We had pair that were at least 3 years , when ran over by cars, busy rd., and I was surprised they lasted that long. very poor maternail instinks, both came from a feed store, maybe thats why ? out of 8-10 young none lived over a month, the mom never did figure out what was following her around, is what it looked like to me?

My 2 pekins are 1 and 2 years old. Male and female...I really hope they live longer than that! I was going to let them have hatchlings this spring...maybe I won't. I intend on keeping them healthy,happy and safe,maybe this will prolong their lives. Now I know not to let them wander outside their fenced in living quarters.

Pekins may live slightly shorter lives than other breeds, just because they are large heavy ducks, especially some of the show strains, but they are no where near as short lived as some of the high producing meat bird chickens and turkeys. Whoever told you that they only live for 6 months doesn't know what they're talking about. Their lifespans should still be measured in years rather than months.

There's a good lesson here too, to do your research before jumping into something. Pekins are notoriously poor mothers, to make a generalization, and even if they do hatch a brood, expecting them to be well cared for by the mother is asking for trouble.

I have a male going on 3 and the female is older, but we got her from a farm so we're not exactly sure. As long as you can keep your ducks safe from predators they have a good chance.

It sounds like pekins can live a long and healthy life. I guess what I heard was wrong. Apple, my pekin, only lived about 9-10 months. I took great care of her, but the man we got her from at a trade day, when she was a baby, had lots of other baby ducks too. When we brought them all home a few days after having them they started coughing up foamy white stuff. We got med. and they all got better, but I guess little Apple must have still had the infection in her body and it took over. We tried to save her, but the meds. we got for her just didn't help. She was a sweet little duck.

Pekin is bred strictly as a meat production animal. Mothering instinct has been bred out. Not the best small farm duck IMHO.

I've been raising Saxony's and Production Rouen for 5 years now. Both have been very good mothers, producing decent numbers of eggs, and fairly fast growing meaty young. However, we have found that we realy prefer the eggs to the meat, so we are getting some Kahki Campbells this spring. They can lay up to 320 eggs per year over the first two years.

Dave Holderreade has a very good book on raising ducks in a home flock.