waterers, they can be messy feeders, and they enjoy mucking things up. If the run is large enough, these problems are lessoned...but with Pekins, the problem will go away once you slaughter  and process them. The comic relief of  a small group of ducks, more than offsets their draw backs with chickens.
 
I had to build a drop basin inside the coop to keep the ducks from turning the waterer in the coop into a beach party every night.

[blind ear]

Capon Roosters'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJb1tSQIn3s
-
How to castrate a rooster:
Heard pop talk about it and it didn't sound this complicated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99WyIxKYIkU
-
ear

[FPH]

Capon Roosters'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJb1tSQIn3s
-
How to castrate a rooster:
Heard pop talk about it and it didn't sound this complicated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99WyIxKYIkU
-
ear

We castrated a few Roosters my senior year in FFA.....fairly simple.

[Oldshooter]

I guess you can castrate a rooster. Dont see the need. feed em, let em grow a few months and uhh. "Harvest" them, while they are still young and tender. Thats what we do.

[AtlLaw]

Every few years I'll roast a capon just to try to convince myself it's better then a roaster or fryer...

[Couger]

..... Those are a loud bird for just making a chattering sound. I think it may be because of it being a chant that they are all doing is what makes it annoying. And that it's constant and persistent. Silkies are pretty quiet and will give that dark meat taste similar to a guinea. But I don't think anything will keep ticks and things away as good as guineas do.

Good things to know. 

[Oldshooter]

Every few years I'll roast a capon just to try to convince myself it's better then a roaster or fryer...

AND ?     I'll be your st8 man!