Pekin

We primarily have Muscovies. We also have a pair of Pekins; the Pekin hen did lay one egg a day all winter when the Muscovies were off, but she is not at all broody. The Pekin drake is a noisy and aggressive thug who bullies the younger Muscovy drakes. He doesn't take on the senior Muscovy drake, who is my favorite bird; if he ever does, I will have that Pekin for dinner..

The pekin is a great looking duck and everyone loves watching them in the pool. Aside from that, there is nothing about these ducks that makes them worth keeping. The females are so loud my neighbors 6 houses down can hear them. When nervous (which is constantly), the females make an annoying warning quack sound and won't stop until they're satisfied that whatever it was (usually me) is far enough away. The males mate aggressively with the females, and this is loud too. The pool must be emptied and rinsed daily, or it will immediately grow algae as they turn it black within a few minutes of getting in. My small flock of 5 ate so much that I went through a bag of feed every 6 days. They also stank up the coop so badly with their mucky poop that I needed to change the straw nearly every day.

Never getting these ducks again.

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.

I have had three Pekins for about three months now and am not so much impressed. I WANT to be, but I am not. While they are absolutely gorgeous especially laying together under the grape vine trellis, they hate going into the pond (so they have no protection at all from predators, even what could be had on a pond). In fact, they will just stay thirsty in the hot sun instead of going to the water unless I have herded my other ducks (some half grown ducklings that I am getting used to the pond) down first. Then they will gulp water at the edge like they have not drunk in years.

Speaking of the ducklings, the Pekins prowl the edge of the pond when the ducklings swim and try to dominate them and break them up when they get on land. The two drakes will not mate with the female, who keeps trying to mate with anyone who wants to sit on the grass (really creepy to be stared down by the female, then have her run up your leg or arm), so I am not sure why the drakes (and the duck) keep trying to harass the ducklings. In order to let the ducklings swim in peace, one of us has to be the bouncer, keeping the Pekins from going to where the ducklings are.

Back to the going thirsty bit, I herd them from an outside run in the morning, which is perfectly fine. I don't mind that a bit. However, they will only spend a little bit at the pond (their feeder is there) before they want to go back into the run. This is what I mean by "barn sour"--like a horse who just keeps wanting to go back to the barn. So they hang out outside the run and get thirsty. If it rains, they will drink out of mud puddles when a very gentle slope to a spring fed, nothing creepy or predatory, pond is literally just a few feet away. One time they did go into the water and a bream touched one's foot and they lit out of there and avoid it (except to harass the ducklings).

Additionally, they do not seem great at foraging. The ducklings work the bank of the pond like miners digging for gold. The Pekins lounge in the grass, eat the food put out for them (or field strip my clematis and blueberries) and do not seem interested at all in eating bugs.

Now, to be honest, I wonder if it is because I got them at TSC during their chick days instead of through a breeder--bad genes, mass produced. I would be willing to perhaps try the breed again from a breeder. These, I believe, will be going away soon before they teach the ducklings bad habits.

I do have to say that they are beautiful and I mean GORGEOUS--big white pillows with sweet faces and dark eyes. They do seem relatively expedient in terms of feed--they do not eat a ton. I WANT to love them. Just can't see a use for them.

I have not tried the meat yet, and there are no eggs (too soon for them to breed, I guess). I am instead going to focus on a few other breeds I have.

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.

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.

I bought a couple ducks a few weeks before easter and they were so cute. They followed us everywhere. I could tell them apart and still can. One has a mohawk and a bright orange beak. The other has a beige beak and no mohawk. I just loved them and snuggled with them and got them a pool that they love so much. But now they will not have anything to do with us at all. They quack for food but as soon as you walk over to feed them they run away. They would break their own neck to try to get away. They are cute to watch but that is about as good as they get. I have owned them before and the same results. I like them but will not ever buy anymore, cause they grow to fast and then they have nothing to do with you. It isn't like we eat duck eggs. And we don't kill and eat our pets. Very cute, but purposeless in our case.

Hatched 5 and handled them a lot, so I was disappointed that they're not that friendly with me. They'll rush at me for food, then turn and run off. Lost 2 to raccoons, so be aware that even large, aggressive drakes are vulnerable. I have a large pond and 10+ Canada Geese come every day. My male Pekin puts his head down and rushes at them and they scatter like bowling pins. He chases my pet geese around and attempts to breed with them. He's the terror of the barnyard, so if you want sweet ducks, aim for females only. Rescued a couple females recently and they integrated nicely. Don't want more, but happy with these. Eggs good, too, but they plop down and lay them anywhere.

: /

As an owner of five Pekin ducks whom are over a year old and hand raised I feel like I've had time to observe these beautiful animals. They stay in the preferred area in and around their run and under the shelter of trees always. They move together as a group so as long as I see one I know the others aren't far behind. My three females were excellent egg layers-double yolks on a weekly bases. Unfortunately even after being raised by our family since they were days old they still aren't comfortable around us. They are treated humanely and pampered properly never chased or mistreated but they still refuse to accept that they live with us. They only run to us if they know we have food for them. They don't mind sharing space with the chickens but they hate our ducklings. They are around four months old and we still have to separate them in the coop. The ducklings do nothing to taunt them but the Pekin's are relentless. They pick out their feathers and chase them out of the pond. Despite the draw backs we love our Pekins. They are a wonderful addition to our small farm and I will never regret owning them.

The hen is quite the quacker. The drake is pretty persistent in mating the muscovies, chasing them around the yard, pinning them to the ground, finishing his deed in 2 seconds and flop right off. I thought ducks mated on water. Apparently, he's got this figured out on land.

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, they might not be the breed for you, but as pets, a little time goes a long way. Of course they are fatty, that's the duck you buy in the grocery store, i.e., Long Island, but those are Jumbo Pekins. The smaller breed is best to keep around for eggs and to round out your smaller farm. They don't demand a pond, are perfectly happy with a little pool, and do forage well. Just my experience, guess I got a good batch. Can't complain about them being messy, they are, but they're ducks for goodness sake. What do you want? Can't potty train a duck, chicken or any other fowl, they'll poop when and where they want to. And duck poop is great fertilizer, use their soiled bedding right in your garden between rows, not like chicken poop, it is ready to be used right away. Watch your garden explode! Tamed enough to eat from hand, and will come when called. It's all in how they're raised, like any other.

Ducks are super fun, I enjoy them very much. Every yard need two ducks to alert the neighborhood if anything out of the ordinary happens in the middle of the night.

They make great pets, keep in mind though they will be heavier than a lot of other ducks. Are not good foragers. I find giving them some extra vitamins help. I had some leg problems with them as ducklings, as they grow so big and so fast, so I made sure they got extra niacin in the form of brewer's yeast or crushed niacin from the drugstore (not the nonflushing kind). They all eat out of my hand!

we raised our 2 female pekins from a few days old as pets
They are now over 6 months old and we still love them as much as we ever did

although they startle easy (very nervous birds), they are very comfortable around people (even when we introduce them to new people) as long as you don't try to pick them up or the chase will be on! But we did train them into being settled once they are picked up. I still don't think they are overly fond of being picked up, but they seem to accept defeat, and begrudgingly put up with being cuddled lol
They will follow us around the yard gossiping away to each other like a couple of old ladies. We've even trained them to go back into their house with a particular motion of our hands.
One of our ducks in particular is quite vocal if we don't visit them at least once a day and let them out of their house for a run around the yard and splash in the pool. Otherwise they seem to be happy to entertain themselves. Fortunately for us (and our neighbours) they are dead silent once the sun goes down.

They are EXTREMELY messy birds though and eat a lot. We can't believe how 2 relatively small animals can make such a mess in less than 24hrs!
But having said that, they aren't fussy eaters. They will eat almost anything. Just as happy to eat the grass in the backyard as they are to eat their proper feed. They also eat bugs, ants, mice, millipedes.....

Great family pets, but you need to spend a bit of time with them if you only have a couple of them. They like attention

It is good for meat if you want that, Also good for selling.

I have have been raising ducks for years now. Pekins are really friendly ducks. They stay pretty close to home, they are good layers and if you are looking for white craft feathers, look no further! They are also good meat ducks and can get pretty heavy. They don't fly, so they are easy to catch and little kids love them! Unfortantly you need to have a good ratio of ducks to drakes, otherwise (because of their size) they will pick on the smaller males as well. They are also slightly messy, and if you plan on having a little pool for them, it will need to be changed a lot!

I love my pekin ducklings! They are so sweet and gentle. They make great pets. They love water but do fine without it. They are a great breed for beginners.