Pekin Duck Club!

[Amykins]

They are twitchy, I'm relieved as I said I'm extremely paranoid for the time being. The vet didn't. I didn't even think about asking at the time. I wish I would have noe. Too little too late

If you can afford it, and you're still super concerned, you can always get him in for an eval. They should do a fecal pap and a throat smear to detect any bad bugs that may be inside him. It could never hurt, and best case scenario he's fine and you can rest at ease. Worst case they'll at least know so they can start him on the right kind of medication to help.

Give him huge for me, the poor boy's been through so much! Isn't it heartbreaking to see a duck get depressed after losing its mate? I wish more people understood just how complex and emotional creatures they are

 

[duckies1230]

I don't blame you for the way you're feeling. I'd probably be about to jump out of my skin if I'd had a duck die and didn't know why. You're probably hyper-aware of everything he's doing because you're looking for indications that something might be wrong.

Can you describe the room he's in with his mirror right now? Ducks move their wings a lot, though the movements are sometimes so slight that we don't notice them unless we're really scrutinizing them. Our ducks twitch their wings around a bit in their brooding pens, which aren't cramped, yet they continually flap them and extend them when they're out of the pens. If the room he's in right now isn't pretty wide open, he might just not be comfortable extending and flapping his wings. You have to remember that he's used to being in the big outdoors. It's also entirely possible that he's still trying to get a feel for "the duck in the mirror" to see what it thinks of him. Even though he's staying near it all the time, he's probably still a bit wary of "that duck," what it might do, and what he should do when he's with it.

Yea, that's exactly what it is, i just never paid attention to every move he made before. Hes doing better atleast i think

 

[Amiga]

 

[Julie Birb]

Sorry for such a late reply. We were out of town seeing family I haven't seen since I was little... Don't worry, we had a bird sitter come to our house! Lol!

I will go out tomorrow and get some new pictures of the boys for you. We still keep them seperate. Hazel and Henry are at breeding age now and their hormones are making them CRAZY!!! When I went in to put the ducks away tonight Henry flew straight up at my face! He's never done anything like that before! No one got hurt but he startled me pretty good. Stinker!

I hope you and your little precious finches are well...

OH, no worry JLynns, I understand. I actually have been sporadic on here lately. My little precious finches and myself are well, thank you. I'd love to see the pictures of your winged boys. I have heard of drakes being nuts during mating season when their hormones are crazy. How's he towards Hazel. Is she receptive? Flying up into your face like that is very startling. And Pekins are not little birds. Wow. Did he squawk? I am glad nobody got hurt. Amykins, who owns Wobbles, the male call, would tell stories of his hormonal rages. He'd attack her feet, hands, arms and leave marks. They can't help it and I guess it is all put there so they can proliferate.

Haha. You had a bird sitter. Awesome. It was probably a relief having a trusted person there with them so that you wouldn't have to worry. I got to bird sit my coworker's ducks a few years ago when he and his family went out of town and I loved it.

How are the geese doing?

 

[Julie Birb]

Yea, that's exactly what it is, i just never paid attention to every move he made before. Hes doing better atleast i think

I am glad he's doing better. You are doing wonderfully great things for him. He is a sweet boy.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Yea, that's exactly what it is, i just never paid attention to every move he made before. Hes doing better atleast i think

I'm really happy to hear that! Maybe you can get a video of him sometime?

 

[Nerraw23]

Hi Everyone!! I am new here! I have had my 4 male Pekin Ducks since June of this year (they still don't have names I can't come up with anything good that I like.) My husbands co-worker was not allowed to keep them thanks to his HOA. So we put them in the pond at the end of our dead end road we live on, that our neighbors own. I feed them every day twice a day. I have a few questions, so bare with me and I hope I don't sound stupid.

Question 1- Recently my Pekins have started to become very afraid of me and will not come near me to eat and act like I am going to hurt them. What could I have done to them to have caused this? Ever since I had gotten them in June they loved to be held and petted. They would run up to me when they would hear me coming down the path or see me. I know about two weeks ago I picked one up as I normally do and he freaked out so I set him down, I felt very bad for making him freak out. Could my one Pekin still be very skittish of me because of that and could he be like the "ring leader" of the others telling them not to come near me? ( my husband says I am crazy and that someone has probably been messing with them)
I have tried green peas, corn, strawberries, tomatoes anything you can think of as treats. All four of them will eat them but then they realize I am there and run off and proceed to stare at me. One did come back to eat while the others drank water, they seemed to have gotten mad at him afterwards. I watched for another 10min and they came over to him quacked at him and he stopped then they kinda nipped at his butt ( ha ha wth!?) went back to hiding in the bushes. So I just walked off.

Question 2- What do you do for your Pekin Ducks in the winter time? Should I make them a coop on our property? They like to sleep in the brush, but I am worried that once winter comes in NC it will be to cold for them.

Question 3- How do you determine the age of your Pekin ducks?

Thank you in advance

 

[Amiga]

Welcome!

You have some good questions there.

I am worried that someone - not you - has frightened the Pekins, and they have every reason to fear for their lives.

Although the pond looks lovely to you, well, I am going to be bold and ask you to bring them onto your property and keep them safe. Yup. Short sentence, tall order. And I am going to say that I believe that their lives depend upon you doing that.

There is a wealth of knowledge here about how to do that - they need a simple but sturdy shelter, and some good fencing. A kiddie pool provides enough water for them to enjoy themselves in.

 

[jtn42248]

Welcome to the wonderful world of BYC and ducks in particular.

In reply to your questions everything Amiga said!!!

Also, ducks are pretty hardy and they will deal with winter well if they have a dry place to get out of cold winds. They will probably not need any supplemental heat. They will need lots of extra feed when foraging is sparse. They must have water available to drink and clean their faces at all times!!! They actually need very little water for swimming and actually more for bathing that taking a plunge. If they are all males you should have no problem related to nesting. A sturdy shelter facing away from the prevailing winter winds is best and, if you are in an area with any sort of predator (wild or domestic like dogs and cats) you will want to assure they have a secure place to sleep at night.

 

[Nerraw23]

Welcome!

You have some good questions there.

I am worried that someone - not you - has frightened the Pekins, and they have every reason to fear for their lives.

Although the pond looks lovely to you, well, I am going to be bold and ask you to bring them onto your property and keep them safe. Yup. Short sentence, tall order. And I am going to say that I believe that their lives depend upon you doing that.

There is a wealth of knowledge here about how to do that - they need a simple but sturdy shelter, and some good fencing. A kiddie pool provides enough water for them to enjoy themselves in.

Hi! Thanks for the welcome!

Ok! I will try to figure out a safe place for them on our property when I get home. We do have a detached garage with a covered lean-to that has a door that could possible be fenced in so they could roam around and have a coop put in it. I will take a picture later on!
Thank you!