Adult Pekin weight and shape
A fully grown Pekin weighs about 8 to 11 pounds, with drakes tending toward the top of the range and hens a pound or so lighter. The body is broad and deep, held at a noticeable upward tilt, with creamy white plumage, an orange bill, and orange legs set well back under the frame. It is the classic large farmyard duck, and next to a slim laying breed like the Campbell the difference in sheer substance is obvious the moment you pick one up.
Bred to grow fast and finish heavy
Pekins were selected as table birds, and their growth curve reflects it. Ducklings put on weight at a pace few other breeds match, reaching near-adult size within their first few months rather than across a full season. That speed has a management edge: young Pekins need feed formulated for fast-growing waterfowl from the start, and a bird switched too late onto a maintenance diet may already have laid down more condition than its legs appreciate. Fast growth is the breed's virtue and its vulnerability in the same package.
Legs and feet under an 8-to-11-pound frame
The heaviest demand an adult Pekin's size makes is on its legs. Pekin legs and feet are not especially robust for the weight they carry, and grown birds kept on hard, wet, or slippery ground can develop sore feet and strained joints. Give adults soft, dry bedding, ground-level housing they can walk into rather than climb into, and ramps with a gentle slope if a ramp is unavoidable. Swimming water is more than enrichment for a heavy duck: floating unloads the legs, and Pekins use a pool with obvious relief.
Floor space, doors, and feeders at Pekin scale
Everything in a Pekin pen needs to be duck-height and duck-width for a broad bird. Pop-hole doors that suit light breeds can be a squeeze for a full-grown drake, and feeders hung for smaller ducks sit awkwardly low. Adults also eat and drink generously, and they dabble water everywhere, so drainage and bedding turnover matter more in a Pekin pen than the square footage alone suggests. Plan the pen around the mature bird's dimensions from the day the ducklings arrive, because with this breed mature dimensions arrive quickly.
Keeping adult weight where it should be
A grown Pekin's size needs managing in both directions. Because the breed converts feed eagerly, adults left on rich rations with little room to move keep gaining past their proper 8 to 11 pounds, and every extra pound is carried by those same vulnerable legs. Breeding birds in particular should be kept fit rather than fat, since overweight drakes are clumsy breeders and overweight hens lay less reliably. The practical approach is measured feeding for penned adults, as much walking and swimming as the setup allows, and a hands-on check of the breastbone when you handle a bird: it should be feelable under a covering of muscle and a modest layer of condition, not buried or sharp.
Taking on grown Pekins from another keeper
Adult Pekins change hands often, as laying flocks are refreshed and surplus drakes are rehomed, and a bird's weight history tells you a lot about how it has been kept. Ask what the bird weighs now and whether it has had any foot or leg trouble, since that is where a heavy duck's past shows up first. Through KinsLe Transferrable Profiles, an incoming Pekin's profile transfers with the weight and leg-health notes its previous keeper recorded, giving the bird a continuous history rather than a fresh guess.