[Suehouchen]

  really could do with some start up advice have built a chicken coop plan to have up to 4 hens and a duck or two any ideas on which breed of hens and ducks should be the most compatible??
Who or where is the best place to purchase them from?
Much appreciated

[Caroline1]

I don't think it matters I have hybrid large chickens and white Campbell ducks. The ducks are pretty laid back and ignore the chickens most if the time so would be fine with bantoms as well I would think.

As long as they have enough space they will be fine. Mine share a run but have different beds/rooms in the coop as they have diff sleeping arrangements.

[Suehouchen]

Thank you for such a speedy reply. Any further advice on when and where is the best time and place to buy hens and ducks?
Thank you

[Kimbo]

Hi there. I cant help with ducks but Im also a new chicken-keeper and one word of advice I wish I had had? BUILD A BIGGER COOP !!!
Once you get started you will want more than 4 hens. I started at Xmas with a nice little flock of 6 hybrids, just for eggs for the house. Now?
Oh dear, Im ashamed to say that I now have the 6 original girls, 2 Cream Legbar pullets ( just starting to lay), 2 Buff Sussex pullets, 5 Cream Legbar chicks I hatched ( 3 weeks old) 6 Blue and Gold Laced Wyandottes I hatched ( 3 weeks) and.....  12 more fertile eggs in the incubator. My husband cant keep up with my need for chicken housing. Ive fallen in love with Buff Sussex so now Im planning to breed my own.......are you getting the picture?!

Hens have a way of getting under your skin. They are funny, pretty, inquisitive, fascinating little creatures....you wont regret it. Good luck. Im sure you will love them.
Oh yes, I bought all mine from a breeder except the Buffs who I fell in love with at a pure breed auction and resolved I wouldn't leave that auction without them! 

[Womble]

Hi Sue,

Honestly?  I'd buy four hens to begin with (doesn't really matter what - just whatever sensible breed you can get locally that takes your fancy), and leave the ducks for a few months. Hens are far easier to keep than ducks, and ideally you'll want a separate house for the ducks eventually. As Caroline says, they're really messy and require different sleeping arrangements.

HTH!

[Marches Farmer]

We love ducklings - just for the Summer. In Winter the mess they make with water freezes and if you have any drakes they're a real pain come the breeding season.  When we started keeping chickens, about 20 years ago, we were advised to start with Warrens (now rebranded as ISA Browns, Lohmanns, etc.) as they laid their socks off for 18 months then died from exhaustion, so if you found you didn't like keeping chickens you weren't stuck with them for years.  It was sound advice, although in our case we now breed rare heavy soft-feathered fowl and turkeys and are running 16 coops and three incubators!

[twizzel]

I've had Maran, light sussex and hybrid hens with Aylesbury and white Campbell ducks before and they all get along fine. They are separated now as the ducks are in my garden due to fox attacks (I can keep an eye on them if they are right outside the window!). Ducks are messy and I couldn't imagine not free ranging them, they are disgusting when penned up in a run past about 8 weeks old!

[Ghdp]

We are going to have hens but thought of starting with four. (In an existing set up that will accommodate around 12. ) We had a hybrid set of three a few years back and 21 eggs a week at peak was actually a lot to eat and use. 28 would be a challenge. Also we thought to add 4 more in a years time so we can add younger hens rather than hsve a larger group of aged hens.
We know ourselves and realise we will probably happily look after the oldest hens well past their best and have fewer eggs?