Pekin Duck Club!

[Miss Lydia]

Today we finally all free ranged together... For about ten minutes. A dog (Shadow) ran into the yard. The ducks yelled at him, and waddled back to the run. When I gave up on him leaving, and he wasn't bothering any birds, I opened the duck run again and told them to come back out.
Shadow is an intact male lab that was peeing on everything! Even my wooden swing!! So ticked! He was also annoying Sturgis by licking his head... Uh. And "there". It's been an hour and my head still hurts. Either the guy came for him or not having Sturgis to play with made him go home. For the record, he broke a thick chain to get here.
Anyway!! The ducks scared the chickens. It was funny. Not like terrified, but still they ran when Jojo went after them.
The picture won't post.

Now that would have scared me some intact lab coming around my birds. Who is Stugis? You know it would only take a sec for that dog to kill one or more of your birds.

 

[BullChick]

Sturgis is my Shih-Poo. Very good with the flock. He plays mom to the babies. Actually, he was playing mom to Duckling before she became so mobile. Now she'd just another adult to him.
I kept my eyes open. Shadow never got near the flocks.
This is a great reason why I don't free range unsupervised.

 

[duckies1230]

i would love to see jojo and the chickens. one day the girl down the street came to visit jojo and her mastiff showed up a few mins later. jojo basically jumped into my arms, he was not happy about that huge dog being there at all!

 

[BullChick]

He just waddled into the run. Not "oh no!" so much as, "Ugh! Stupid dog is gonna slobber on me! Do you see that big wad of drool just hanging out of the side of his mouth? Disgusting!"

 

[OhHaiNollie]

Hello, my name is Heather. Ive been dying to get a duck and im about to purchase two baby pekin ducks in a day or so. I need all of the information i can get please. This is my first actual pet besides a gold fish and i want to be the best momma duck ever. I live in a condo that is decent sized. I just bought diapers, food, bedding, matts, and a heat lamp. BUT no bulb. Im not sure what kind of bulb to get. Also, i am a senior in highschool that works at Best Buy where i work usually 4-5 days a week. I was scared that i wouldnt have time to love my babies but im hoping that this two week winter break starting on december 19th will help. I work 5-9:30 on week days and 10-5 on weekends. Do you think that is too much time away from my babies? Also, what sex should i get? Im thinking two of the same sex.

 

[BullChick]

Hi, Heather! The bulb can be an average light. Inside, a lot of heat isn't needed. A dark color is best to promote sleeping.
Please remove the information about your high school. If BYC sees that info, we will get flagged for a minor sharing age.

 

[Free Spirit]

Hi Heather. Welcome.

Just wanted to mention that female Pekins can be loud and very talkative. Mine are anyway. You mentioned living in a condo so just wanted you to be prepared that your neighbors may know you have a Pekin duck. Males (drakes) are much quieter.

If noise is not a problem where you are then female Pekins should be just fine. But if noise is a problem then a male Pekin would be fine along with a quieter female breed. Both my Saxony male and female are pretty quiet compared to my Pekins.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hello, my name is Heather. Ive been dying to get a duck and im about to purchase two baby pekin ducks in a day or so. I need all of the information i can get please. This is my first actual pet besides a gold fish and i want to be the best momma duck ever. I live in a condo that is decent sized. I just bought diapers, food, bedding, matts, and a heat lamp. BUT no bulb. Im not sure what kind of bulb to get. Also, i am a senior in highschool that works at Best Buy where i work usually 4-5 days a week. I was scared that i wouldnt have time to love my babies but im hoping that this two week winter break starting on december 19th will help. I work 5-9:30 on week days and 10-5 on weekends. Do you think that is too much time away from ? Also, what sex should i get? Im thinking two of the same sex.

@OhHaiNollie Welcome to BYC.

Living in a Condo isn't the best set up for ducks not saying you shouldn't get them but just some things to think about first Pekins get very large so your going to have to have a large area for them to be in especially while your working and they poop alot so will they be walking around in diapers while your at work? that will be alot of poop. They grow super fast too. They will be messy it's ducks middle name. If you live with parents they will need to be made aware of just how loud and messy duckling to ducks are. neighbors may not appreciate the noise or smell which you'll really have to contain living in a condo. Having 2 ducklings will help with them being alone so much but your being gone at work will make it harder for them to bond to you. They will bond closely to each other though and I hope you don't have in the back of your mind if it doesn't work I'll take them to the local park and let them go. They are domestic ducks and should never be let loose to fend for themselves even if the park is already full of them. it really is animal cruelty. not saying you'd do this but I just have to say it because with so many in parks etc it is someones mind set for sure. I wish the best for you if you decide on getting ducklings.
Get a red bulb heat lamp reg light [white] disrupts their sleeping. Here is info on caring for ducklings. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711 this will give you info on heating also and temps they will need to be kept at from time you get them till fully feathered. plus alot of good tips.
I'd get 2 of same sex since you probably won't want ducks eventually breeding in your condo.
.

 

[BullChick]

I gave up on the ten duck eggs I was incubating, and opened them. As I suspected, not one was fertile. Meanwhile, yesterday's egg was almost added to the incubator, but I didn't want to add another infertile egg. On the other hand, after watching them mate the other day, and giving it a few days,I suspected it was worth checking. Except that I forgot to check it.
This morning as I was doing chores I had the quackers out of their pen. The dog was watching them, so I was free to get things done. I looked at the time, and realized it was too early to call the hatchery to place an order. At this point, I thought I had already checked yesterday's egg. Well, guess who found the egg unchecked? And guess what I found when I checked that egg?

WE HAVE FERTILE EGGS!!!!!!!!!

 

[revans2003]

Hello, my name is Heather. Ive been dying to get a duck and im about to purchase two baby pekin ducks in a day or so. I need all of the information i can get please. This is my first actual pet besides a gold fish and i want to be the best momma duck ever. I live in a condo that is decent sized. I just bought diapers, food, bedding, matts, and a heat lamp. BUT no bulb. Im not sure what kind of bulb to get. Also, i am a senior in highschool that works at Best Buy where i work usually 4-5 days a week. I was scared that i wouldnt have time to love my babies but im hoping that this two week winter break starting on december 19th will help. I work 5-9:30 on week days and 10-5 on weekends. Do you think that is too much time away from my babies? Also, what sex should i get? Im thinking two of the same sex.

Hi Heather, welcome to BYC. I commend your interest in raising ducks. I do have some thoughts and pointers. You say your a senior in high school, what are your plans for the next 10 years or so? I ask because you need to consider who will be taking care of the ducks when you go to college, get married, and try to build a career and perhaps have children. Ducks can live 10-15 years and require ALOT of attention. Its essentially like having two perpetual toddlers running around who will get into anything and everything they can including tings that are deadly for them. You will need to change there water, feed them and potentially change there bedding at least once a day. I Have never changed duck diapers but that will take time too. My point is, you need to be absolutely sure what you are getting into and how having ducks may affect your future plans being so young. I Have no doubt you can do it, but I just want to make sure you are aware of the massive commitment and ensuring that the ducks will be well taken care of as your life begins to take off and get busy and that you have firm plans for the ducks if you find that you no longer have enough time to take care of them.

My final and perhaps controversial thought........

My personal opinion and observation is that ducks need a body of water to truly be happy. There are plenty of people who will disagree with me on that and admittedly I have zero experience raising a duck inside, but my ducks LOVE having a swimming pond and, again my opinion, is that one should be provided at all times if at all possible. (Maybe they can borrow your bathtub once ad ay )