Basic Questions - Pekin Ducks

[Scott Barr]

Well my bride brought home two Pekin Ducks about 4 months ago and now they are getting a new waterfall and pond in the yard .. free ducks can get expensive (LOL). I have a few questions:

• The pond will have two waterfalls and a bottom filter and skimmer (crazy right?!) but what chemicals can be used to aid in keeping the water clean without effecting the ducks? It's about 800 gallons in capacity and is unter trees ... pictures coming.
• How much duck food is the normal for daily feeding .... my daughter 'free feeds' them and they do not seem to eat all the time but I have seem reports that they should be fed high quality duck feed only once a day.
• What are the temperature extremes that Pekins can safely tolerate? We live in Atlnata and they seem fine with the heat but I am trying to figure out the cold weather options...
• We have a male and a female and they demonstrate mating behavior regulatly ... what are the chances for eggs and a couple of additional babies?
• I welcome other general advice too.

Thanks in advance for the feedback, I appreciate it!

Scott

 

[Amiga]

Hi, Scott,

your water feature sounds wonderful!

I cannot think of a chemical that would be safe for the ducks and keep the water clean. Filtration and aeration are, I think, your best practices, and an understanding that ducks in water produce very rich water.

Do you garden? Duck water is excellent fertilizer! I have rarely bought fertilizer for my many little gardens since having ducks.

I give my ducks food with water 24/7. They are Indian Runners, weighing about half what your Pekins weigh. Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks has a nice table of average feed requirements for ducks. I have misplaced my copy, though. sigh. Perhaps someone else can look that up for you. See if you can get ahold of a copy of your own. It is a great resource! I also like The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook by Kim Link of Majestic Waterfowl.

Some limit their feedings. I prefer to make food available all the time, especially since I adopted two rescues, who faced starvation and could get extremely anxious without having a feed pan available.

Ducks are more individual than some books and articles had led me to believe. Try to have emergency shelter available in case they show symptoms of suffering from temperature extremes. A rule of thumb about heat is that if it is above 70F, make sure there is abundant shade and fresh water available. In my experience, my Runners don't thrive below 40F. Many Runner people say their runners are fine even with temperatures lower than that.

Another general suggestion is to increase calorie content in winter.

Regarding fertile eggs, several weeks after they begin mating, the eggs should (from what I read) be good to go for incubation. Domestic ducks are not all good broodies / moms, so you may need an incubator or a friend with one.

Drakes can be overly amorous, and in fact kill the ducks (females). So pay attention to your girl's health. Another rule of thumb is three females per male. On the other hand, there are happy pairs of ducks all over the place. It is up to your ducks!

Hope this was helpful and that others can offer their wisdom and experience.

 

[Scott Barr]

Thanks for the insights. I will try and find the book that you mentioned as it is likely on Amazon. As far as the pond is concerned, this one is likely to only be drained once a year as it has a natural biofilter that we are setting up (today). Based on bacteria only so I hope that it functions as we want it too. Pictures coming sometime soon.

 

[Scott Barr]

Got the book ... thanks for the reference as it was available on Amazon for Kindle download for only $10. Still trying to figure out proper amount of daily food for the Pekin's as they love to free feed and they absolutely love fresh steamed veggies ... I have seen the list of things they eat and it is quite extensive when used to augment high quality duck feed. Sitting in the yard watching their pond being built with the dog ... too cute.

 

[Missy60]

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http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2012/02/are-your-ducks-and-geese-overweight.html

They are just to cute! I used the above link as a guide line to feed my pekin. She seems to be hungry all the time. I now give my pekin about 8 oz of food a day. I go with the .45 which is 7.2 oz so that also leaves her a little extra. She is an adult bird. She also gets feed veggies and she free ranges all day at our creek bank.

 

[PetesMom]

We feed ours once a day......but they also free range, and mine are in good shape with the exception of one of my pekins...shes a fat thing! lol

 

[Scott Barr]

The pond is almost done! The filter is in the round rock is in and the waterfalls are ready to be tested shortly. The babies will walk out at the bottom left of the picture, I hope!

 

[pekinsRus]

Your Pekins are 2 lucky ducks!!

 

[OldGuy43]

Please don't let our 10 ducks see your pool. They'll probably go on strike.

 

[Scott Barr]

The finished pond! Well, Phase I anyway. Our good friend that does landscape and hardscape work is going to add a small retaining wall on the left side of the pond area for a small pad for us to sit and watch Turner and Tucker as the are sooo relaxing to watch, this was all a project of love for him to do for my bride as she has just been told of a relapse (now stage 4) of her breast cancer. The challenge will be to see if the system will actually keep the water clean ... biofilter and microbes only, ablsoutely no chemicals. Time will tell.