Duck molting question

[BrukeyBrooke]

Hi y’all!

I have had ducks for a about a year and haven’t seen (been aware of) a formal molt yet. My youngest crew is about 8 months old and a few of them have been losing feathers on their chest. I have read all sorts of posts about feather replacement in other areas, but I haven’t found anything specific to the chest area being molting. I have seen bullying before, and that tends to result in feather loss on the upper back and between the wings from what I have seen. See Mrs. Eggman below, who seems to have the worst of it. I considered broodiness (we had another we just had to break), but I haven’t seen this one sitting. Any thoughts?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Drakes molt 2x a year normally while some (not all) hens will only molt in the spring. When a hen molts it's usually not as drastic as a drake and fairly minimal. Sometimes it just looks like a feather or two are out of place.

 

[BrukeyBrooke]

So this does not look like molting?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

So this does not look like molting?

Your hen looks like she's is molting just very minimal like many hens.

 

[BrukeyBrooke]

I should add that she has displayed no signs of being in pain or injured. She has been acting a little moody like she’s broody, but I have not seen her sitting.

 

[BrukeyBrooke]

Your hen looks like she's is molting just very minimal like many hens.

Okay great - I was thinking it looked drastic. Thank you for the reply!