Thinking About Some Pekins???

[liljoshappybirds]

My son has decided he wants to raise some ducks and I am thinking of getting him a pair or four Pekins. I have no clue about ducks as I have never raised them and know no one personally that does. I want him to start with young ones as this is his first 4H project. Beyond the fact that they are white, larger than a chicken, they quack instead of cluck; I know nothing. Please help and give me some advice.
One of my biggest questions is can I house them with my chickens? I have plenty of room for more birds as long as they are no larger than a Pekin? Can they free range like the chickens do? What do I feed them? I have a pond but would prefer they use a small pool by the house so that I can keep an eye on them.

UPDATE: We could not find Pekins within close to 100 miles of our home, so he got a pair of mallards.....got them home last night and everything went well. Had them in the hen house and was trying to catch them to trim wings so that by the time they grew out they would be used to being here and the female hit the door flying and she is GONE! The drake is calling for her but is not leaving the yard......I hope she comes back. I have called all the close neighbors and told them she flew off and to call me if they see her, catch her if possible and I'll come get her. I feel bad because she is a domestic animal, I hope that if she doesn't come back, that someone will find her or she finds a home of her own.....

 

[Kmoreau]

I highly recommend them. I am kind of partial cause they are the only breed I've owned, but I love them. They have the best personalities and are so cuddly and sweet. They think they are like dogs, and even play with my dogs. My female is loud, but hasn't been as loud as some people make them seem. I lived in a townhouse, with neighbors really close on either side, and they don't even hear them..

As far as I know... You can house them with your chickens, but ducks can be messy and wet, and don't keep water clean. So if you make sure the chickens have clean fresh water, and that their food doesn't get too wet or moldy.

Ducks can eat nonmedicated chick starter, chick grower, and layer pellets. I also feed cracked corn and lot and lots of veggies. Mine also free range in my back yard all day, but I do give them food every morning and evening. I only use a kiddie pool, I don't have a pond. I have to dump it every other day, so expect to probably change the water every day for 4 ducks.

Hope that answered your questions

And some pics of my babies

Goose aka goosey goose my drake

Gander Grace aka Grace my female baby

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

I dont know much about pekins, but I have 4 rouens, 4 welsh harlequins, 1 khaki campbell (with 5 khaki eggs in my bator, I need some girls for my drake) and a breeding pair of call ducks. I highly recomend some welsh harlequins, they are so pretty, and soical! I love them! I also have a ancona female that I adore! She is the most soical duck I have beside my rouen duckling puddles. That rouen duckling will cuddle with me 24/7 if I let her!right now I have 6 adult ducks, 1 ancona 1 khaki campbell, 1 male and 1 female rouen, and 1 male and 1 female call ducks. And 1 male welsh and 3 female welsh , and 2 female rouen ducklings, and 5 khaki campbell eggs in my incubator, I want some more khakis but I cant aford ducklings, so im gonna hatch insted. I dont know if this helped.

 

[Springthing]

We have Will and Kate, our two Pekins. They stay with our chickens 24/7 and all get along just great. The food is the same that we use for chicken food. As was mentioned, they do like the water and will dirty it quickly. We have a stock tank that the chickens learned was a no-no for them....I've heard stories of chickens drowning and luckily on the two times we know about chickens getting in the water we were not far away and were able to go scoop both chickens out before they drowned, if they would have drowned. If you do let them have the pond it shouldn't be a problem with your chickens which, I assume, they are around already.

At times in the evenings we will open the outside door to the coop and let everyone come out and play. Both the chickens and the ducks spend their time strutting around, playing, and enjoying the freedom. When it's time for bed everyone just goes back in the coop and wait for us to come and close the outside door and the door to their run....the ducks all do just fine with free ranging.

Good luck with your ducks if you get some!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like everyone has given you great advise but here a link to add to it. The more you know the better. http://feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingDucklings.html

 

[duckking]

We have a 5 week old Jumbo Pekin and Welsh Harlequin we are raising together before we set them loose with our other 5 ducks. Having raised 6 ducklings from day olds, the Pekin and the WH are the friendliest, sweetest, most affectionate of any of the others. We're hoping they stay that way once we integrate them, but in the mean time, we are loving it! They sleep in our laps, follow us around, respond to our voices and attempts at quacking. Personally, I think they are laughing at us.

Go for it. You and your son will LOVE them!!

(And yes, the more you know the better)

 

[BCchick]

I have 4 pekins that we raised right alongside 23 chicks. Same coop, same food, etc. They all get along really well. The main thing, as has been mentioned already, is that ducks are very messy. They love to play in the drinker, they love to splash out the water, they love to make mud and get mud everywhere. We have them a kiddie pool and it must be cleaned out every few days or else it gets really dirty and algae starts to grow. So, in my opinion the ducks are a little more work than just chickens, but we've really enjoyed the ducks. I wish they could be sexed easier at birth though. We got 4 ducklings in the spring, not knowing what they were, and only one ended up being a girl. Now we have 3 mature boys and 1 girl. She gets a lot of action and we are probably going to have to give 2 of our males to a friend.
But they are fun little animals, not aggressive, and very entertaining to just sit and watch. Your son will probably have a ball with them!

 

[stargazingmommy]

My female Peking is a sweetheart. So sweet and friendly.
I raised 4 chicks and 2 ducklings together, until one of my gold brabanter chicks drown in the wading pool.
The best thing I ever did was split them. The ducks are pigs. Sloppy.wet.they like everything wet. The chicks dive for cover at the first raindrop or sight of the hose.

 

[stargazingmommy]

Oh, grass=mud. They like to drill for oil, one day they will make me rich. Aka if you like your yard you may want to confine them.

Ducks can eat medicated chick food. The stuff they used to medicate it with was toxic, they no longer use thy though.

 

[DB_Tex]

I have to throw out a recommendation for Metzer Farms They have a lot of duck info and its a good site to check out to get your first glance at what's available for ducks, as well as a lot of good care information.