Pekin Duck Club!

[chickery-do]

Check this out. Hope it helps! I love the deep litter - I clean it out maybe twice a year and use it as a mulch for my gardening - no mud, just stir it up once every few days. It might be harder if you have hardware cloth on the floor of your run - I just have dirt. I never have to stir for the chickens - they do it for me - but I do have to stir it up for the ducks - they seem to pack it down. Another thing you can do in the rainy season is place a tarp over a section of the run - then there's a place that stays pretty dry for them besides their little shelter...

Really found it interesting. Their winter coop has the hardware cloth and drawers but I think I could do this to their summer run. We have a lrg. wire dog crate w/ a bottom in our porch now that has pine shavings in it and they smell 5 chicks in it. We clean it our 1x week. Hubby seems to think this won't work as we smell them now.

I love the ease of this but-
It's just that their in chain link 8x12 kennel at night and would kick it all over! I have to think of something that will last to enclose the bottom 6-10 inches I would guess. Is that what you would do? Sorry to be such a pain I've been happy w/ my girls for 2+ yrs. now but I learn so much from you!
I would love to clean it out 1-2 a year!

 

[P-Funk]

Thanks, all

A professional breeder was here yesterday and confirmed the 2 Pekins are girls. Now they just need names. They get along great with the chooks, but the big girls always try to steal their peas.


They don't take any crap from the babies (also 9 weeks old), as they are twice their size. I got them a kiddie pool on Sat. and all they want to do is float. The thing has to be refilled every day, but they love it so much I actually caught them sleeping in it. Any ideas on how to keep it clean?

 

[MichelleF41]

We are out playing in the pool and I wanted to share this pic.... Looks like beautiful Angel Wings.

 

[KBHatchery]

 

[P-Funk]

Beautiful pic, and welcome to BYC! It looks like we have the same pool...

 

[MichelleF41]

Beautiful pic, and welcome to BYC!  It looks like we have the same pool...

Yeah, the plastic kiddie pools are great. We dump it every evening to keep it clean and keep the mosquitoes down. When we dump it every evening she loves to root around in the puddle/grass, its become a evening ritual, lol

 

[BarredRockGirls]

ooooook my pekin Pros! haha my girls are 9.5 weeks ( awwww i know

time has just zipped by! ) they are def more independent now and love running around the yard all day - not staying right by mamas side but still have to have a view of her lol they are quite the lil flock w the chickens now when they want to be haha

yesterday while my husband was putting in the garden i took them out front w me so it was just me and the 3 girls - no chickens!- lol amazingly they act different away from the flock . anyways we were having a great snuggle cuddle fest lol honestly hasnt happened in a while - they've been going through a phase

- imprinted or not i hear that happens . .
i found a twig and was pretending it was a snake in the grass around them just for laughs .. Cookie & Webber - didnt care lol Charlotte- started head bobbing at it and chasing it ? when i would stop she would look at me like " i was playing mom!" then shes nibble the twig and bob her head real low at me ... id wiggle it and shed quack honk and bob chase it and it was funny really ... her sisters looked on like " What the heck?"

is this normal play behavior then ? or did she not like something ? she later came and crawled up onto me first my lap then my stomach and then... she thought she was a 7 lb parrot lol ouch my hair

ive tried looking up head bobbing in pekins but it all said neck stretched out and bobbing and this was up and down real low ...idk

any thoughts ?

 

[The Howards]

ive tried looking up head bobbing in pekins but it all said neck stretched out and bobbing and this was up and down real low ...idk

any thoughts ?

All of our mallard derived ducks (pekins and rouens) do it, the Scovies don't. As far as I can figure out it is a just another way of communicating their feelings. They do it to the other ducks (and us) when they don't want to be bothered, are feeling frisky, fussing about being held, begging for treats, just happy...you name it they do it at that point in time. They usually stretch out their necks level with the ground when they are warning off something and/or going to chase something away. Basically.....it's all normal.

 

[The Howards]

Thanks, all

A professional breeder was here yesterday and confirmed the 2 Pekins are girls. Now they just need names. They get along great with the chooks, but the big girls always try to steal their peas.


They don't take any crap from the babies (also 9 weeks old), as they are twice their size. I got them a kiddie pool on Sat. and all they want to do is float. The thing has to be refilled every day, but they love it so much I actually caught them sleeping in it. Any ideas on how to keep it clean?

HA! Good luck keeping it clean for any amount of time. The minute the girls see clear clean water they get excited and start playing in the dirt so they can dirty it up (or jump in an instantly poop). We empty it daily, spray it out real good (cause there is usually a ton of mud in the bottom) and scrub it as needed.
Congrats on the female confirmation, she is very pretty.

 

[DenverDucky]

Wow! It's been a while since I've been on here, just got done catching up on 165 posts. I have a question about adding one to the 'flock'. Quack-Quack is an imprinted duck, almost 3 months old and he is an only duckie and only pet. I would like to add a sibling for him and do not want another male but also do NOT want mating going on. I'm thinking about a female goose. Is this a good friend match or not? I'm not sure that a duck and a goose will get along and I'm not sure they won't mate. They won't will they? I also don't know when to introduce them to each other.

I also am wondering about mating season next year. What is a drake like that has no mate? Should I be trying to find duck farms in my area to see about a hook-up?
I have met someone who also has a pet Runner, a hen, and he would like the 2 to meet but I don't know how we should go about doing that. Any help for any of my questions would be greatly received. It also seems to be that once Quack-Quack reached his 'teen-age' months he now prefers my fiancee, is this normal? Is it a male thing? Personality?

That is a good question about introducing an imprinted duck to new ducks. Soleil just met her first duck a few weeks ago and it went ok I guess. They didnt attack each other hah. I was wondering the same though because I know someday I will want more and I want them to get along!

Thanks, all

A professional breeder was here yesterday and confirmed the 2 Pekins are girls. Now they just need names. They get along great with the chooks, but the big girls always try to steal their peas.


They don't take any crap from the babies (also 9 weeks old), as they are twice their size. I got them a kiddie pool on Sat. and all they want to do is float. The thing has to be refilled every day, but they love it so much I actually caught them sleeping in it. Any ideas on how to keep it clean?

You have hens <3 That's great! You will be getting some big beautiful eggs from them. As far as the pool goes, I fill and refill everyday lol. I'm a spoiler

ooooook my pekin Pros! haha my girls are 9.5 weeks ( awwww i know

time has just zipped by! ) they are def more independent now and love running around the yard all day - not staying right by mamas side but still have to have a view of her lol they are quite the lil flock w the chickens now when they want to be haha

yesterday while my husband was putting in the garden i took them out front w me so it was just me and the 3 girls - no chickens!- lol amazingly they act different away from the flock . anyways we were having a great snuggle cuddle fest lol honestly hasnt happened in a while - they've been going through a phase

- imprinted or not i hear that happens . .
i found a twig and was pretending it was a snake in the grass around them just for laughs .. Cookie & Webber - didnt care lol Charlotte- started head bobbing at it and chasing it ? when i would stop she would look at me like " i was playing mom!" then shes nibble the twig and bob her head real low at me ... id wiggle it and shed quack honk and bob chase it and it was funny really ... her sisters looked on like " What the heck?"

is this normal play behavior then ? or did she not like something ? she later came and crawled up onto me first my lap then my stomach and then... she thought she was a 7 lb parrot lol ouch my hair

ive tried looking up head bobbing in pekins but it all said neck stretched out and bobbing and this was up and down real low ...idk

any thoughts ?

Soleil does funny things when we play and the head bob is one of them hahah it always gets me me laughing!