Pekin Duck Club!

[theadvocate19]

I wish I could convey how heartbroken I was when one day, I walked into the brooder room and everyone panicked, slamming into the opposite end of the brooder, climbing all over each other, screaming when I came in.  It was overnight.  Awful.

And now, everyone calls to me when they hear my voice, Acht, Zwei, Elf, and even sometimes Zehn will let me pet them, everyone will come very near if they think I have treats, if I lie down in the pen several will cuddle up to me as I rest - yes, I keep the pen clean enough that I can lie down on a blanket in there.

They follow me around, or I follow them.  I think most of them know their names.  

Patience, presence, treats.

YES! The behavior you described is exactly how my George and Martha are!! Hoping for the one day that they'll actually 'like' me better.

I got ducks totally on a whim. We wanted them, but were NOT knowledgeable at all! Hey, sounds like our intro into chickens! But that's another story....

So needless to say, we are pretty much dummies to duckies, but would love to better understand them. We are the ones who need to learn and change, not them. Thanks for such a nice reply, as I've seen you reply often to me, I just want to say I really appreciate your help.

I have had two sets of Pekins, and both sets I have had COMPLETELY different experiences with. I would like to explain.

I obtained my first set who were male and female regular Pekins at three weeks of age. They spent the first three weeks of their lives in a brooder with their brothers and sisters and were taken care of by other people. The female did pretty well with me, but the male, who was the runt of the brood and a late bloomer, absolutely HATED me and always ran away from me and began pecking at me and experimenting with ways to harm me to the best of his ability with his beak/bill, as soon as he realized he could, at a little over a month old. When the male hit puberty (late for him, it came at 4 1/2 months old) he began ATTACKING me, and severely so. He would peck at my toes until they bled, as I would wear flip-flops in the summer when I had them. When I would feed the two of them he would not eat his food but, as the female ate, he would chase me away from the feed area and peck at my legs and especially go for my little toes. He would get them into his beak and bite them as hard as he could. He was absolutely terrible, that bird. There were a dozen occasions over the summer when he would see me from across the yard and run all the way over to where I was so that he could unleash his most vicious assault onto me. His female counterpart was quite complacent and at ease with me, however, the male would express great disdain upon witnessing friendly interactions between her and I. While I would pet her the male would try to interfere by coming between us with great force or by attacking the female from the side or from behind. After I would handle her the male would run up to her and quack furiously at her while puffing his feathers and sometimes pecking at her; the human equivalent of a violent argument. On to a different instance, there was one time when I was transporting them in my car and, while they were both in their Sterlite bin in the front passenger's side, the male leapt out of the bin and into my lap and began attacking me. These two were killed by foxes this past summer when the person who's care they were in failed to lock them up properly while I was out of town.

My second set of Pekins are two Jumbo Pekins. They are male and female, as well. These two are an entirely different matter, indeed. I ordered these two from McMurray Hatchery as hatchlings and received them in the mail at three days old. When I opened the box I was instantly Mama!!!! My, what a messy and annoying yet rewarding joy it has been! They started following me everywhere since I got them, and have been ever since, and that was two months and a week ago. They are so attached that I cannot even leave them outside for 10 seconds without them going absolutely crazy looking for me. They want to sit with me and be cuddled and hugged, even kissed on their beaks. They like to tuck their beaks into my arm pit and cozy up with me. They are hard to handle, though, because of their razor-sharp talons. They have cut my arms up very badly and I have been going to great lengths to get rid of the streaky scars all over my arms from them. I have since found better ways to handle them, however, even so, they do tend to "get me" sometimes. They have been indoor ducks since I got them, but I absolutely cannot deal with the mess that they create any longer. Also the female is nuts and "SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK!!!'s" like a lunatic just because I leave the room or if she feels she needs something which I cannot figure out what it is half the time. They would destroy my relationship with my man had we not been together so long and he not being so patient. They would drive me nuts if my patience weren't so thick and well-trained. They will soon be going outside in a very well-insulated duck-house that we have built for them that will have a red heat lamp to keep them warm in these cold winter months. I had ordered duck diapers a while ago and they were finally shipped today. My beakies will be able to come into the house and visit while wearing their diapers but will spend the nights in their duck-house and will stay in their fenced-in area with their duck-house while I am gone during the day. No more poopy bins and towels. But they are very, very friendly and are so bonded with me that they will run with me in the yard and will lay on me or beside me in the yard and cuddle with me. My boy has his drake vocals (just got them fully set-in this week) so I can imagine puberty has set-in and unlike my last little boy, this one is not attacking me but just vibrates once in a while and takes a short, quick dive at me to assert himself. Other than that he cuddles with me, calls for me, follows me, tucks his beak into the folds of my clothing, likes to be held and hugged, is a lot like a lapdog, etc.

