Questions for Pekin duck owners

[bridgetchicken]

1) What age do pekin ducklings stop chirping so loudly?

2) When can you remove a heat lamp for pekin ducklings?

3) How high can pekin ducks jump/fly?

4) Is a 30 inch tall dog play pen sufficient enough to keep them confined to a certain area in the backyard during the day time?

5) Do pekin ducks return back to their coop at night, or do you have to herd them back to their coop?

 

[crowcrash]

1) What age do pekin ducklings stop chirping so loudly?

2) When can you remove a heat lamp for pekin ducklings?

3) How high can pekin ducks jump/fly?

4) Is a 30 inch tall dog play pen sufficient enough to keep them confined to a certain area in the backyard during the day time?

5) Do pekin ducks return back to their coop at night, or do you have to herd them back to their coop?

1) After their first couple of days, if their needs are met, they should settle and not be loud too often except for the occasional upset - unless you are “mom,” then they’ll want to be with you 24/7. I raise babies in my laundry room so that they aren’t constantly startled or wanting to be with me. If they are too hot/cold or constantly out of water, they will call for you more. Between 5 and 10 weeks, the peeping can get very loud as they quickly grow into adult bodies with baby voices. They grow up so fast though, it’s just a small bump in the road when raising Pekins.

2) This just depends on the temperature of your region or home. For jumbo Peks, a spot at 80F for the first month is just fine. The general rule is until they have feathers on their body (especially if you give them bath water, as they will chill easy if their downy is wet). Lamp height will need to be adjusted if you don’t have a thermostat. I use ceramic heat emitters so there is no light at night.

3) Pekins barely master walking, they are not athletic at all. When you make a pool and coop for them, make sure there are low steps for them, because they will stumble face-first into everything. This also makes them very susceptible to predators.

4) I wouldn’t recommend it except temporarily and under supervision. Once you have young ducks outdoors, you will see predators popping out of the woodwork (especially stray cats). And that amount of space would be very boring to adult Pekins, who like to forage and swim.

5) Some ducks will go back to a house, most have to be coaxed or bribed. My Pekins are in a covered enclosure so I don’t even bother - sometimes they get up for a midnight swim!

 

[ruthhope]

1) What age do pekin ducklings stop chirping so loudly?

2) When can you remove a heat lamp for pekin ducklings?

3) How high can pekin ducks jump/fly?

4) Is a 30 inch tall dog play pen sufficient enough to keep them confined to a certain area in the backyard during the day time?

5) Do pekin ducks return back to their coop at night, or do you have to herd them back to their coop?

I agree with most of @crowcrash's comments above.

We do not have jumbo pekins, my son has pekins and I currently have one pekin with my Muscovy. Mine are all rescues or rehomes.

My son has a very noisy little crested girl and she can fly -- across the back yard across the heads of her brood mates -- but she cannot gain height. His pekins cannot get out of his back yard which has a 4 ft fence.

My pekin drake -- also crested, by coincidence -- is tightly bonded with one of my muscovy. He is very athletic -- up and down our back steps and able to jump up onto the raised roost in the coop. It never occurs to him that he can't jump and climb as his muscovy buddy jumps up onto the raised roost, and all the drakes are up and down the back steps. The pekin is actually more agile than the muscovy coming down the steps. He cannot fly. He can't get out of my back yard which has a 6ft wooden fence around 3 sides and a 4ft chain link with gates on one side.

So your sweet little fluffies might be rather more mobile than @crowcrash suggested, particularly if they are in with other ducks that are active. My son's pekins, and my previous two rescued pekin drakes that have gone to their "forever home" are total waterbabies. They are in the wading pool and any other water source all day. They also love foraging

 

[9ducksinacardigan]

1) What age do pekin ducklings stop chirping so loudly?

2) When can you remove a heat lamp for pekin ducklings?

3) How high can pekin ducks jump/fly?

4) Is a 30 inch tall dog play pen sufficient enough to keep them confined to a certain area in the backyard during the day time?

5) Do pekin ducks return back to their coop at night, or do you have to herd them back to their coop?

1) i don’t remember when mine stopped chirping so loudly, i think it was after less than a week since we always took care of their needs and they started cuddling each other once they trusted us

2) i live in a warm environment so we didnt have a heating lamp for them for long, maybe a week to two weeks?

3) not sure how high but pekins are breed for meat, which basically makes them fatasses by nature. they cant really lift themselves up to fly, my female can jump and glide a bit while the others can just jump a little higher than a foot

4) u should get them a bigger pen, we have a large fenced in outdoor pen for them currently. but before they could be outside they had a large pen on our porch. pekins love to forage so letting them wander in a safe and fenced off environment can help them a lot

5) some ducks do some ducks dont, pekins can easily get into a routine of going to bed though. i always put then up before sun down and whenever they see me come out as the sun is setting they automatically move towards their ramp into the house, they hesitate a bit as if to see if im doing something else and they dont need to go in yet, but once they know im coming because its bed time they’ll walk right in. one night i was late to put them up and when i came out they were already in there and cuddled up for bedtime, all i had to do was shut the door and lock it. while another time i was later due to problems and i was hoping they had done that again but instead they were splashing in their pool and digging in the mud.