Cold/snow bothers ducks feet!

[RebinNH]

Hi! My muscovy drake seems to be bothered some days by snow. He holds his foot off the ground for a while before taking another step. The foot is fine (not bumble or anything) but the color of the webbing turns deep pink instead of the salmon color it usually is. Is that an issue I need to address? They roam all over the yard, so I can put some straw out in a couple areas for them but I know they will walk off it to access other things they're interested in. The females seem not to have this issue.

 

[azygous]

https://www.bangordailynews.com/202...winter-and-other-chilly-questions-xoasq1i29i/

Here’s a brief summary :

"A coldwater duck has special vein structures that exchange heat high up in the leg so that the blood that’s flowing down to the foot is fairly cold (and the blood flowing up into its body remains warm). That way, the foot doesn’t lose much heat when it comes into contact with cold water or ice. It simply doesn’t have the heat to lose.
In addition, bird legs and feet lack a lot of soft tissue and muscles that would require warm blood to function. In fact, the muscles that operate the foot are mostly located higher up in the leg, connected to the bones of the feet with long tendons."

In answer to why your ducks may be walking funny, snow may have a strange feel to it that they aren't used to, so they try to shake off the strange stuff. But, they aren't experiencing any serious discomfort.