Pekin Duck behavior - The good and the bad

[Nick88]

Hi,

I am hoping to get some advice that will solve my problem. We have 2 pekin ducks both female, 2 years old, both from the same breeder. We have had them since they first hatched in my wife's classroom.

One of the ducks is extremely quiet, will only make a noise is something is wrong i.e birds in the garden or if she is excited to see us. Our other duck however never seems happy, she is constantly quacking, chatting, honking. It doesn't matter if she is indoors, in there run, the pond or in the garden.

They're both good layers, and both seem to be in good health, no cuts, injuries etc. We give them a varied diet and they have space both inside their run and in the garden.

My concern is the noise she is creating will start to cause issues with the neighbors. She has always been the noisy one of the pair, but other the last 6 months-9 months she seems to have gotten a lot worse.

I am starting to move towards the idea of re homing her. Ideally we want to keep the quiet duck as she has a great personality and isn't a problem. Do you think a single pekin duck will be OK on her own or should we get her a couple of friends? Could you recommend any breeds of ducks in the UK that are quiet enough to have in a built up housing area and that would house well with a single pekin duck.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Nick88]

I should probably add that we are happy to keep the noisy duck if I can work out why she is constantly quacking, if its not a medical issue and just down to bad personality, then she will be re homed

 

[Twoandhelp]

I think ducks do better with a friend. Muscovies are quack less but I really don't know how they get a long with others. Sorry I'm not a ton of help but someone will get you a better answer-

 

[PotatoWaffles]

Too bad you are in the UK. I am in the US and I would take her if I could. I really miss my pekin. She was my favorite duck and passed away last month. But she was like yours, gabby and constantly quacking and making noise even if she was happy. That's just how she was, and I really miss that personality.

A lone duck is a lonely miserable duck. Your duck will be a thousand times happier with a friend. And if you take away her companion and leave her by herself, more than likely she will become loud and quack constantly for a friend. You could re-home the loud one but replace her with a quieter type of duck. Muscovy ducks are very quiet. But I wouldn't recommend keeping just one duck.

 

[Nick88]

Sorry to hear that potatoWaffles The noise wouldn't be so much of an issue if it wasn't such as a built up area. I think we will end up taking her to the vets to see if she does have an issue. I will have a look at Muscovy ducks