I think that there are many factors that contribute to how well your ducks bond with you. I do believe that you must obtain them within a few days old for the best results. I am not certain if there is a limit for how many there should be, but I can imagine that the more there are the less of a chance they will bond with you. Also, I would think they would need to spend a good amount of time being raised indoors with you. This, however, presents a BIG problem when it comes time for that beakie to start living outside for he will believe that your house is his home and he will want to live in your house with you. It was a very tough decision to decide to relocate my indoor ducks outside, but I absolutely must. They make too much of a mess and I cannot deal with the daily chores that come with having indoor ducks any longer. While we are outside together they will forage in the grass in the yard so long as I am standing RIGHT THERE with them. As soon as they realize I have disappeared into the house they run to the back door and go crazy quacking and squawking away continuously, nonstop, until I return. I have done a lot of research and have found that "imprinted" ducks who are used to being indoors (in my/your house) can never be truly happy living alone outside, without you, their most beloved flock member who they love and adore and need to be with. I love my birds very, very much but I do wish I would have done more research before getting them as pets and allowing them to bond with me and live in my house for so long. I hope they fare well outside and are not too unhappy. As I said before, they will have their ducky diapers soon and will be able to come inside and visit while I am home but will sleep in their duck-house and stay outside while I am out and I will just be cleaning up feathers inside my house when they come in to visit wearing diapers and no more of this poopy towel-and-bin business.

Imprinted ducklings are very difficult to separate from you, based on my experience and based on research I have done which includes testimonials on blogs regarding duckling imprinting. It is not easy to (and is simply wrong to) allow ducklings to imprint onto you and then figuratively shove them out of your life into a duck-house, and especially wrong to mix human imprinted ducks with non-imprinted ducks who will not accept them and will very often attack them and sometimes kill them (so I have read.) Very often imprinted ducks end-up becoming indoor ducks who have to wear diapers because the owners simply cannot put them outside. The ducks won't stay outside and keep coming to the door and quacking for their "Mommy" and stay there for hours and hours without moving out into the yard. I have read many of these stories. I am currently having this experience. Having a duckling(s) imprint on you can be an absolute nightmare and a lot of thought should be given before moving forward with it. The idea of having a duckling "imprint" onto you is very fun to entertain in thought. When it actually happens and that little beakie or those little beakies reach their full size and have a full body of plumage that is falling out all over your living room and they are squawking and bagoking as loud as they can for your attention and are producing enough smelly poop a day to fill at least half a pint-sized container (for one bird) it will be painfully annoying and the end result may be sad for both you and your feathered friends.

I began writing this post as a response to theadvocate19 to explain the two different experiences with my Pekins. The entirety of this post is not directed at theadvocate19 but I mentioned these other things simply because I thought they would tie in with my experiences with my second set of ducks who became imprinted.

Thank you for such a nice personalized reply. Boy, this group is just great and super friendly bunch (unlike my George and Martha! )

I too received my pair from a hatchery and also arrived at 3 days old. Mine came from Ideal poultry, but from day one, they've hated me with a passion. Now I understand their apprehensions about me better. Although mine are not jumbo (although you could've fooled me since they're HUGE) But they never imprinted on me out of the box. Thankfully so! We did play with the fantasy of an imprinted duck, but read a lot about the side effects and were almost instantly turned off by the idea. It is because of our intent not to allow imprinting that we raised them without a lot of handling. But then again, a lot of our 'sets' of chickens didn't get much handling either when they were younger and still quite sweet. They go outside, when the weather permits, which is not often. And spend nice amounts of time in a treat filled bathtub but the moment they see a human, forget it! They are running and jumping to get away.

It seems like treats help, if you toss them. But if they see that you placed it politely on the ground, they won't touch it! I'm convinced they think I put arsenic in their food! ;P

they're a little over one month old, and about as big as Percy, our polish hen. I suppose only time will tell how or if their personalities change. Or perhaps we are in way over our heads....

