Pekin Duck Club!

[Strawberryswyrl]

The Pekings are here!

Some one gave me 3 week old Peking ducks.


We have chickens and I really wanted some geese and ducks. I have no idea what gender theyare as the people hatched them from eggs. Can anyone help me. what do I do from now during the brooder time? Any good link on how to care for Pekings? They are so cute!

Simple! At their age right now, the females will be quacking and the males will still be peeping!!! I have never done vent sexing but I hear it can be quite tricky. They are too old to vent sex, from what I understand. It is for day-old to few-day-old chicks/ducklings. You probably cannot get a result from vent sexing at this point and it can be dangerous for them now. So "quack" sex them! Do you have any quackers yet? The females should quack at about 3 weeks and it starts off as a grunting sound. The males cannot make this sound yet and won't quack until about two months of age and will have a hollow, whispery peep for quite some time until then.

Good luck with your new duckies!!

 

[Younger]

If the two you have are females another female or a male will be fine. If you have a male and female then only another female will be acceptable without issue.

I would like to add a female so that should work. Thought I would add two that have been together. Should I keep them separate for awhile or just add them in? We don't have two coops so not sure how I would separate them

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would like to add a female so that should work. Thought I would add two that have been together. Should I keep them separate for awhile or just add them in? We don't have two coops so not sure how I would separate them

Since the 2 you have are the "resident 2" they may not take to kindly to having 2 outsiders tossed in with them, might be a good idea to take them out and put the new ones in the resident ducks enclosure for a couple days that way you kinda changed things around a bit and it may make the 2 resident more accepting of the 2 new ones. I Know it can be a bummer finding a place to put 2 large ducks but a Xlarge dog crate would work for a couple days. And if they can be let out on common ground that would be even better. Don't leave them in the dog crate outside over night but somewhere where they would have security. or split you pen in have and keep the 4 separate that way for a couple days to a week,. depending on how well it goes,

 

[Rkirk]

If you are adding females you dont need to seperate them. They will establish their order and be done with it in a day or two. Inless u have a highly agressive female which is not a factor too often. Put them in with the othets they will be just fine.

 

[Rkirk]

I would however put a seperate feed spot for about a week till they get used to eating together.

 

[Younger]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I think I will wait for spring and separate the coop. Then I don't have to worry about the cold. I can let them see each other for awhile. I'm chicken they will fight and someone will get hurt. Lol

 

[Rkirk]

You have nothing to worry about. Not when adding females. Another drake Yes! Even in the largest flocks. Females are pretty good. I have thirteen females and two males. I added 4 new females today. Other then a little peck at a food area that says " ur new go to the other one or wait ur turn" not a single problem. And my drakes waste no time getting familiar with their new women. About a month ago I added 6 other ducks for a time. Three mating pairs of welsch. Even then the three males and my male Pekin who runs the place were pretty good. You only have a problem when you add males without a good ratio of females. Basically 2 females to each male is the lowest you can go. I decided against keeping the welsch just because of specific enclosure requirements. But not due to fighting.

At present I have a total of 17 ducks, 5 geese and a breeding pair or Royal Palm turkeys who all share a pond and a 10000 sq ft fenced area. The gander and his women eat FIRST. Other then that not a problem at all.

 

[Rkirk]

However... and I cant stress thia enough. When directly adding new birds to your flock BE SURE the birds you get are healthy. I get my birds from a rock solid trusted source that I KNOW doesn't have sick birds. If you aren't 100% sure then seperate until you are confident they are healthy and don't put them anywhere near ur birds.

 

[Amiga]

Even adding girls to girls, I let them be separate at first. For what that's worth. But it only took a few days to sort itself out.

With a drake involved, that became a long story. But we seem happy now.

 

[NicoleRook]

Hey all, I tried hatching one of these adorable babies over a year ago and had a terrible incubator malfunction. I am ready to try again, does anyone have maybe two or three eggs I could buy to hatch, this is a project involving my teen son and my younger daughter. Thanks for considering.