Dwarf Pekin duck?

[Duck~Diva]

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So i bought 6 Pekin ducklings from my local TSC on the first day of spring. One was taken by a raptor and the other 4 died of what i believed to be genetic causes. This girl is the last standing of that brood and somehow managed to be less then 4 pounds.

So i was wondering if anyone knew what happened genetically and why she's such a shrimp lol.

 

[Hteeter2]

Bottom picture:

I don't think that is a duckling, but it looks like a baby chick instead. What breed it might be? I don't know.....

 

[Duck~Diva]

The bottom pick is a posting mishap. I was fiddling around with the pics and accidently posted that one too. It's my old Silkie rooster Breakfast.

 

[llombardo]

How old is she? I got my Peking at Tractor Supply and she is a decent size. What are you feeding?

In this picture she is about 3.5 months old

 

[Duck~Diva]

She's nearly four months old. Currently feeding them tons of fresh vegetables and letting them forage most of the day. Supplementing with some niacin and Dumor layer pellets (26% protein).


If you don't mind me asking how come some of your hen's feathers tinged purple? Also love the absolutely adorable picture there. Way to capture the moment.

 

[llombardo]

Hmmm. Mine hardly eat any of the feed. I give them treats every couple days, by treats I mean grapes, watermelon, peas and fresh dandelion greens. They are getting most of their food from the ground.

I'm not sure why yours would only weigh 4 pounds. Mine are on chick starter but were on all flock before baby chicks got here. Everyone will be switching back to the all flock.

 

[llombardo]

Here are all 3

 

[Duck~Diva]

She feels like 2 3/4 - 3 1/2 pounds but i don't have a scale to weigh her unfortunately. She has a normal sized head and feathers which look ridiculous on her in person. Her body, legs, and neck are rather small for the size she should be at her age.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Her feathers look pretty disheveled. Does she have water to bathe in? Do you have her with any chickens? What were the symptoms the others had before they died and how long ago did you lose them?

 

[Duck~Diva]

I haven't had any chickens since i got her. My birds always have wading pools to bathe in. She's not the best when It comes to preening obviously xd.

The others died off about a month and a half ago. The first time they were looking lethargic i brought them in and put them under a heat lamp and gave them pineapple dusted in nutritional yeast (niacin). They perked up and looked a lot better. I put them back outside and all was well till about a week later and i had checked on them and four hours later two had dropped dead. Then the one got taken by a hawk. Took the remaining inside did a repeat of the previous process and put them outside and 2 days later same thing happened sadly.