Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

I recently aquired some ducklings, not newly hatched but about the size of two fists. They are awfully cute but having cared for them for a few days now I would offer the following observations.

Ducks are messy! They eat messy, they drink messy, they poop several times as much as a chicken of equal size and they require frequent bathing as a result of all this. They'd do fine outdoors but they are not an inside bird unless you have an impressive setup. I wouldn't reccomend an artificial pond for them, I'd want an established pond with real dirt and tons of small organisims to handle all the waste and provide food. You could tractor ducks but you'd have to include a bathing tray to have any kind of cleanliness and health and the bath would require daily changing. My ducks also have no taste for dry feed and will eat only mush made from feed and water which makes it a little more tricky to come up with a low maintainence automated feeder.

I knew a lady who kept a pair of geeze, essentially ducks squared, on a 1 acre retention pond behind her condo. The area was large enough to handle the waste and the geese were quite friendly with her. They also alarmed at strangers which could be useful or annoying. I imagine ducks will be very similar, but mine might be a little too old to tame very well.

Chickens on the other hand are a breeze. With a wire bottomed cage set a few inches or more over a bed of litter to dry out droppings and absorb odors even a few fullsized chickens could be kept indoors. The duck has an "area of effect" beak that sends mush flying, whereas the chicken is a precision pecker of dry feed, resulting in much less mess. Chickens also mannage to get more water down their throat than on the floor no matter what kind of waterer you're using. I like to let my chickens out to play just about every day and they like the chance to run, jump and forage but my chicken tractor is set up in such a way that I only have to clean and restock food and water every other day, which takes me maybe fifteen minutes. My chickens live outside and except for increased feed consumption they've taken the recent 50 degree weather without incident. I don't think I'd leave them out there for anything in the 30's or low 40's.

I picked up a pair of bantams of unknown breed and sex for indoor pet chickens. One of the pair still has the egg tooth and you can hold both of them in the palm of one hand. They like to be held but otherwise are as low maintenence and hardy as Rhode Island Reds outside, I do keep them in the heated room of my house at a temperature of 80 degrees due to their low body mass and lack of a mother hen. If they turn out to be hens I look forward to enjoying some funny, friendly pets that offer a steady supply of small eggs.

Everybody should have a few chickens, at least some banty hens in a cage in the garage or wherever you have some extra space. They're easy to care for, they don't stink, they're not loud, they make fun pets, they can provide you with meat and eggs, a bag of feed costs $12 for 50lbs and will feed several for months or they can forage. Chickens have got to be the ultimate livestock.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

I like your observations and they make information for the uninitiated. While I would never keep livestock in the house (chickens or no) I think that you have a good set up for those that are willing. Adult chickens can endure sub freezing temps with sufficient shelter from the wind, rain, and snow. Build a good sized pen that is raised off the ground and keep them in there. Yes, they'll lay eggs on a regular basis if you get them a nest box. We found it is also good to put a marked egg (an old one) in the box to encourage them further.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

I never really thought I'd be keeping any chickens, bantams or not, inside either. My wife has this thing for parrots but we haven't got one because we're not yet at a place we would provide the adequate ammount of companionship for these fairly needy birds. We do visit the breeders and pet stores semi-regularly though and it was there that I realized that people do regularly keep birds that are bantam-sized or larger indoors in the form of parrots, macaws and cockatoos. Birds is birds and with a little adjustment it wasn't hard to come up with an indoor setup appropriate for chickens. It really isn't complicated at all but it should be mentioned that chickens, being ground birds, require floor space not tall cages.

I like all animals and things that grow but it was our very friendly year old Rhode Island Red rooster that made be think about keeping chickens deliberately as pets. My neighbors up a ways have a few roosters of the same breed that are feisty, I hear that is the norm. We adopted ours from a family that rescues all sorts of animals, I can only think that somebody must have loved this rooster a lot from the day he was hatched. Apparently they lived within city limits and the neighors, who preffered abnoxious artificial sounds like gangsta rap played with too much volume and bass at all hours of the night, filed complaints against a sweet bird that makes a moderate volume natural sound once a day. It's a shame where people's heads are at these days.

Living in Florida I don't have to worry about temps much lower than the 30's and those are fairly rare. I do have to worry about hurricanes though. I'm planning on knocking down my large tarpaper shed and replacing it with a concrete block barn with stout doors. Inside I'm going to provide minimum facilities for the livestock we have and are going to acquire so in event of a storm they can all be brought in to safety. A few years ago and twenty miles away we got three to four feet of flooding out where I was, the poor cows were barely keeping their heads above water. I have good drainage on my land thanks to a deep half acre pond and some nearby dry riverbeds but I'm thinking of either building the new battlebarn on an artificial hill or the pens will be elevated. For now we have a designated animal room that could serve in a pinch.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

Got both, and yes, ducks are MESSY.
Our banty's will lay all year so long as you keep a light in the henhouse during the short winter days. I stop doing this periodically during the fall and winter so that they can molt and such. The extended light will mess with their normal cycle and you can have problems hatching out dittles in the dead of winter. Though, you may not have that same problem in FL.
Personally, I prefer chickens to the ducks, but, carewise for me, there hasn't been a dimes worth of difference. The ducks are bigger, but have more natural forage around my place. The chickens are far and away more prolific, and we've given broods away on several occasions. We started with 7 (six hens, one rooster) 2 years ago, and now have around 45 with two more hens "setting". When they get a little size on them, we kill the roosters and older hens. Usually keep around 18 or 20 breeders at a time.
Our ducks have stayed around 12 to 20 depending on depredation and how many I decide to put in the freezer.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

Heat above 90 starts being dangerous to chickens. Over 98 you start losing some. Cold they can take very well. You know, think down sleeping bags.

