Duck shedding

[Learning101]

My duck shed a lot, and his neck looks almost bald. Is it normal? He seldom eats the pellet I give. Not after much coaxing. He used to eat everything I gave but now he tends to be very cautious with food he puts in his mouth except for grapes and mealworm. Is there anything I can do to boost his appetite.

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

Could he be molting?

 

[Learning101]

He molts a lot recently but I don’t know it could be this extreme until small patch of his neck has almost gone bold. Could it be the feed that has not been nutritiously balanced? He’s reluctant to touch the feed if I put anything he’s unfamiliar with. Not that he’s unfamiliar with, he’s used to enjoy those when he’s young but now he tends to reject almost everything - the carrot, cucumber, cabbage, pumpkin all finely chopped.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you only have this duck? Just wondering if someone might be doing the mating thing by grabbing neck feathers?
Drop all extras and just put his feed out. You can try wetting it and see if that entices him to eat. Just try a small amount though so your not wasting it by letting it sit out and start growing mold. It may take him a while to start back eating his feed again but if he gets hungry enough he will.
Some birds aren't crazy about pellets so maybe try crushing the pellets and feeding that way?
Of course if I only gave my ducks mealworms and grapes they probably wouldn't be that crazy about eating their feed either.
How is his health overall? does he interact with your other ducks assuming you have more?

 

[Learning101]

His overall health looks fine to me. He’s just a bit thinner than usual and less crazy about feed. And he’s still as aggressive as ever with his poke. Just today I realized I had been feeding him the wrong feed. I fed him duck layer with 3% of calcium which I believe he does need this much. He’s my one and only. So we can basically rule out he being grabbed by the neck. I just want the best for him.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Def get him off layer. Maybe a new feed and not pellets will help him get back to eating again.