My Pekin duck is flying... out of her pen!

[sheenanaginz]

I'm new to the forum and a first time duck owner. I have three Pekins that are about 12 weeks old. Two of them are big and fat and haven't been giving me any trouble. But the third one is a different story. For starters she is much much smaller than the other two which is probably the reason she is giving me so much trouble. She has just started jumping out of her pen. The fence is 4ft high. I always heard Pekins are not able to fly but she sure knows how to flap her wings and get enough lift to fly over. Just this morning I looked out my window and saw her standing on top of my neighbors 4ft pool fence watching guard over the other ducks. What should I do!? Will clipping a wing help? I live in a residential area and don't want her going into my neighbors yards. They have dogs. Help!

 

[Amykins]

Well yes, you should clip her wings. That's kind of obvious. Just make sure she doesn't have any blood feathers before you snip. I've never heard of a Pekin that could fly, though! A quick google search tells me that small individuals are capable of short bursts, so kinda like chickens in that regard I guess. What a pain for you, hehe! Just clip her wing and you shouldn't have any more trouble.

Edit: I'm curious, is her pen roofed? Or do you keep them in a fully enclosed shelter at night?

 

[AllisonB]

My white Pekin could do this jump/fly thing when he was young -- it stopped when he got a little bigger. Never happened after about 6 months.