They originated in the understory of forests with lots of shade.

I have lost hens to hot summers but watched them forage under snow. Even so cold their combs freeze does not kill them, though I doubt it feels better than any frostbite. If their house lets them snuggle up and is not drafty, they can take cold. But you need shade and at least a fan in very hot weather.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

hmm... I don't think that we ever lost any chickens, ducks, geese, etc. due to summer heat. That was in Oklahoma where the temp was regularly over 100 in the summer for weeks on end. The trick was to keep them watered and shaded. I'm not saying that you are wrong, I'm just saying that I don't remember it happening to our livestock.

The biggest killer for our animals were always wild animals like raccoons and coyotes.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

Ample water and shade works for ours here in Ms, where we get 90-100 degree days regularly from May through late Aug. Haven't noticed our winters, mild by northern standards, affecting them much either. Just the newly hatched, who need more warmth. We keep the light on them for egg production in the fall and winter, though I'm sure it does give off a modicum of heat at night.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

Shade works wonders. We had about half the shade we needed, thus the fan on the house. We just stuck a box fan outside a big hardware cloth window that we had a hinged plywood cover for in winter.

The shady part of our yard runs about 10 degrees cooler than the sunny part.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

Funny you should mention down sleeping bags... Yesterday when we were down in the high 50's the hens had themselves puffed up to about 150% normal size! More trapped air equals better insulation I guess. We hit the 90's in the summer down here but I've got some big, old oaks with broad branches for shade and I keep the chickens tractored under them.

I'm only keeping the ducklings inside till they get their feathers and some size on them, then my wife wants to put them out on the pond where they will live or die according to fate. I'll probably transition them slowly so they have some time to adapt to the weather and learn to recognize food but we have plenty of vegetation, tadpoles(leapord frogs, even in the cold, I was suprised), minnows, crawdads and whatever else. If the ducks are successful at freeranging we might snag some of the offspring from time to time for the table.

The next project will be wild turkeys. They're native and abundant in our area but I'll be ordering mine from Murray McMurray when the weather turns warm. I'd like to try emus as well but my fence won't be up till the summer.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

Hey Rev,

Do you really need to order your turkeys? Look around in your area and see if there are livestock swap meets. That's how dad always got his stuff. He has some wild turkeys in addition to all the other stuff that I mentioned. Yep, he's raised hogs and cows for the meat, usually about 1 a year. Matter of fact, he brought us some meat from his cow the last time they were here and it is in the crock pot even as I type this.

I think you can save some time and hassel just by buying from someone who already raises whatever animal you want, rather than ordering them. Dad has a small incubator, a small styrofoad job that's about 2 feet square, that he's hatched chickens, ducks, and geese over the years. The extra he always sold off to other people that wanted them. Not to mention it was a great learning experience for us as boys taking an egg and incubating it to a baby and raise it to a full grown animal.

At times we had so many animals laying eggs that ma would sell the extra at church or give them away to friends by the dozen.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

I actually haven't had any luck locating local turkeys, well, not the kind I want anyway. It's a funny thing because the bulletin boards at the feed stores are plastered with people selling or giving away just about every other type of animal. When I get around to trying out bunnies I think I'll just trap for my initial stock and raise swamp rabbits. Since so much of my state has been devestated by unwelcome invaders with no regard for the native culture or environment I try to encourage native plants and animals on my property. Similarly I like to encourage local business and keep the money in the community.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

It's all regional, I know. Too bad there aren't any turkey guys in your area. Maybe you can be that guy!

One other fowl that you might be interested in are guineas. They lay small eggs (smaller than chicken) with a very hard shell. They are supposed to be able to keep the ticks down by eating them. They are very self sufficient and fly very well. They'll hang around if you give them an evening dose of corn to bribe them. Otherwise, they fly around the house and chirp a particular tune before roosting in the evening.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

And they are very good watchdogs!

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

My friend who keeps ducks has a coyote and racoon protective house for them to sleep in, and supplements their diet with leftovers and some feed. Though they do forage a lot. A house also encourages easy to locate eggs.

There are a lot of designs for duck housing on the pond edge, though they just trained theirs (where the food is handed out was easy training) to troop up near the house at twilight and go in their little, mostly heavy wire, protection. They tarp it in cold weather so the birds' body heat is retained overnight.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

Just a quick update, my ducks are now taking dry feed so that makes caring for them a little easier.

Re: Chicken Versus Duck: Who Will Conquer?
 

I can't believe that The Duck hasn't commented on your new little ones.:cheerful: