4 week old Pekins

itsaduckslife

Hatching
Sep 18, 2019
6
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I have a pair of 4 week old Pekins, their feathers are coming in beautifully and they are growing like wild fire, these are my first ducks so Im cautious about everything right now. They are currently staying in the house (yikes) but quickly outgrowing their temporary home. I just ordered them a run and a dog house for shelter but when should I put them outside? The run is covered, Should be safe, I live residential so not a lot of predators around. The ducks mainly wander around the house with the dogs when Im home (an english mastiff and a pom-chi) or climb around on the kids. The temperatures are still only hitting high 60s at night but I worry about putting them outside too soon. Recommendations? Also any recommendations on favorite feeders/waterers would be appreciated.
 
Is your run covered in hardware cloth? Even residential there are predators and many can get through fencing especially mink an weasel. Raccoons will reach in and try and pull a duck through fencing. As far as outside if they have a secure house fluffy bedding they should be fine. I wouldn’t put food an water inside they will have their bedding soggy I no time. Also wouldn’t leave food out over night that will draw predators and rodents. Rubber bowls make great feeders and any bucket will work for drinking. When Will the run an house be delivered?
 
This is the run, we don't have mink and weasel here. We do have raccoons, and the occasional fox. I dont think either can get through the bars. I wasnt planning on keeping food and water in the house, just in the run. They will be here next week.
 

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There are only two of them, When Im at home they will be out with me, but otherwise this is what they will have.
 
I have a goat mineral feeder I put my ducks food in, it hangs off their run. I use a big mixing bowl as their waterer because the 5 gallon one I bought at TSC never lasts long... Ducks waste a lot of water. I have gravel underneath their feeder and waterers because they make a mess on the ground.

My ducklings have been outside since week 1 that's how old they were when I bought them at the store. They're loving it outside in the grass, I couldn't imagine a duck in the house. I feel like they're pigs with bills :gig

I have to say that my parents live in a residential area and they have way more predators where they live then where I do out in the woods in the country... predators that live in residential areas will attack more often because they are being run out of their homes due to builders and have a harder time finding food.
 
Raccoons have hands very similar to ours as far as using them they can open latches and they can def stick their arms in a grab a duck. Believe me we’ve seen members post of finding their ducks headless where they have been pulled through fencing and I don’t know about others but my ducks will lay right next to the fencing during the day to sleep and would at night I would guess if left out. Plus you need to be concerned about something digging under too.
 
Starting to sound like maybe I should keep them in the house LOL
I disagree that you should keep them in the house, ducks are not meant to live in a house.

You just need to make sure that you have the proper predator proofing for your ducks unless you want to chance losing one to a predator.

Mine live in a 30-ft x 40-ft chain link dog kennel with a predator proof coop that I locked them up in at night. Something could take them during the day, but that's a risk I take owning ducks. Many people have several ducks so that if they do encounter a loss, it does not ruin their ratio of ducks.
 

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