I think someone is having a big laugh at your expense.

If the ducks are trying to do some interspecies rumba, I doubt that the ducks would 'kill' the chickens, ha ha! I have guineas and chickens, occasionally the birds try to do it with the chickens, and vice versa. I have seen my HUGE turken rooster treading 1) my small pearl leghorns as well as the male and female guineas, who are all smaller than him. If a big 13 or 15 lb turken can do it with a small chicken and not smoosh her, then I'm sure your ducks and chickens are okay. Just make sure to use a prophylactic! :D

PS: What would a duck/chicken cross be called... a duckin? Or a Chuck? :P

Don't worry 'bout it...seriously!

Not sure about the duck/chicken thing but I've seen my rouen drakes trying to get it on with my call drakes.I also found a broad breasted tom dead in the pond five years ago.He was out about two feet in the water but his head had been forced under.I just assumed he waded out to drink and the drake(s)jumped him.For the mating to occur though the hens would have to be standing in water.People make the joke about the rooster going after anything;ducks can be just as active.During the breeding season nothing seems to slow a determined drake down.Sherry

You should see my banty silkie rooster trying to chase the guinea hens, it's hilarious! He's got his wings back like a guinea, running as fast as his little legs will carry him. Of course the guineas get sick of it and fly up into the trees. He's so frustrated sometimes, poor guy!

{{gwi:35123}}

Back when I did have a couple of ducks here I had a rooster that went thru the motions of breeding them. I suppose it could go the other way too? They won't reproduce, but can go thru the motions. A good rooster should be able to keep the ducks off of the chickens if a problem did occur. That's probably why people don't see it happening to often?
Awww that poor silkie! Sounds like he needs a girlfriend...or a new hobby? lol
I do have a picture around here somewhere of a pig breeding my husbands kayak. Hubby wasn't too happy about it.
Carrie

I've certainly seen a khaki campbell drake treading welsumer hens, completely harmless though

I have had overSexed Roosters breed my ducks before, seen it with my own eyes. They just get a little species confused. Some times if you raise ducks and chicken together this can happen. Usually no harm is done, it just when people come over and they see this I just tell them He's a Little confused.

Carrie, that is so funny!! I heard about a moose getting it on with a swing set, ha ha!

A large drake can kill a small hen. If your drakes are after your hens, lock up the drake.

ML

Yeah, but how big would the drake have to be, like 50 lbs or something? My turken is a monster bird with HUGE sharp spurs and I'm surprised he hasn't killed my little leghorn hens, they're like max 4 lbs....

I have Muscovy ducks and yes a drake will break the eggs in a hen.They also have a male sex organ that a rooster doesn't have and they sure can kill chickens.I had to put one outside my pen because he almost killed all my hens.They bit them on their backs till they were raw & bleeding.

My ducks are trying to mate my chickens. They especially like to pick on a little black hen that we have. She just avoids the flock now. I raised my ducks along side the chickens. Big mistake. From what I've read, the ducks think they are roosters, or that the hens are female ducks. Sue's post is interesting, that's the first I've read of chickens eggs being broken by the ducks, but it makes sense. I doubt it's from penetration, but rather just the roughness, and sheer weight of the ducks. Duck and chicken physiology is different, and a the alignment of the organs is not such that it would be easy to actually copulate. However, if a drake figured it out, I can see how it would be deadly for the hen. What I have read, however is that since ducks usually mate on water, they can drag chickens to the water and drown them. My ducks are Roens, and could easily do this. But their water is a small elevated pool, so dragging them there would be almost impossible. All my birds are free-range, so I feel bad about sequestering them, but if that's what I have to do, so be it.

my uncle had a duck that killed hens mating them.we figured it was because he had an organ and roos dont

I'm going to have to take this one a step further. My male mallard has been mating all the girls(3 female ducks) like crazy. He's been attempting to mate my tiny(maybe 1-2 pound) bantam hen. Over the last few days I have noticed that she is brooding a protected nest. I am concerned that she will starve trying to hatch these eggs that may never hatch as maybe they're not fertile. If they are... how is this going to end up?? I just found where she's hiding, but don't know if I should disturb her nest. This is her second attempt at a nest, but this time she's staying there and only coming to eat and drink once a day. I want to support and help her, but I'm afraid there may be some tragedy here...
Please help,

Brandy

A male duck can be very aggressive in their mating habits. I personally have seen them mating chickens, and in doing so torn the skin open on the head and neck of the hen. The size difference is problematic. This usually occurs mid March to June in our area (South West Michigan). Muscovy's have been known to kill chickens in their attempt to mate-but again their size difference had a lot to do with it. The skin of a chicken is quite thin where a duck it quite thick skinned so when the male grabs the hen that is where the injury may occur.

If there are plenty of hen ducks that may be enough to discourage it. If not and you don't feel comfortable with this behaviour just provide separate quarters during the more active mating season of the ducks in question.

If you have a cock the eggs might be fertile, otherwise they will not be. She will realized they wont hatch sooner or later and quit the nest. you could just destroy the eggs, she may still try to set for a while? Drakes can be randy devils at times, Muscovies are the worst. He may try to mate as she is setting if he can get to her, that could cause her harm.

