Pekin Duck Club!

[peepsnquacks]

Hi Pekin Lovers!! I have found my place! haha

We started with six chicks our daughter wanted. Decided, might as well get a duckling each for our littlest children, ages 6 and 10. Well, the next day, we went back and got four more of those beautiful little yellow fuzzy babies...we just HAD to.

Since then, we've gotten up to a total of 27 chickens, and then our six Pekin babies. Well, not so much babies anymore! They are probably six weeks old? I need to look at when we got them, they might only be four weeks....anyway, BOY are they fast growers!!

We have four who have learned to "Quack" which is the most hilarious thing ever, if you've ever raised from babies you'll know what I mean....peep peep peep peep for weeks and then suddenly QUACK....and it's a pitiful quack, like a boy teen just getting his grown up voice....had me in tears laughing and of course I had to video.

They swim once a day and are let out to roam and eat plants and lie in the long grass which they love. In the pool we hand feed them mealworms, mixed veggies, peas...usually frozen on the veggies if it's a really hot day. They tend to pant a little after they've wandered. (We live in Central Florida)

They currently live in a hoop coop built by my hubby and two older teen daughters....with four "teenage" chickens, assorted, and six Leghorns, which are probably 3 weeks old? I'm really going to have to go back and figure out how old everyone is. They are all happy in there, they seem to self-segregate. The ducks do not bully the chicks, as long as I keep two feeders and two waterers in, then the ducks stay on their side and the chicks stay on theirs. I have not named them yet, as it is really difficult to tell them apart and probably always will be!! I still call them my little fuzzies. They are big fuzzies now! Growing tailfeathers, and wings, and almost all the way white!

I love love LOVE them, in case you couldn't tell....there are a couple photos on my profile, and I'll be adding more of all the chickens and the coop and the ducks as they are now, very soon, like in the next couple days!!

I'll be reading up on all these threads to see what kind of cool duck stories and good advice I can find!
Happy to have found you all. Thanks!!

PeepsnQuacks
xoxoxo

 

[MandyJ]

@MandyJ
My Buff females mount my Runner females all the time in the pool and I have a Runner drake. Don't ask me why they just like to go through the motions of mating I guess because it looks exactly like it down to the Buff acting like the drake while the drake stand on the outside of the pool and watches. But he also mates these girls. Hormones make them do crazy things. lol You could try shaking up the pecking order by rotating them around so each set has one older one younger then try putting them all back together again but I am not sure anything will work. As long as no one is injured and no one seems to be getting the worse end of the deal maybe just leave them alone. So far here that is what I am doing. Mine seem to not mind at all and actually like it.

Everyone IS happy, it's just that one has a bald spot on the back of her neck, no blood, no scabs just no feathers! Looks funny, it looks like her head/neck is misshapen since there isn't any feathers there! LOL Guess I'll just leave them alone!
Thanks! Just wondering!!!

 

[MandyJ]

Hi Pekin Lovers!! I have found my place! haha

We started with six chicks our daughter wanted. Decided, might as well get a duckling each for our littlest children, ages 6 and 10. Well, the next day, we went back and got four more of those beautiful little yellow fuzzy babies...we just HAD to.

Since then, we've gotten up to a total of 27 chickens, and then our six Pekin babies. Well, not so much babies anymore! They are probably six weeks old? I need to look at when we got them, they might only be four weeks....anyway, BOY are they fast growers!!

We have four who have learned to "Quack" which is the most hilarious thing ever, if you've ever raised from babies you'll know what I mean....peep peep peep peep for weeks and then suddenly QUACK....and it's a pitiful quack, like a boy teen just getting his grown up voice....had me in tears laughing and of course I had to video.

