Hi, I am new, so please excuse possible dumb questions.
I live in Georgia and am working hard to incorporate as much knowledge as possible that I have gleaned from years of lurking here and also watching videos on these topics.
I have a 12x8 very secure chicken house with attached, fully enclosed run 8x20. The house sits up off the about 2' and has a 7 foot ceiling. The floor is covered with sand and from inside the chickens access their nesting boxes and have their roosts. There is a nipple watering system with heat tape for winter to prevent freezing.
The run is covered with 1/2'' hardware cloth, including on top and the wire mesh is buried all around and also bent out along the outside 12 inches to prevent digging by predators.
Currently I have one rooster, 4 laying hens and one old "retired" hen. I plan to increase the chickens and add some ducks, 2-4 ducks (no drake). The ducks would have a separate small coop in the run (I'm thinking 8'sq), up off the ground a foot or two and accessed by a ramp, but during the day, after laying, they would have free access to the run. They would not get into the chicken house because there is no ramp up to it. The chickens just hop up and down between the house and run. I am aware that the ducks would need a separate watering system as they cannot use the nipples.
I would only be eating the chickens or ducks in order to cull old layers and replace with new pullets so I am really only using them only for eggs and fertilizer (poop).
Would putting a rabbit hutch in the run and allowing a rabbit or two to mingle with the ducks and chickens be ok? I am not planning to eat the rabbits, so I wouldn't need breeding space. My plan is give the rabbits a tunnel entrance to their hutch so that the chickens and ducks would not get in it. The purpose for the rabbits is as pets and for the fertilizer they produce. Would they be safe running around with the birds during the day? Would they prefer to have free access to the run at night also and just go in their hutch as they please, day or night? Should I get two males or two females?
