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Member Reviews: Pekin

Positive Reviews

ducklucky

Love them!

Posted
By ducklucky

Pros: Friendly, forage well, stay close to house, easy to tame

Cons: Eat a lot, poop a lot

Only had mine a year now, but love them like crazy.  They are way tame, but spent some time doing that.  They stick together, one male, 6 females, like a cloud, and move as one unit.  Lay eggs like crazy, all winter long, some two a day, big healthy eggs with huge yolks, great for baking and egg dishes, any baker or cook would give their right arm to have a daily supply of these eggs.  Easy, easy to keep, give them fresh bedding, water supply and feed once a day, they're perfectly happy.  Will nest in cardboard boxes on the outside porch and come home every evening unasked.  Guess it's all in how you raise them.  Can see if you don't pay attention,...
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Disco Hen

Great Ducks!

Posted
By Disco Hen

Pros: lots of eggs, sweet

Cons: kinda loud

These are some of my favorite ducks! They are great, they lay one or sometimes even two eggs a day! They are also very affectionate. The only con is they are kinda noisy.
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Negative Reviews

collisinana

Not for lazy people

Posted
By collisinana

Pros: Fast growers, don't need much heat

Cons: Messy, splash lots of water, eat lots of food, very loud

I have five pekins. They're adorable, But a pain. They splash their water everywhere and even the biggest waterer lasts them less than a day and automatic waterers have to be cleaned constantly. I had to build a bottomless movable coop for them because they were so messy and their poop so sloppy that I had to clean their pen every day. They arn't great foragers either so I spend a lot of money on feed. They eat triple of the amount my 16 chickens eat in a day. There only real pros are that they dont require much heat as long as they're not sick and they grow fast. If you do decide to use a heat lamp anyway make sure it's white instead of red. They like to break the red ones.
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Ducks and Banny hens

Pekins

Posted
By Ducks and Banny hens

Pros: Friendly; personable

Cons: Prone to random heart problems, fast growing, white, unintellegent, fatty

I hate this breed. I entirely understand why people like them as house ducks/pets, but as an actual operating breed, this one fails miserably. The meat is flavourless and very fatty, the birds grow so fast they die for no apparent reason, they are poor rangers, and I dare say from all this, that mankind can't degrade one of God's blessed creatures much farther than that. My opinion.
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More Reviews

McPhersonFarm

My Pekins

Posted
By McPhersonFarm

Pros: Friendly, Interactive

Cons: Messy!

These are great little ducks we got ours when we bought a Christmas tree, why people selling Christmas trees had ducks I don't know but here we are. They are easy to take care of and run after us when we're in the yard they're great.
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jpayne615

My Pekins

Posted
By jpayne615

Pros: Very fun to watch, easy to take care of, very easy-going

Cons: They can be messy

I love my ducks so much that I want more! Pekin ducks are really easy to raise and have really good personalities. My ducks are skittish about being picked up, but like to be close to me when I'm in the yard. The eggs are delicious and the yolk is so orange and vibrant it turned me off of grocery store eggs forever. The only drawback is that they will lay eggs anywhere, so sometimes I have to go on an egg hunt (not quite as fun when they aren't dyed in pastels). Also, the ducks aren't broody at all, so if you want to hatch some more ducks, you'll have to get an incubator or a broody hen. I highly recommend these ducks. Another plus is that after Easter, you'll probably be able to find...
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ppimf

loud but fun

Posted
By ppimf

Pros: big eggs, lay every day

Cons: eat alot of food , messy

they love the pools we have for them. they are very  messy but fun to watch
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The Howards

Messy but loveable

Posted
By The Howards

Pros: beautiful, great layer, easy to raise, poopy water great for garden/flower beds

Cons: poop A LOT

Our first experience with ducks came this summer when we got a Pekin and a Rouen from the local feed store. With help from BYC we got caught up on what was needed for them to grow healthy and happy. Our Pekin is now leader of the duck pack. She is still a bit timid but will defend her girls from the hens or anything else around. They do eat a lot more than ducks but she is also larger and weighs more. Since she has started laying about 2 months ago she has only missed maybe 1 day a week. We provide a kiddie pool to swim in and several large watering tubs for drinking. They get messy quickly because a duck has to have water to eat but only require changing about once a day. All the...
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growyourbrew

Seem to have weight problems

Posted
By growyourbrew

Pros: Quick growth, a lot of meat

Cons: Eat a lot, drakes seem to develop leg problems

I got them because I read they are good layers. Of course, I ended up with 2 drakes. They would make a good meat bird with quick growth and lots of meat. However, they seem to eat a lot and put on too much weight for their legs which got as bad as crippling one and making the other very immobile.
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flockman

Great all around duck

Posted
By flockman

Pros: Dual purpose, meat, eggs, comical

Cons: White which shows dirt, eat a lot

My pekins are great.  I ordered pekins from Metzer's and have not been disappointed.  They reached butchering size in 7 weeks!  I ordered straight run and ended up with 2 drakes and 6 ducks.  One drake became a meat bird, one duck died when neighbors took care of them for a week.  My five ducks lay very well.  I get 4-5 eggs a day and occasionally 3.  They are great for someone who wants ducks.
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Matilda hen

PERFECT PEKINS!?

Posted
By Matilda hen

Pros: These are happy , large , extremely friendly ducks , great pets , good meat birds i hear too!

Cons: They can overeat , and get obese , as the case with a few of mine so watch their diet or they will turn into white BLOBS!

They are large white , pretty ducks with bright orange legs and bill. They are often mistaked for the Aylesbury , aylesbury's have flesh coloured bill however , and are generally smaller. They are friendly , and cheerful , but will overeat if allowed , and can get seriously obese , very fast.
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Marty1876

The Majestic Pekin Duck

Posted
By Marty1876

Pros: Large attractibe ducks. Friendly, good layers of large white eggs. The pale skin is good if you need a meat duck. Mature for dressing at 2 monthes.

Cons: The take 6 monthes to lay. They are heavy feeders. Obese ducks are poor layers, diet management needed. Require vigilant protection.

Pekins are the best all purpose duck.  If you require eggs and meat, they will suit you.  They are good layers (200-250 eggs per year) of large white eggs.  Should you wish to have fine eating fare, the Pekin duck is ready to dress at 2 months.  These ducks mature in size rapidly, but are in no  hurry to lay their first eggs, often taking 6-7 months (or more for Giant Pekin ducks) for the first egg to arrive.   I enjoy a large egg, and my Pekins are happy to provide me the largest eggs of any of my ducks so far.  They are a larger bird, which accounts for egg size, and decrease in frequency of eggs.  Indian Runners and...
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JustDuckie23

What a hoot!

Posted
By JustDuckie23

Pros: friendly, cute and great forager

Cons: short life span

Pekins are the epitomy of what you think of when you think duck.  They are cute fuzzy yellow peeps when little and grow into a waddling, chattering, funny, beautifully white feathered ducks with bright orange bills/feet.  Because they are mostly bred for food, they get enormous in a short time which makes it difficult for them to get around and apparently from what i just read, they have a much shorter life span becuase of it :(  I have mine for the fun of it, but have recently discovered the wonderfully delicious duck egg!  Who knew?!  Pekins' eggs make even jumbo sized chicken eggs look miniscule. 
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