They swim once a day and are let out to roam and eat plants and lie in the long grass which they love. In the pool we hand feed them mealworms, mixed veggies, peas...usually frozen on the veggies if it's a really hot day. They tend to pant a little after they've wandered. (We live in Central Florida)

They currently live in a hoop coop built by my hubby and two older teen daughters....with four "teenage" chickens, assorted, and six Leghorns, which are probably 3 weeks old? I'm really going to have to go back and figure out how old everyone is. They are all happy in there, they seem to self-segregate. The ducks do not bully the chicks, as long as I keep two feeders and two waterers in, then the ducks stay on their side and the chicks stay on theirs. I have not named them yet, as it is really difficult to tell them apart and probably always will be!! I still call them my little fuzzies. They are big fuzzies now! Growing tailfeathers, and wings, and almost all the way white!

I love love LOVE them, in case you couldn't tell....there are a couple photos on my profile, and I'll be adding more of all the chickens and the coop and the ducks as they are now, very soon, like in the next couple days!!

I'll be reading up on all these threads to see what kind of cool duck stories and good advice I can find!
Happy to have found you all. Thanks!!

PeepsnQuacks
xoxoxo

You'll love it here! LOTS of duck people!

 

[maddysmamaw]

 You'll love it here! LOTS of duck people!

And lots of ducks!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Everyone IS happy, it's just that one has a bald spot on the back of her neck, no blood, no scabs just no feathers! Looks funny, it looks like her head/neck is misshapen since there isn't any feathers there! LOL Guess I'll just leave them alone!
Thanks! Just wondering!!!

If it gets down to raw skin then you would be best to separate them.

 

[peepsnquacks]

Just tossing in my 2 cents on ducklings....raised my six in the same brooder, a rubbermaid bin. Used chick mason jar style (plastic) feeder and waterer. Fed chick starter crumbles, occasionally used apple cider vinegar (Bragg's) in the water. By age three weeks they were standing straight up in the bin like soda bottles packed up for shipping and had no room to move, lol.
At this point, we had nothing built yet, wasn't planning for the super fast growing....so I put them in the bathtub. It just so happens that I have an obscene amount of useless Tshirts that hubby has been bugging me to get rid of. So, I put down about six layers of newspaper, and then covered it with a couple of my tshirts. Each day, cleaned and sanitized the feeders and waterers, rolled the newspaper and shirts up, and threw whole mess away. Then rinsed out the tub. Once a week I would take the ducks out for a swim and have someone watch them while I disinfected the tub also, got all the poo out, did anyone on this site mention that ducks are messy???? hahahahah
I use Lysol cleaner, and just make sure to rinse VERY VERY well. I also sanitize my chick feeders and waterers a few times a week (usually depending on age of chicks as to how often) I think this has probably helped keep them all healthy and well. They are all super fast growers and healthy.

I took them for their first swim when they were less than a week old. I used a pool on uneven ground, to make one end fill with water, and the other end was dry, so they could rest if tired. It quacked me up when I saw them swim for the first time. They took to it, well, like a duck to water??? (cheesy, I know) but they hopped right in, peeping happily and swam their little hearts out.
When they got out, straight under the heat lamp. They would all preen for 30-60 minutes and then usually have a nap.

Now that they are a month old, they are HUGE and of course grew out of even the bathtub. Hubby made a hoop coop (I'll post pics, materials and costs once I have all that info) and we put them in there with four good sized (same age) chickens. Everyone was happy!!

When we get home from work, we let them all out to roam and eat plants and the chickens scratch around and hunt bugs. At exactly the moment when dusk is about to turn to dark, they all get back in the coop on their own, and that is that.

As the ducks are older, they seem to be a lot heartier. I am much less worried about them getting hurt or attacked, and it is my belief that my cats are TERRIFIED of them.

To the original poster....I thought of making fact sheets for chicks, Bantys and ducks (crediting BYC of course, with a link to the site) at my local chick sellers. (There are three or four places to get them around here.) Because, when we brought them home we knew NOTHING. We'd read a lot, but who does that besides us? I thought, just a general care sheet and what to feed etc would be a great start for first timers.

