Underweight Pekin

[KimTatum03]

I was looking for some advice on plumping up my Pekin. My male ducks are around one year old and weigh five pounds. The females are around 4.5. How do I plump them up? They are all well.

 

[fatty and friends]

as long as they are happy and eating you don’t need to worry, ducks can be a lot of different weights lol. my jumbo pekin drake is 12 pounds and my khaki drake is 4.5 pounds, both perfectly healthy!

 

[Quatie]

Are you certain they are Pekins and not white layers? Other than size, they look very similar.

 

[KimTatum03]

Are you certain they are Pekins and not white layers? Other than size, they look very similar.

They are suppose to Pekin but now I’m wondering. Hmm

 

[Quatie]

They are suppose to Pekin but now I’m wondering. Hmm

You can also feel their keel bone to see if they are under or overweight. Here is a guideline on how it should feel. https://gaiavets.com/gaia-toast-kopi-talk/check-your-birds-shape

If their keels feel fine, I am guessing you have white layers. White layers are suppose to weigh around 4.5 to 5.75 lbs, which fits with your ducks' weight

 

[CoriM]

Duclairs are also a smaller breed that look just like pekins.

 

[Isaac 0]

Unless you want to plump them up for reasons due to meat production. Keeping them a little leaner will be better for them in the long run. A lot of the health issues with Pekins/layers arise when they get too large.