Pekins may live slightly shorter lives than other breeds, just because they are large heavy ducks, especially some of the show strains, but they are no where near as short lived as some of the high producing meat bird chickens and turkeys. Whoever told you that they only live for 6 months doesn't know what they're talking about. Their lifespans should still be measured in years rather than months. There's a good lesson here too, to do your research before jumping into something. Pekins are notoriously poor mothers, to make a generalization, and even if they do hatch a brood, expecting them to be well cared for by the mother is asking for trouble.

It sounds like an injury to me. Time is the only cure. Antibiotics don't help injured tendons. With an injured leg and loss of feathers on her wing, I'd guess that something grabbed her, thinking she'd make a nice dinner, and she got away. If she is panting, it could be heat, or it could be pain. There is nothing you can give her as a pain killer. You are going to have to wait it out. Make sure she has shade and water. If it gets really hot, maybe a sprinkler set really low for her to get under during the hottest part of the day. If her leg hurts, she doesn't want to swim. It you have a mist-er, that would work nicely.

Next time change some things. I've raised over 500 birds in an incubator and 100 with hens, but none were waterfowl so I'm not exactly sure what went wrong. About the exploded eggs. Try to stabilize the temperature more during the early stages. Make sure you drake to hen ratio is correct to ensure maximum fertility. Only use clean eggs and I prefer to not wash mine because it removes a natural bacterial film covering the egg. Only wait until 36 days at the most. Try to use two or three thermometers to ensure acurate temerature. Because waterfowl need more humidity than others try to increase the humidity.

Hi Sally, your duck will keep laying until she's filled her nest..meaning anywhere from 8 to 20 eggs! they won't ALL hatch out,but you should leave them for her to care for naturally. Although pekins aren't the best brooders..give her a try at it first,and if after laying plenty of eggs and she's still not sitting...then bring them in and incubate them yourself. I did it with 5 eggs and they all hatched out in my homemade incubator! It was awsome but then soon turned into a HUGE discusting mess in the house and I could hardly wait to set them out with the rest of the pekins! Do you have a safe area for them against predators?