Extreme Feather plucking

[ThePinksters]

We have 3 pekin and 4 Kahki Campbells all about 6/7 weeks old. We are still not 100% sure if they’re sexes, but voices are beginning to give them away. This evening, my husband noticed one of the KC picking on one of the Pekins, with a few missing feathers. This was only happening in the pool….. hubby went out after dinner to put them in their coop and found the Pekin like this!!! These are our first ducks. We’ve had chickens for a few years now, dealt with feather picking and protein, but never ANYTHING like this! We’ve separated him into a 100 gallon stock tank with a heat lamp and water. We’re feeding Kalmbach duck feed. Can anyone advise on what we may be missing with nutrition? It seems the suggestions for ducks are a little harder to come by than chickens. Space is good, water always available both for drinking and swimming. This is the first incident we’ve had with them not getting along. I’m also shocked at how fast it happened. Went from missing a few to this in 2-3 hrs. Also wondering what first aid he needs if he makes it through the night. Blue coat?

 

[Farmingtonchick1420]

Oh no, that poor thing! I love my birds, but I really hate how vicious they can be! I can't give any advice on nutrition as I've just started keeping ducks myself, but I've dealt a lot with feather plucking with my Polishes. I do what you're doing, isolate and treat with Blu-Kote. It's hard to tell in the picture, but does he have any bleeding? If so, I would clean wound with chlorhexidine before applying the Blu-Kote. I hope he has a quick recovery and gets better soon.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Poor little one, What about the others is this duckling going after any of them? I think this is more than a nutritional issue although if the duck that did this ate the feathers it plucked then maybe. Does it still have its preen glad I can't see it? I am not familiar with this feed but I see many on here use it. What is the protein content?

 

[ThePinksters]

Poor little one, What about the others is this duckling going after any of them? I think this is more than a nutritional issue although if the duck that did this ate the feathers it plucked then maybe. Does it still have its preen glad I can't see it? I am not familiar with this feed but I see many on here use it. What is the protein content?

He’s not eating the feathers that we saw. They were all floating in the pool. I’m not sure what a preen glad is, so I’m not sure. He’s doing better this morning and his skin is much calmer and not so red. He’s eating and drinking fine. We separated the suspect after seeing him go after a couple others this morning. We have two other Rouins that have small bare spots at their back and then this morning another one has been pecked at on the end of the wing. We picked the Kalmbach feed because the niacin content was so high. Protein is 18%.
Thank you for your help!

 

[Miss Lydia]

At the base if it's back where the tail and back meet there should be a small raised area where the oil they use to wax their feathers for waterproofing should be, The oily waxy stuff will be yellow.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't understand why this duckling is doing this. I have seen where in feathers get pulled out and bleed but to pluck one this bad makes me think this duckling has some mental issues going on. By now you should know if the perp is drake or female.

 

[ThePinksters]

Thank you!! Here are a couple of closer photos of his tail. He is preening himself this morning too. I pulled another KC from the mix after watching his go after the Rouin duckling. I will keep a close eye and see if any others are doing this. I’m a little worried about the two KC who are separated. We are only keeping one drake and the rest will go to freezer camp. It may be time to separate the ones we know we aren’t keeping.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I wish I could make circles etc but I am computer dumb. So my guess is that the preen gland is under that clump of feathers right below where the feathers are missing take a peak and see.
Are you hearing any quacking? best way to find out who is who is to pick them up one by one and see if you hear any distraught quacks from being separated.