Goats and Ducks Living Together!

[Bifrost]

This winter we have our three goats and four ducks living in the same barn. the ducks have a separate area they can go in and out of that keeps the goats from eating their grain. What we're finding is an issue is keeping the water clean for the goats to drink. The ducks keep mucking it up no matter how much we clean it.

Does anyone else keep ducks with their livestock and how do you water the livestock to keep the ducks out of it? Thanks!
Meg
Bifrost Farms

 

[Baymule]

I have 3 runner ducks with my chickens. They dirty up ALL the water, including the dog's water, when we let them out of the coop. The only way to keep them out of the goats water is to totally separate them.

 

[Southern by choice]

We have geese and ducks and it is a problem for us, but you can hang water buckets (2 gallon buckets) up. With 3 goats it should be pretty easy because you don't have a bajillion buckets, hang them high enough for the goats to get to but the ducks. Keeping a round big bucket/feeder pan for the ducks is great and the goats generally won't touch the nasty water.
We have 20 buckets and lots of dogs goats geese and ducks as well as chickens... I scrub them and change them 2-3x day. I wish I could hang all mine but can't.

 

[mysunwolf]

I like Southern's idea about hanging buckets of water. We had ducks for a few months before I got so tired of scrubbing duck sh*t from everyone's waterers that I butchered them all...

 

[Fullhousefarm]

We keep our 5 gallon buckets on a cinder block and our short trough on cinder blocks to keep the ducks out. We just make steep steps for baby goats. Ducks don't figure them out. We are going to get an automatic horse waterer soon and just put it up high (2 1/2 ft) with a step for baby goats.

Sometimes we also just put a baby gate across the goat pen door (they all share a pasture.) The goats all jump over to get in and out and the ducks don't!

We have a couple Pekings, Buffs, and Khaki Campbells.