A Pekin duck copes with strangers best when she never has to deal with them directly at all. Keep the whole flock together inside the holding, keep visitors outside the fence, and let the white ducks carry on dabbling, preening, and napping as if the audience were weather. A Pekin who is walked toward, reached for, or separated from her flock mates will not settle again quickly, so the whole plan is built around nobody entering her space.
Why visitors frighten a Pekin more than they expect
A Pekin is a heavy domestic duck bred for the ground, not a strong flier, so her instincts tell her that anything large approaching on foot must be outrun on foot. In a holding pen that run ends at a fence, and a flock that piles into a corner can trample or overheat a bird at the bottom of the heap. Loud quacking that rises in pitch, necks stretched tall, and the whole group shuffling as one body away from the fence are the signals that your Pekins have stopped being curious and started being afraid. One calm duck staying by the water while the others bunch is also worth noticing, because she may simply have failed to move with the group.
Arrange the holding around the flock, not the guests
A Pekin duck's holding should give the flock somewhere to go that is not toward the visitors. Place shelter, shade, and the bathing water at the far end from the viewing side, so retreating and relaxing happen in the same direction. Fill the water before guests arrive, because carrying buckets through the pen during a visit means opening the gate and walking at the ducks twice. Scatter a little feed in the grass away from the fence shortly before people arrive, which gives the flock a reason to be busy at the calm end. Never pen a single Pekin alone on display; a lone duck with no flock to read will call and pace no matter how gentle the visitors are.
How visitors should watch a Pekin flock
Guests settle a Pekin duck most by being low, still, and predictable at the fence. Ask them to crouch or sit rather than loom, keep hands down instead of pointing over the wire, and let the ducks approach the fence line in their own time, which curious Pekins often do once nothing has grabbed at them. Children should be told plainly that these ducks are watched, not picked up: a Pekin lifted off the ground kicks hard and can hurt her legs or the holder. Keep dogs away from this holding entirely, even leashed ones sitting quietly, because a duck cannot tell a calm dog from a crouching one.
If the flock startles anyway
A startled Pekin flock recovers fastest when people do the opposite of chasing. Freeze, step back from the fence, and let the ducks complete their rush to the shelter end and reassemble; going in to sort them out restarts the panic. Once they have stopped, look along the group for a bird sitting apart, breathing with an open bill, or limping after a scramble over rough ground. Give the flock quiet and water and check again later rather than catching anyone straight away, unless a duck is clearly injured or trapped, in which case a calm two-person corner with a towel is kinder than a chase. Repeated panic at mild visits, or a duck who stays off her feed afterwards, is worth raising with a veterinarian who sees poultry. Writing the gate role and the flock-watch role into KinsLe Care Teams beforehand means the person watching the ducks is never also the person holding the gate open.