Oh and btw to whoever said about approaching them slowly at a lower level while making small duck noises: Yes I have been trying this method ever since reading it... While although I am certainly by no means making a joke out of it, I can't help but to kinda laugh at myself. It really is quite hysterical, and the dear significant other gets a kick out of it. I still can't do it without laughing at myself, but I have to ask how, how well does this method really work? And are their other ' desensitizing' to humans I could do for my ducks?

And lastly, I am so glad to see I'm not the only one who's had this problem. At first I thought I was unique. I thought perhaps they were sick birds since I got them from a hatchery.

Oh and lastly, (really this time!) Could anyone tell me how to tell them apart? I know I'm calling them George and Martha, but I'd like to know who I'm speaking to individually. Correct me if I'm wrong, George has the prominent golden yellow beak, while Martha has the pinkish one, no?

Thanks again, all!

 

[Amiga]

theadvocate19, have you read the sticky on raising ducklings? Very good read.

 

[duck commander]

The male, Izzy, my "buddy" .....has recently become very aggresive toward me. Biting....won't let me leave the pen...attack duck. He's a jumbo peking...about 6 mos. Old. The lady ducks are still cool. But the male....boy o boy.... lookin for a fight every day. Beware the drakes

 

[Amiga]

duck commander, I wonder if he's trying to show you who's the boss? Or is aggressively flirting with you? I think they have a hard time telling boy humans from girl humans.

 

[Strawberryswyrl]

duck commander, I wonder if he's trying to show you who's the boss? Or is aggressively flirting with you? I think they have a hard time telling boy humans from girl humans.

Could my last drake have been "aggressively flirting" with me? Lol, the thought or possibility had never crossed my mind. Someone had suggested it over the summer, but I disregarded. But now that it is mentioned again, I have to wonder. I am female, btw. He would stand on top of my feet while biting at my toes and legs, and had run from across the yard over a dozen times to do so but always did when I went to feed him. I had to literally "shoe" this bird away gently with my foot, but that never stopped him. He would always come right back at me, three or four times, until I would have to pick him up and gently toss him away... then he'd come back, most times! This all occurring at the time he began mating. I spoke of a time when I was driving, once, and he had leapt from his bin to attack me in the driver's seat. But this all came with other behavior like jealousy when I interacted with his female and him taking vicious "dives" at me when I would reach to touch him, with him vibrating and such. I just wonder, now.

 

[ladyeccowolf]

Love your photo. Cute "No Hunting" sign.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Could my last drake have been "aggressively flirting" with me? Lol, the thought or possibility had never crossed my mind. Someone had suggested it over the summer, but I disregarded. But now that it is mentioned again, I have to wonder. I am female, btw. He would stand on top of my feet while biting at my toes and legs, and had run from across the yard over a dozen times to do so but always did when I went to feed him. I had to literally "shoe" this bird away gently with my foot, but that never stopped him. He would always come right back at me, three or four times, until I would have to pick him up and gently toss him away... then he'd come back, most times! This all occurring at the time he began mating. I spoke of a time when I was driving, once, and he had leapt from his bin to attack me in the driver's seat. But this all came with other behavior like jealousy when I interacted with his female and him taking vicious "dives" at me when I would reach to touch him, with him vibrating and such. I just wonder, now.

I'd say yes since I went through this with a hand raised drake from hatch. They get confused as to who you are to them. I did work through it with mine but it does take a while.

 

[StacyAK]

Brought the girls up from the coop for a much needed bath. Too cold for them to have a kiddie pool out so it's been over a month since they got to swim. They were the happiest ducks I've ever seen! Wish I could figure out how to post video on here. They SOAKED the whole bathroom in their excitement!

 

[Amiga]

Brought the girls up from the coop for a much needed bath. Too cold for them to have a kiddie pool out so it's been over a month since they got to swim. They were the happiest ducks I've ever seen! Wish I could figure out how to post video on here. They SOAKED the whole bathroom in their excitement!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Brought the girls up from the coop for a much needed bath. Too cold for them to have a kiddie pool out so it's been over a month since they got to swim. They were the happiest ducks I've ever seen! Wish I could figure out how to post video on here. They SOAKED the whole bathroom in their excitement!

How sweet, mine sure need a bath too. but I don't think 15 in the tub would work.