Duck flutters or twitches wings…a lot

[Shinshya27]

This is Nina, she has started this little wing twitch or flutter. She does this maybe 70% of the time. Sometimes even when she is sleeping. She is eating and drinking as usual, but she seems thinner. I don’t see her in the pool as much as of late, and it’s been amazingly around 60-65 degrees here! Any ideas?

 

[Jenbirdee]

i had one duck who did this a lot too, for a while. i thought she had wetfeather or something. it turned out she was fine but we decided she was doing it to either dry under her wings or also could be a nervous habit or even can be just to show off . but she stopped after a couple weeks.

 

[Shinshya27]

sry for the late response, life made me late! Ha. I checked her gland, and it looks normal to my untrained eye. Yall mentioned ducks may do this when they are hot….I have been so worried about them getting cold, I have been bringing them inside throughout the day. Could it be just from coming into the warmer house, from the colder outside? I would feel dumb, but that would be fantastic news!

 

[nuthatched]

Age and diet?

 

[Fawkes]

Don't ducks do this when they're nervous or stressed? That's what I've always noticed with mine.

Has anything changed recently in the environment? And is she comfortable with you e.g. she wouldnt be getting nervous around you, she seems to still do it even when you're not around?

 

[Jenbirdee]

you can check her oil gland see if it’s yellow ish and oily . it’s on her back down around where the tail feathers start. if it’s malfunctioning then she may have wetfeather

 

[Shinshya27]

Age and diet?

She’ll be a year in march. Duck crumbles, fresh greens, bit of corn, bit of peas, meal worms

 

[Shinshya27]

Don't ducks do this when they're nervous or stressed? That's what I've always noticed with mine.

Has anything changed recently in the environment? And is she comfortable with you e.g. she wouldnt be getting nervous around you, she seems to still do it even when you're not around?

I hope she’s not nervous with me! That would make me sad. She’s the sweetest and still comes to me whenever she sees me. She did get a small injury on her foot, and I had to put some of the antibiotic spray on it, but that was a few weeks ago

 

[Shinshya27]

you can check her oil gland see if it’s yellow ish and oily . it’s on her back down around where the tail feathers start. if it’s malfunctioning then she may have wetfeather

Oh, I’ll have to check her oil gland! I did notice that after it rained she was very wet looking and her mate wasn’t. I assumed it was a random occurrence. If it’s wet feather, what would be the symptoms and treatment?

 

[Jenbirdee]

Oh, I’ll have to check her oil gland! I did notice that after it rained she was very wet looking and her mate wasn’t. I assumed it was a random occurrence. If it’s wet feather, what would be the symptoms and treatment?

this is an excellent article, scroll down to oil gland