Identify the big white duck clearly
A Pekin file opens with the features that separate this duck in a mixed flock: creamy white plumage, a bright orange bill and legs, and a slightly upright, heavy-bodied stance. Photograph the bird from the side and front, record name, age, sex and where it came from, and note any band you use, because several white Pekins together are hard to tell apart. Write down whether this Pekin was bought as a laying duck, a breeding bird or a pet, since that purpose decides which later logs matter most. Add the seller's account of feeding and housing, and any health history shared, so your arrival notes connect to the bird's life before you rather than floating free of it.
Weigh regularly and watch the legs
Growth and leg records are the Pekin's signature pages, because this breed grows quickly and carries real weight on legs that must keep up. Weigh or lift-assess the bird on a steady rhythm from arrival, logging the result beside feed amounts, and note gait every time you handle it: walking keenly, sitting often, waddling wide or reluctant to rise. Record the ground the flock lives on, since constant wet mud or hard concrete asks more of heavy legs than rotated grass or deep bedding does. A Pekin who stops walking to the feeder, sits with legs splayed or pants while resting in mild weather needs prompt vet attention, and a growth log showing how fast condition changed is the most useful evidence you can bring to that appointment.
Record feed, forage and water in detail
Feed entries for a Pekin should be honest about quantity, because a cheerful appetite in a heavy duck quietly becomes excess condition. Note the main ration as fed, treats and kitchen extras, grazing or forage time, and grit access, and review the page whenever the weight log climbs faster than the bird's frame seems to justify. Water logging matters just as much: Pekins need water deep enough to submerge the head for eye and bill health, so record drinker refills, bathing access and any days when water froze, fouled or ran short. If this duck's eyes look crusted, its bill stays caked or feathers lose their clean, waterproof look, those water entries help a vet separate a husbandry gap from a problem in the bird itself.
Follow laying, moult and warm-weather behaviour
If your Pekin is a laying duck, keep a simple egg count with shell quality notes, so judge her against her own earlier weeks rather than a specialist layer's. Log moult timing and feather regrowth, plus any broody behaviour, which is uncommon but not unknown. Warm weather deserves behaviour entries of its own: a heavy, well-feathered Pekin feels heat early, so note shade use, panting on hot afternoons, bathing frequency and any day the bird seemed distressed, alongside what you changed. Those summer pages, kept year on year, become your practical guide to housing this breed, and a duck who deteriorates in heat despite shade and water should be seen by a vet the same day.
Write the summary a helper can act on
Close the Pekin file with the practical page: feed amounts in plain terms, water duties, the leg and breathing signs that should trigger a call to you or the vet, and handling notes, since a heavy duck should be lifted supporting the body rather than by the legs. File seller papers and vet notes behind the growth and daily pages in order. A Pekin changes more in its first season than almost any other duck you will keep, and only a written record keeps that change honest. Stored in the KinsLe Pet Passport, the Pekin's whole story sits in one packet for whoever feeds, treats or rehomes the bird.