The Littlest Duckling

[StBob]

I have 5 2 week old Pekin/Cagyua X ducklings. They were brooded by their Pekin momma but currently living inside in a spare bathroom. One of them (I call Pingu) is much smaller than the others. I'd estimate 1/3 of their weight. However he is doing fine and not picked on by his siblings. Does anyone know what the future holds for him (it could be a her)? I am inclined to keep him with Mom&Dad when I move the others. Will he grow to normal size? I think he probably just lacks the genes for super fast growth of domestic breeds and is developing at about the same pace as a wild duck.

This is a photo of little Pingu next to his big sister Star.

 

[Rachele anne]

I can't give u expert advice but maybe like u said the genes are off.. because it's a mix maybe it got a different duck gene then the other but.if it's eating and drinking and other wise healthy besides the size it should be ok and eventually catch up because of its size I would make.sure.u have extra heat offered and gauge it by size not age for amount of heat needed

 

[Free Feather]

I got a baby Cayuga like that once. He/she was the same size as everyone when younger, but as everyone else grew, that duckling remained near the same. I was forced to rehome Samara when he/she was two months old, so I do not know about the future. I hear they will always be smaller.

 

[invertere]

I purchased two Cayuga ducklings that were both (supposedly) females. They were the same size as ducklings but as they grew, one was about half the size as the other. Two days ago she was acting lethargic and she was dead the following morning. The other duck seems healthy and fine. They lived in the same environment, ate the same food, had no access to anything toxic otherwise. It didn't end well for my little duck, but hopefully yours will have better luck!

 

[buff goose guy]

This could simply be a miniature duck, that is how they got some miniature ducks, i believe that it was the appleyard that had an off set of small ducks come out and now we have standard and miniature appleyard ducks.