In my professional opinion, which is worth about as much as my subject, broody poo is more black and stinky because they hold it in for so long, most of the liquid is being absorbed by the body due to less hydration during this time, and hormonal changes. I could be very, very wrong...in fact, it's most likely that I am...but this is always what I imagine is causing it.
We always had ducks with chickens when I was growing up...never had a problem. But then, we free ranged quite a bit and our coop was not traditional.
Oh my OFG those pix are too cute, now I really want ducks
Thanks everyone for the great info.
I think having their own house is a great idea and gravel floors(thanks OFG) sounds good. And for me cheap as DH runs a cement co.I would do cement floors but read the thread on RATS and decided its not to good an idea.
So my chicken coop in already by my goats, so now I just need housing for the duck by where I plan to put the 2 new lamb Iam getting in the spring.
My chickens and ducks live together without any issues. Just be prepared to be CONSTANTLY cleaning out ANY source of water.
I've tried and tried to find a solution to this, because the ducks just have to make any water source muddy and it ticks the chickens off, because they prefer their water clean. I've tried giving the ducks a wading pool, and the chickens a 5 gallon waterer, nope, both containers were muddy the nest day. So wherever you keep ducks, just know you'll be cleaning out the water dishes daily.
Just be careful and watch the ratio of birds. I once tried to introduce 3 teenage rouen ducks to a coop of 6 chickens, and the chickens attacked the ducklings mercilessly. So be aware that chickens can be very aggressive in the pecking order.
I know what a mess ducks can make in the water,my little quack can make the biggest mess, I have even tried two water dishes and she just messes up both.
So we have decided to build a space for the ducks, and not have them all together. I think this will make my chickens must happier.
Now come on spring I got work to do, well DH has work to do lol
Iam much better at planning and handing tools, then hammering lol