- Apr 22, 2014
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Here are my precious Pekin babies, Quacker and Beaker. They are my first ducks, and just my darlings. They're in their teenage stage right now, and have just shot up like a weed since I took these pictures. I've been looking up diapers for them, because I've kind of spoiled them and let them have run of the house (thankfully we have hard wood floors so clean up is somewhat easy), but they are running me absolutely ragged cleaning up after them. It's a full time job, and then some. Do the diapers really work well? Do they have to be cleaned EVERY time they potty? Because my little boogers are set on a 3 minute schedule it feels and that still wouldn't give me much relief. Which ones are best? I never thought I would be so attached to ducks, and the thought of them going outside kind of breaks my heart now.How do y'all keep it together???
TBH, I am just a house duck stalker, lol. my only house ducks are injured ducks and ducklings being brooded. But I have a Pekin as well as 14 other ducks and I am sure by the time they are grown, 2 Pekins will be quite the challenge. I think generally most of the house duck owners keep diapers on around 3hrs before changing. The diapers themselves are pretty much special harnesses, and they hold some type of absorbent material, I have heard of feminine pads, toilet paper, pieces of disposable baby diaper or paper towels being used for the material. Depending on the mess, the diaper itself may or may not have to be changed each time. Of course if they have a pen area, they can be diaper free in that area which can give you a break. @kukupecpec sells diapers for ducks at http://www.sewsammi.com. I have heard them highly recommended although I don't use them myself.
Ducks seem to have an obsession with hurting themselves, no common sense at all, so you will want to beyond baby-proof your home. Nylons are a favorite thing for ducks to try to swallow, so I personally would have them near, or in the safe pen area. There are three things ducks seem to love: sleeping, swimming and foraging - the latter two are easier outside (although a full grown duck can paddle around in a bath tub, a happy swimming duck will get your whole bathroom wet
I mention this because Pekins are pretty big and make a lot of mess (yours are probably 4-6 lbs now, you can expect them to get to 8-12 lbs by 1 year old - my Allie , in the avatar, is right around 10) The mess is proportionate to the weight (you remember the cute little poops your babies used to make). You may be happy to take care of this for years, or you may not, but it isn't a binary decision. Ducks can spend anywhere from all their lives to none of their lives indoors with lots of options in between. As your ducks and experience grow, you will see what makes them happy and what you are willing to do to accommodate them. Just remember that outdoors, everything wants to eat them, so they need a good secure area if they are unsupervised. Outdoors, Pekins are thrilled with life from about 0F to 80F. Although they should always have some shelter from wind and some shade available, below 0F they need a place they can get out of the snow and wind (with 2 pekins an XL dog house with some straw/pine shavings on the floor should be fine.) My ducks have a heat lamp that turns on below 0F, but they only really use it below -15F or so and I don't think my Pekin ever uses it. Above 80 degrees, swimming water and shade helps a lot. It doesn't get over 100F here, so I don't know what they need beyond that. Mine have a monster pool that is shaded and we keep below 60F in the summer and our ducks camp out there a lot on hot days so since the water doesn't get that hot, I would expect that even in hotter weather they would be fine there.
How do y'all keep it together??? 
My German Shepherd helps keep an eye out for my chickens when they are free ranging, and she's already taken up with my ducks. 
