Question on ducklings...

[maralynn28]

I just have to say..... I LOVE LOVE LOVE your ducky names!

That's awesome.

 

[Kekko]

We got nine of the Jumbo Pekin ducks this year also. They will be 5 weeks old on the 24th (next Monday). I too was surprised by the speed they are growing. They are like miniture vacuum cleaners when you feed them. We have been putting them out in an enclosed wire pen during the day when the temperature is from the high 50’s to mid 70’s but putting them back in an enclosed coop at night temperatures high 30’s to mid 50’s. When they were 4 weeks old we dropped the high protein feed and went to a 16% feed. They get fed twice a day morning & night. During the day they get all the grass they can eat and we give scrap lettuce when we can get it from the store’s produce department. They have a Wal-Mart kiddy pool in their pen along with a shelter made out of straw bails. If the darn weather would straighten up we would like to leave them out at night as they are so messy in the enclosed coop. We plan on butchering six of them this fall and keeping two hens and a drake to breed next year. I'll try to get some updated pictures of them outside sometime today.

This is the Jumbo Pekins at 22 days old!

 

[Wifezilla]

 

[Miss Red]

Good to know mine aren't just super growers! Our babes are two days apart in age. How much are your jumbos weighing? They're adorable. Do they seem to stress out over everything? The temps where you are are much lower than they are here so I don't think me asking about over-heating would get a similar response...

Cute ducks.

 

[Kekko]

Sorry I didn’t get back to this post sooner! I’ve been busy trying to save baby Turkeys from the cold snap we have had the past four days. Temps have dropped at night to lower 30’s and daytime temps in the mid to high 40’s. D*** weather is crazy this year! They have to be at least three pounds but I’m terrible at guessing weights! Their feathering out good now and I would love to leave them out at night if the weather would warm up to the mid to high forties at night. We are putting them out during the day unless it’s really nasty. A neighbor kind of dropped these on us as day olds. I think the nine would eat a fifty pound bag of food in one day if you gave it to them. We have two Silver Appleyard ducklings that our hen hatched out and they don’t eat anything compared to the Pekins.

Day Old Silver Appleyards!

 

[Miss Red]

They're adorable!

I re-weighed my ducklings today, on a fish scale in a bowl. It was very awkward for all of us. According to the fish scale Cheech weighs just over 5 lbs and Chong just under 7.

 

[Kekko]

I’m terrible at guessing weights, I can only guess within 5 pounds on a 3 pound hen!

Here are some pictures of our 5 week old Perkins in their outside pen. Along with our two five week old Sebastopol geese!

 

[Miss Red]