They can stay together. However, he will likely try to or just flat-out (i.e. not try) mate with your hens. No duck/chicken hybrids will come of it, but they can be a bit rough on the hens.

my hens were ok with my ducks,till I got red hens! They are nasty!! so now I have to keep a "duck" area and a "hens" area seperate. My other cochins and maran hens were fine though. Better to keep the drake with the hens instead of being alone...you wouldn't consider another female or two for him??

I had a single white duck that lived with my flock (hens and roos) for a couple of years. No problems, and he never showed any interest in mating the hens--but that might have been because the hens had roos already to protect them from it.

When I was growing up we had a mixed barnyard of fowl, chickens and ducks of both sexes, and we never had any problems with them, either.

I'd say give it a shot, you can always work something else out later if they don't all get along.

Velvet ~:>

I'm glad to hear that it is possible, too. I have 5 rescued ducklings who are posing a bit of a challenge for me. It's not freezing here yet but quite chilly at night. I have them in a box in the garage with a heat lamp on them. I must say, they are the stinkiest, dirtiest creatures I have ever come across. I have a waterer appropriate for their size and it lasts all of 15 min! They drink then splash the rest of it all around to make a slopping, disgusting paste of poo, water and feed. I thought to move the cage into the coop for a while and eventually put them in with the hens when they were big enough but their general messiness has me rethinking that. Plus, I heard that drakes could potentially kill a hen with rough mating since they are anatomically different from roosters? Did I read that here or am I dreaming? Lori

So far so good. The hens are actually starting to stay together more and he's following them around and staying close. They won't let him as close as the ducks did, but at least he seems less out of sorts. I don't want any more ducks, for the exact reasons Lori states, they are too messy. I am glad he is adjusting, because I didn't want him to be alone either. They are pretty fiesty, he won't try to mate them too many times. My concern was more for his safety, the hens can be pretty aggressive with one another.

Lori--Ducklings this time of the year will be a real challenge. I Would get a wire bottom cage with a large plastic tray under it to catch the mess. Add 1 part water to 1.5 parts feed and give them this to eat in amounts that they will eat in 20 minutes. Repeat this every 2-3 hours during the day. After taking the food dish out give them water in a large crockery rabbit feeder (so they can't tip it over) put stones in the dish until there is only room to get their bills in to drink (post a NO SWIMMING sign). Place a cut down box (about 3-4" high) with some sort of bedding in it that is big enough for them all to get into in one corner (when dirty you can compost the whole thing). This way you can keep a handle on the mess and lessen the smell that will always accompany ducklings in confinement.

With 5 ducks there will be no problem with your hens. Ducks tend to stay with ducks. When you have only one drake and no other ducks is when they sometimes can become a problem with hens.

Lots of work-but full of great rewards.

I used to raise ducks right along with my chickens, and there were no problems. One was a pekin, 4 others were farmyard Rouens (large duck which looks like a wild Mallard duck). I ended up hatching both chicks & ducklings from some of my eggs with an incubator! It was such fun!

No behavior problems happened, and in the summertime, I gave the ducks a small kid pool to play in. They can make quite a mess, but if you enjoy the fun, it's worth the extra trouble you sometimes have to go thru! Also, I lived near a creek, and so the ducks could go down there in the daytime, if they wanted. Once they were grown large enough, the hawks seemed to leave them alone when they'd be out ranging in the yard.

They returned to roost in the hen house, right along with the chickens, every night. Yeah, I had a roo too, he was a beautiful Dominique Rooster - so maybe he kept the hens from being 'bothered' by the drakes. At any rate, all got along just fine with each other.

cat