Chicken Help

hi, unfortunately one of our blue bell hens has passed of old age (4) and now the other is all alone. We are thinking about getting another bird (duck/chicken) but I have a few questions. Has anyone kept a duck and a chicken together before? My garden is large and it will have a pool if we decide on a duck.
Thanks,
Alice

 

Aw, sorry about your hen
I personally have no experience whatsoever with livestock or fowl. I cannot keep them where I live, it's illegal by neighborhood law.

I wouldn't know if you could, but if the duck has it's own space, it should be just fine.
Because chickens don't swim, the duck would certainly have space to it's own.

 

Sorry for your loss. Having kept both chickens and ducks before (I lived in a rural town when I was young), I could say that chickens are social creatures and are more assured of their surroundings if with other chickens. I have kept & bred Philippine Native, Japanese bantams, Sasso & gamefowl before. As for ducks, they can be messy; both muscovy & runners. And they would tend to their kind and not much be a company to your hen.

 

We have chickens but no ducks!! They are easily kept together though.. I know of a lot of places that do!!! Just if you don't mind the mess and smell of a duck... They are a lot stronger than a chicken!!! And I am sorry about your hen!!!

 

My dad just got his chickens the other day lol

Sorry about the problems you are having.

 

At one point, my poultry yard contained dycks, geese, chickens, turkeys, and guinea fowl. Having downsized, duck stay with ducks and chickens with chickens.

Having said that, a solo chicken needs a flock. If it isn't you, (which can work, some people do have house chickens), then you need to start a new flock. Get a few, because at some point the old girl with go the way of her buddy, and you'll be back in the same predicament .