New to raising Peking Ducks and need advise.

[Omikse]

pic number 2

 

[Omikse]

pic number 3

 

[CarleeAnn]

I thought in pic number 3 that dot on his head was an eye and it’s bill was crooked!

Looks normal! Not like any fungi or growth. Like ChickenReally said they will probably grow out of it. But I do believe this means they aren’t purebreed Pekins (someone correct me if I’m wrong), but that only matters if you bought them for show.

Cute babies!

 

[chickens really]

Has nothing to do with not being full Pekin...It happens and they grow in White feathers..

 

[gilbert2]

Apparently, my practices differ greatly from all of yours. Namely immersion in water. My ducklings were swimming (in the garage sink) at two days old. Of course the loved it! It's so obvious, when they are flapping their tiny wing stubs, ducking their heads underwater, and even diving like little submarines.
Whatever I do with my ducks, I try to mimic nature as much as possible. So many times I have seen a mother duck leading her brood (in single file) down to the edge of a pond, and jumping in. That water can't be much above freezing! So......baths in the sink, although I use much warmer water than that pond. Waterproof or not, they are playing in the water at two days old, and then every day after.
After swimming, they dry off under a heat lamp.

 

[CarleeAnn]

Apparently, my practices differ greatly from all of yours. Namely immersion in water. My ducklings were swimming (in the garage sink) at two days old. Of course the loved it! It's so obvious, when they are flapping their tiny wing stubs, ducking their heads underwater, and even diving like little submarines.
Whatever I do with my ducks, I try to mimic nature as much as possible. So many times I have seen a mother duck leading her brood (in single file) down to the edge of a pond, and jumping in. That water can't be much above freezing! So......baths in the sink, although I use much warmer water than that pond. Waterproof or not, they are playing in the water at two days old, and then every day after.
After swimming, they dry off under a heat lamp.

As long as the ducklings are supervised then dried it’s no problem. But what you can’t mimic in nature is the application of waterproof oils provided my mama duck! That’s why it’s not recommended to let babies swim so young, because they aren’t waterproofed yet. It’s very common for ducklings to get waterlogged and drown. Even wild ducks, if they get stuck in a pool for example, they drown because even the mom can’t help them stay in a body of water for that long.

 

[Omikse]

So the black will disappear? I find that disappointing. I would have like it to stay. I like the odd ballness of it.

 

[gilbert2]

You can criticize me all you want. But the fact is, I do not leave those precious babies unsupervised for one second! The sink is indoors, and where they are dried is indoors (temperature controlled), before eating or going to sleep in their little indoor tub.
There is no way possible that these ducklings could drown, since I am watching them!
Looking at the turbulence in the water as a function of their flapping, diving, and playing--please tell me if you think they are enjoying the experience.

You can use the signs of turbulence as a function of their activity (fun).

I use a heat lamp (far away enough to not burn them) and a slow moving fan to help them dry. The photo above the red heat lamp shot was actually AFTER the heat lamp. See how gorgeous those little eyes are? And the sheen of the beaks and the down makes me think they are healthy.

The oil glands develop quite early with these ducklings. It is on the back, just in front of the tail. When I see them rubbing their beaks on that spot, then preening, I know they are distributing their own oil/waterproofing. They better--there is no Mom to do it for them.

 

[CayugaJana]

pic number 3

They look pretty normal to me.

Apparently, my practices differ greatly from all of yours. Namely immersion in water. My ducklings were swimming (in the garage sink) at two days old. Of course the loved it! It's so obvious, when they are flapping their tiny wing stubs, ducking their heads underwater, and even diving like little submarines.
Whatever I do with my ducks, I try to mimic nature as much as possible. So many times I have seen a mother duck leading her brood (in single file) down to the edge of a pond, and jumping in. That water can't be much above freezing! So......baths in the sink, although I use much warmer water than that pond. Waterproof or not, they are playing in the water at two days old, and then every day after.
After swimming, they dry off under a heat lamp.

This is pretty standard to what I see a lot of BYCrs do with their ducks as well as myself!

 

[CarleeAnn]

I did not mean to offend you at all! Like I said, as long as they are supervised it’s no problem.

Just not something I often suggest to others because we can’t guarantee anyone will have such a keen eye (not saying you or anyone else won’t!).

I too let my ducks bath at a very early age and duckies looove water! But I have heard of some instances where someone saw how much their ducklings enjoyed a bath so young and felt compelled to provide water to play in even when unsupervised- it did not end well unfortunately. That is all I was trying to prevent.