Tractor Supply Duckling Question

[MeganFair]

So, we recently got some revenge chickens (tl;dr: Our neighbor hates us, shot our dog, we passive-aggressively decided that more birds was the best way to give him one,) and my daughters asked to get pet ducklings while we were at it. So, at our local TSC we picked up four ducklings I had assumed were all Pekins.

However, when I really started looking at them on Monday, I noticed that we had a couple that were big and a couple that were small. I mean, there’s one chunky monkey who is at least double the size of the smallest one. He’s a PEKIN, no doubt about it. He’s got to be at least a pound already and he’s less than two weeks old. But, the smallest one is only a little bigger than the “Amaraucana” chicks we got. He does have a little dark patch on the top of his head, but the smaller two look exactly like Pekin ducklings - all yellow, pinkish orange bills and feet. When I looked on TSC’s website, they apparently get their chicks from Hoover’s Hatchery. Hoover’s mentions a hybrid white layer they sell. The white layer is apparently smaller than the Pekins.

Is there anyone who has ever gotten/seen these ducklings? Am I thinking correctly that the smaller ones are Hoover’s hybrid layers? Or do Pekin ducklings come very small? All of the ducklings appear to be the same age.

 

[Raenh]

Pictures, please

 

[MeganFair]

Sorry this isn’t the best quality. Heat bulbs do ruin pictures. It’s hard to see, but the ducklings in the back? The little guy is the one in the fore, and the big Pekin is the one standing right behind him. This still doesn’t fully capture how big the big one is, but I can snap some more pictures tomorrow if it helps.

 

[Texag87]

Hard to tell with the light but you may have hit the jackpot with a rare runner from TSC

 

[Miss Lydia]

@CrystaBub has a white hybrid

 

[CrystaBub]

You could have a couple of things going on with the white ones. You could have different ages - I got 2 ducklings from TSC last year - we later found out they were Runner and White Layer - but the Runner was bigger than the WL which shouldn't have been the case. We decided it was because they were about a week apart - different shipments into TSC. WLs are smaller than Pekins - and they have a pink bill - a very pink bill - as ducklings. Whatever you have, they sure are cute!!!

 

[CrystaBub]

Oh and if they are white layers, lucky you - they are as cute as Pekins but w/o the weight/leg issues LOL.

 

[MeganFair]

@CrystaBub Thanks for the info on white layers! I do have a question, do their bills start to turn yellow as they age? My second smallest might be a white layer because I’m pretty sure they’re all the same age. It is possible for him to be a week younger than the other two, but they look to all be about three weeks old based on their feather development when I checked Pekin duckling pictures by week. The other two had pretty pink bills, but they’re rather large. I don’t think my Silver Appleyard was that big at three weeks, so I’m pretty sure the big two are definitely Pekins.

@Texag87 I think you might be right about the littlest one. After I saw the post notification the other day, I went back and took another picture. That head profile looked awful Runner-like.

 

[Texag87]

@CrystaBub Thanks for the info on white layers! I do have a question, do their bills start to turn yellow as they age? My second smallest might be a white layer because I’m pretty sure they’re all the same age. It is possible for him to be a week younger than the other two, but they look to all be about three weeks old based on their feather development when I checked Pekin duckling pictures by week. The other two had pretty pink bills, but they’re rather large. I don’t think my Silver Appleyard was that big at three weeks, so I’m pretty sure the big two are definitely Pekins.

@Texag87 I think you might be right about the littlest one. After I saw the post notification the other day, I went back and took another picture. That head profile looked awful Runner-like.
View attachment 1708688

This was our runner at about two weeks.

 

[CrystaBub]

@CrystaBub Thanks for the info on white layers! I do have a question, do their bills start to turn yellow as they age?

Hi and yes after a few weeks their bills don't look much different than the rest. I had to go back and look at baby pictures to make sure.