I got given a Pekin duck (about 3 mths old) a few weeks ago. The owner claimed to not know the sex. Originally my thought was that if it turned out to be a male, we would kill and eat it (it is in the pen with my chickens). Turns out it is a male (after reading on here, listening to the sounds it makes, and the fact that its tail feathers have now curled, I am 100% certain).
So I have a few options.
1. Build a new pen for the duck, possibly find it a female mate. The problems I see with this is cost (I'm a single mum and buying materials to build pens/feed ducks is expensive in Australia!), mess, and trying to keep up with having a clean water source for them to swim in when we are in drought and have water restrictions. But the upside would be being able to keep the duck, and possibly having baby ducks! The other thing to take into account is that I know nothing (absolutely nothing!) about keeping/raising ducks.
2. Let my dad kill him, mum pluck him, and let them have roast duck for Christmas lunch. Part of me baulks at this, even though it was originally my idea, part of me thinks it is a part of life, and I need to get over it. Suprisingly, my kids (4 and 6) are wanting this option. Cons for this is the mess, and having to kill it.
3. Try and find him a new home. I think this will be hard, because the previous owner struggled to find a new home for him, and most people don't seem to want drakes.
At the moment he is still with the chickens, he is currently on the bottom of the pecking order, but I am fairly sure this will change as he gets older.
So, what would you do?
So I have a few options.
1. Build a new pen for the duck, possibly find it a female mate. The problems I see with this is cost (I'm a single mum and buying materials to build pens/feed ducks is expensive in Australia!), mess, and trying to keep up with having a clean water source for them to swim in when we are in drought and have water restrictions. But the upside would be being able to keep the duck, and possibly having baby ducks! The other thing to take into account is that I know nothing (absolutely nothing!) about keeping/raising ducks.
2. Let my dad kill him, mum pluck him, and let them have roast duck for Christmas lunch. Part of me baulks at this, even though it was originally my idea, part of me thinks it is a part of life, and I need to get over it. Suprisingly, my kids (4 and 6) are wanting this option. Cons for this is the mess, and having to kill it.
3. Try and find him a new home. I think this will be hard, because the previous owner struggled to find a new home for him, and most people don't seem to want drakes.
At the moment he is still with the chickens, he is currently on the bottom of the pecking order, but I am fairly sure this will change as he gets older.
So, what would you do?
You don't need constant clean water for them to swim in since that's an impossibility..ducks love to poop in their swimming water and love love love to add mud to it. However it is important to ensure they have clean drinking water. My ducks don't even bother with their swimming pool anymore, they all head to the pond when they want to swim and ponds are not clean at all. My Husband is retired and we live on a fixed income so I understand the cost being a problem. I built our duck pen out of old dog run panels, and lined them with chicken wire that I bought a roll of each time I found a sale price on it. The main purpose of my duck pen is for ducklings that aren't big enough to free range, and to hold my duck houses. My broody gals will even leave their ducklings in the pen and go to the pond for a swim and come back to them when they're ready to. We built the wooden duck house out of wood from here on our land and the other duck house is an old iron mesh dog box that we put a tin roof on out of scrap tin. Watch yard sales for an extra large dog crate (the plastic type with a latched door on it), they make great duck mini houses. My ducks free range all day, along with my chickens and turkeys..at night my Muscovy ducks roost in the trees once they can fly and all non flying ducks and ducklings sleep in the locked "houses". Ducks are a lot of fun, watching them raise their babies is a thrill to me, however if you really dread the mess a duck can make and don't want to fall hopelessly in love then you may want to have him for Christmas dinner ;-) 
