Are Pekin Ducks good for showing?

Yes — the Pekin is shown in the APA's waterfowl classes and is judged mainly on **type and size**: a large, deep, upright bird with clean creamy-white plumage, a yellow-orange bill, and orange legs. Condition matters, so exhibitors wash and keep show birds off muddy ground to avoid stained or yellowed feathers.

How hard are Pekin Ducks to hatch?

Not hard, but different from chickens. Duck eggs take about **28 days** (not 21), you transfer to the hatcher around **day 25**, and you run **higher humidity at hatch**. Because Pekins are poor broodies, you will almost always incubate artificially — follow the waterfowl schedule at /hatching/duck.

Are Pekin Ducks broody?

Rarely. Pekins are **poor broodies** and seldom sit a clutch through to hatch, so plan on an incubator or a foster broody (Muscovy hens are the classic choice) if you want ducklings.

How big do Pekin Ducks get?

They are a **heavy meat breed** — a large, deep-bodied duck with drakes commonly reaching around nine to ten pounds. They grow fast, reaching market weight in roughly seven weeks, which is part of why size and substance are so important on the show bench.

Is the Pekin the same as the 'Aflac duck' or 'Long Island duck'?

Yes. The white duck in the Aflac ads is a Pekin, and 'Long Island duck' on a menu is a Pekin — the breed became the backbone of the Long Island, New York duck-meat industry after arriving from China in the 1870s.

Pekin Duck: The Big White Meat Duck

Q: What color eggs do Pekin Ducks lay?

Large **white** eggs, occasionally with a faint cream or tinted cast. Pekins are prolific layers, but they lay a plain white-to-tinted shell rather than a colored egg like a Cayuga's dark egg.

Verified September 2026White eggs

The short version

The Pekin (American Pekin) is the big white meat duck — the classic Long Island duck and the bird most people picture as the 'Aflac' duck. Developed from stock brought out of China and standardized in the United States, it is fast-growing (reaching market weight in roughly seven weeks), calm and easy to handle, and a prolific white-egg layer. It carries creamy-white plumage, a yellow-orange bill, and orange legs and feet, and is shown in the APA waterfowl classes. The one thing it does not do well is set its own eggs — Pekins are poor broodies, so hatch artificially.

APA class: Duck

Egg color: White–Tinted

Broodiness: Rarely broody

Varieties: 1

Egg-color genetics

Pekins lay a large egg with a white-to-tinted shell. Shell tint varies with the individual hen and where she is in her laying cycle — some eggs come out chalk white, others carry a faint cream or greenish tint early in a clutch — but the breed is not a colored-egg layer the way a Cayuga (dark) or Ancona (spotted) is. For show and hatching-egg buyers, uniform large white eggs are the norm.

Why the Pekin is the meat duck

The Pekin descends from ducks brought out of China in the 1870s and was quickly taken up on Long Island, New York, where it became the foundation of the American duck-meat industry — which is why 'Long Island duck' and 'Pekin' are used almost interchangeably on menus. It is the most common commercial meat duck in the United States and the familiar white duck of advertising.

Its calling card is growth rate and size: Pekins put on weight fast and reach market weight in about seven weeks, finishing as a big, deep-bodied bird — drakes commonly run to around nine or ten pounds. That same size and blocky type is what the exhibition Pekin is bred and judged for.

What color eggs do Pekin Ducks lay?

Large white eggs, sometimes with a faint cream or tinted cast depending on the hen and the point in her laying cycle. Pekins are prolific layers — a good hen lays well through the season — but they are kept for meat and eggs, not for a novelty shell color. If you want a dark or spotted duck egg, look at a Cayuga or an Ancona instead.

Breeding notes

Breed to the heavy meat type: the Pekin is a large, deep, blocky duck with an upright, boat-shaped carriage. Select breeders for size, body depth, and a broad well-fleshed breast rather than for feather color, since the whole flock is one creamy-white variety.
Keep the plumage a clean creamy white and the bill and feet a strong yellow-orange. Cull birds with off-color feathers (rust, gray, or heavy staining), pale washed-out bills, or dark leg smut — these are the color faults judges and hatching-egg buyers notice first.
Pekins are poor broodies and rarely sit a clutch through, so plan to incubate artificially or foster eggs under a reliably broody breed (Muscovy hens are the classic duck foster). Do not count on a Pekin hen to hatch her own.
They are calm and gregarious, which makes a breeding pen easy to manage, but the big body means fertility can drop if drakes get overweight or if you run too many females per drake — provide swimming water for mating and keep the breeders in working condition.
Watch leg and joint soundness in fast-growing birds: because Pekins put on weight quickly, breeders select for strong legs and good balance so exhibition and breeder stock stay sound on land.