Remove her eggs (first candle them for embryos at about 10-12 days into the incubation) if clear (no embryos). If you find embryos let her finish; if not; block her from being able to get to her nest. A broody hen can be very persistent.

If they are clear and you would like her to continue get some fertile eggs-duck-turkey-chicken-try switching them for hers.

I would protect her from the advances of Mr. Duck due to the size difference.

Thank you! I'm looking up candeling now, and will definately protect her from that fiesty Mr. Mallard!

Here are my thoughts when reading this.

Warning my comments contribute no useless info to this thread.

what do you get when you cross a duck with a chicken? A Dicken?

second thought. Men close your ears.

okay here goes......

Males will do it with anything with a hole. LOL

I just had to say it.

msjay2u We don't care about your thoughts. They are in the Gutter!

LOL well maybe they are. I guess that's what I get for serving 12 years in the Navy...sometimes I respond like a sailor.

Msjay2u, we love you for who you are! Save it for my threads, if you want. From an 'OLD Army' guy!

Thanks Seramas

My Harlequin duck just killed my poor Rhode Island Hen!!! He has three female ducks, but he seems to go after everyone. She was looking disheveled this a.m. with one eye closed. I thought there was a hen fight. 1 hour later we found her under the duck lifeless.
Not sure all ducks are this aggressive mating?!?!

The lady at the feed store told me that the male duck's penis is corkscrew shaped and could rip the insides of the hen out, and kill her. When a rooster and hen mate they just touch butts, no insertion. With this info I have moved the duck, I am taking no chances.

I have a question regarding Ducks/roosters breeding??? I stay in a campground sometimes and I saw a duck bred with a rooster. The body is that of a duck but the head was red like a rooster. Feet are like a duck other the. It has 4 long claws at the ends, I took a picture of it , the Canadian geese are not fond on him and neither are the mallards??? Any suggestions what I should do?? It does not belong to campground, someone dumped it off...

I was mortified today to find my Pekin Drake mating with a large sussex hen. The Drake definitely was stuck to the hen and took a few seconds to remove his appendage. I have caught him before sitting on the smaller hens and thought he was trying to kill them. I have one female Pekin, but she doesn't always put out for him and normally gets out of the pond when he is trying his manly stuff.
Does he need more ducks in with him? I have also caught her holding the hen down and the drake pulling the hens feathers out frantically.

Last spring I bought two Campbell Khaki ducklings and put them in with my small flock of laying hens of several different breeds. They proved to be a pair and it was cute to watch their courtship and mating as they grew up. During the winter, an owl invaded the pen and killed the hen duck. At first the drake grieved so hard he would barely eat, but as this spring came on, his natural instincts reasserted themselves. He began to go after the hens, preferring the dark-colored ones that most resembled his mate. And he has been getting them, too! Exactly the same way he did his wife, except that they would not get into the small tub of water provided for him. I have photos to prove this. The only way they can escape him is by going into the coop where he will not follow. So far, no harm has been done that I can see, but I am wondering whether it's time to put this drake into the oven. For various reasons I don't wish to obtain more ducks.

Male ducks are known in the poultry world as wife beaters. The male drakes can and do often hound female ducks to death so imagine what they would do to small hens? I have ducks and would never let them run with my chickens due to how aggressive male ducks are. A lone male duck either needs a trio if females or rehomed, either to someone who has lots of female ducks or in the oven. You might be able to have female ducks running with hens and cockerels without any problems but not a lone male. I've seen many people not take advice and then complain that a drake has killed their female ducks and hens. If you want to keep a lone drake it needs to have its own pen to keep your other birds safe

My ducks and chickens are all in together and the male ducks don't touch the chickens. I think having the proper ration of male to female is key. I also have a Muscovy hen and a Pekin drake that are a mated pair that I adopted and he only has eyes for her. That said, I agree as well about only having one male duck with no females around. Birds in general mate often. I have seen roosters who prefer certain hens and I've had to remove the hen for a while because her back and neck are bald. I've have a pair of roosters right now that actual work together to trap hens to mate with them. Mating is pretty much all the male birds think about. Even when they spot food and call to the ladies, it's only because they are wanting something in return later. ;)

We have a single male duck that left the pond and insisted on getting into the chicken pen. There is one particular chicken that he continuously tries to mate with. We since have butchered all of the chickens but the one that is his favorite. And now this spring she sitting on a nest full of eggs. I will update you if any hatch. There are no roosters just the duck and her.

We had a couple male buff orpingtons. One would chase our male pomeranian and try to mate him. The pom would get mad and then chase the rooster nipping at him. It was hilarious. I suppose our pomeranian could look like a fat fluffy hen to a sexed up rooster lol. He was a light buff color.

Imagine my surprise when I looked in my incubator and found that my beautiful Aracauna chicken egg hatched a duck! This is true! We have a pair of mallard ducks that live with our chickens and it appears that chickens and ducks can cross breed. I would not have believed it if I would not have seen it myself. I am curious to see what the little one looks like in a couple of months.

On the backyardchickens forum there are photos of guineas crossed with chickens offspring. Very odd looking lol.

Also see this http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Guineas/BRKGuinHybrid.html