Pinkish/Pale bills

[chickens really]

Hmmm..Here old timers raised Pekin for meat and crossed with Alsbury and called them Alberta meat Ducks...

 

[apricotvalleywf]

Commercial Pekins are often crossed with Cherry Valley or Aylesbury to get size and production qualities. If a duck is hatched genetically with a pale bill there is nothing that will change this. As others have mentioned, adult female's bills can change with the onset of egg production or if they are fed a diet deficient in carotenoids.

 

[CayugaJana]

I know this is an old thread but adding for any new readers. I got 5 pekin hen ducklings from Mertzer in Jan 2018 ( it's Feb 2018 now). Healthy, they all had mauve color bills. After 3 wks their bills are orange except one. I'm waiting to see if it changes but so far they are healthy. Maybe pink is the norm and it changes to orange with age.

I had a male and a female who’s bills turned pale peach around 3 weeks old. Then as they grew, they turned back to orange. But I have also seen full grown adults with orange and peach bills. So I’m thinking more than one variable may be going on with Pekins in general.