Showing notes

The Pekin is exhibited in the APA's waterfowl (duck) classes and is judged primarily on type and size — a large, deep, upright bird with the correct boat-shaped, well-rounded body and confident carriage.
Plumage should be a uniform creamy white with no colored feathers; the bill wants to be a clean yellow-orange and the legs and feet a matching orange. Wash and condition white birds before a show and keep them off muddy ground so the plumage does not yellow or stain.
Because it is a heavy meat breed, weight and substance matter: a Pekin that is small, narrow, or lacking the deep body and full breast will place behind a bigger, better-conditioned bird of correct type.
Do not reproduce the APA Standard's text on the bench — learn the ideal from the standard and your breed mentors, then present a clean, correctly typed bird in good bloom.

Hatching & incubation

Duck eggs run a longer incubation than chicken eggs — common ducks like the Pekin take about **28 days** to hatch, not 21. Cornell's Duck Research Laboratory keeps Pekin eggs in the setter for 25 days, then moves them to the hatcher on day 25 where they finish to a day-28 hatch. See /hatching/duck for the full day-by-day schedule.
Lockdown is later than a chicken's: stop turning and transfer to the hatcher around **day 25**, then hold them undisturbed through pipping and hatch on day 28.
Run higher humidity at hatch than you would for chicks. Cornell steps the hatcher humidity up during pipping (into the ~80% range) after a lower setting stage, which supports the larger, moister duck egg through the shell.
Duck eggs need to lose the right amount of moisture during incubation — roughly 13–14% of the set weight by day 25 — so many hatchers cool and lightly mist waterfowl eggs from about day 10, but stop spraying and cooling after day 25. Do not over-humidify early or the air cell stays too small.
Always cross-reference the waterfowl-specific schedule at /hatching/duck rather than a chicken schedule: temperature, humidity steps, and the 28-day timeline are different.

Recognized varieties

Pekin (creamy white plumage, yellow bill, orange legs and feet)

Frequently asked questions

What color eggs do Pekin Ducks lay?: Large white eggs, occasionally with a faint cream or tinted cast. Pekins are prolific layers, but they lay a plain white-to-tinted shell rather than a colored egg like a Cayuga's dark egg.
Are Pekin Ducks good for showing?: Yes — the Pekin is shown in the APA's waterfowl classes and is judged mainly on type and size: a large, deep, upright bird with clean creamy-white plumage, a yellow-orange bill, and orange legs. Condition matters, so exhibitors wash and keep show birds off muddy ground to avoid stained or yellowed feathers.
How hard are Pekin Ducks to hatch?: Not hard, but different from chickens. Duck eggs take about 28 days (not 21), you transfer to the hatcher around day 25, and you run higher humidity at hatch. Because Pekins are poor broodies, you will almost always incubate artificially — follow the waterfowl schedule at /hatching/duck.
Are Pekin Ducks broody?: Rarely. Pekins are poor broodies and seldom sit a clutch through to hatch, so plan on an incubator or a foster broody (Muscovy hens are the classic choice) if you want ducklings.
How big do Pekin Ducks get?: They are a heavy meat breed — a large, deep-bodied duck with drakes commonly reaching around nine to ten pounds. They grow fast, reaching market weight in roughly seven weeks, which is part of why size and substance are so important on the show bench.
Is the Pekin the same as the 'Aflac duck' or 'Long Island duck'?: Yes. The white duck in the Aflac ads is a Pekin, and 'Long Island duck' on a menu is a Pekin — the breed became the backbone of the Long Island, New York duck-meat industry after arriving from China in the 1870s.

Sources

Pekin Ducks (breed history, weight, and description) — Oklahoma State University — Breeds of Livestock (University extension)
Hatching Duck Eggs (28-day incubation, setter/hatcher, humidity) — Cornell University Duck Research Laboratory (University extension)
Duck Egg Incubation and Hatching Guide for Home Hatcheries — Metzer Farms (Hatchery)

More breeds & tools

Browse all Duck breeds.