Thanks for listening, (reading) me ramble again....(if you've read this far!) haha

xoxoxox
JD
peepsnquacks

 

[maddysmamaw]

Just tossing in my 2 cents on ducklings....raised my six in the same brooder, a rubbermaid bin.  Used chick mason jar style (plastic) feeder and waterer.  Fed chick starter crumbles, occasionally used apple cider vinegar (Bragg's) in the water.  By age three weeks they were standing straight up in the bin like soda bottles packed up for shipping and had no room to move, lol.  
At this point, we had nothing built yet, wasn't planning for the super fast growing....so I put them in the bathtub.  It just so happens that I have an obscene amount of useless Tshirts that hubby has been bugging me to get rid of.  So, I put down about six layers of newspaper, and then covered it with a couple of my tshirts.  Each day, cleaned and sanitized the feeders and waterers, rolled the newspaper and shirts up, and threw whole mess away.  Then rinsed out the tub.  Once a week I would take the ducks out for a swim and have someone watch them while I disinfected the tub also, got all the poo out, did anyone on this site mention that ducks are messy???? hahahahah
I use Lysol cleaner, and just make sure to rinse VERY VERY well.  I also sanitize my chick feeders and waterers a few times a week (usually depending on age of chicks as to how often)  I think this has probably helped keep them all healthy and well.  They are all super fast growers and healthy.  

I took them for their first swim when they were less than a week old.  I used a pool on uneven ground, to make one end fill with water, and the other end was dry, so they could rest if tired.  It quacked me up when I saw them swim for the first time.  They took to it, well, like a duck to water???  (cheesy, I know) but they hopped right in, peeping happily and swam their little hearts out.  
When they got out, straight under the heat lamp.  They would all preen for 30-60 minutes and then usually have a nap.  

Now that they are a month old, they are HUGE and of course grew out of even the bathtub.  Hubby made a hoop coop (I'll post pics, materials and costs once I have all that info) and we put them in there with four good sized (same age) chickens.  Everyone was happy!!

When we get home from work, we let them all out to roam and eat plants and the chickens scratch around and hunt bugs.  At exactly the moment when dusk is about to turn to dark, they all get back in the coop on their own, and that is that.  

As the ducks are older, they seem to be a lot heartier.  I am much less worried about them getting hurt or attacked, and it is my belief that my cats are TERRIFIED of them.  

To the original poster....I thought of making fact sheets for chicks, Bantys and ducks (crediting BYC of course, with a link to the site) at my local chick sellers.  (There are three or four places to get them around here.)  Because, when we brought them home we knew NOTHING.  We'd read a lot, but who does that besides us?  I thought, just a general care sheet and what to feed etc would be a great start for first timers.  

Thanks for listening, (reading) me ramble again....(if you've read this far!) haha

xoxoxox
JD
peepsnquacks

I raised mine almost the same way. A friend gave me duck eggs and I hatched six in my incubator. Then Rubbermaid. When they were a month old they went out into the little pen I keep as a bachelor pen for juvie roosters. I let them out with the flock to range and get their fill of greens. Now, at 1 1/2 months I put them into the big coop with my flock. They slept happily in a pile of hay under the nest boxes and were bright eyed and happy at breakfast this morning.

 

[peepsnquacks]

Awwww!!! My heart!!! They are just so beautiful. And they get along with chickens just fine!! Mine do, so far!! Don't have any mature anythings yet, so we'll see. All babies, or teens now. I'm posting more pics later today.....<3

xoxoxo

 

[Peekin In]

We had our ducklings in a stock tank for a while, when they out grew it we moved them to the garage (it was still too cold to put them outside) so we built them a coop and laid down some artificial grass carpet and enclosed the whole thing with chicken wire. They took to their coop right away and the artificial grass was easy to hose off when it got messy.

The crazy gang have their own run which is covered with netting and still crowd into the same coop every night. Hubby has them nicely trained he shouts "ducks go to bed" and first princess waddles up the ramp followed by the others and lastly Frankie-blue-eyes.

 

[Tlmcq]

Mine too took to their duck house very well. First night or two out I had to round em up and put em in, but after that they go in shortly after my chickens do, which is right about sunset. All I have to do is go out do a quick head count and close the door to secure em from nighttime predators. And in morning they are completely silent til they here me talking to them and then the quacking to be let out for the day begins