Feathers not drying! Duck not using oil gland.

[RebinNH]

I have a (new to me) almost adult (5 months) muscovy duck who looks mangy. Her feathers are ragged from over mating at her last home (farm). She was the smallest and probably got picked on a lot, as she definitely often takes the position when my drake comes up to her.

She likes to bathe (sometimes more than once a day) as do my other 2 ducks but keeps going back in for more when her feathers never seem to get dry until much later (hours) and she preens and preens (spends way more time than the other 2 ducks) but does not use (that I observe) her oil gland. I looked at it today and it is yellow and does not seem like it has an issue. What should I do? I am concerned with very cold night that if she doesn't dry completely she'll get way to cold at night here in NH.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@BelovedBirds @New duck mommy 2021 can you help?

 

[Summer_]

I personally haven’t had this happen, but I’ve read on other posts here to wash with dawn dish soap. I would personally wait for the experts to arrive, because I am not sure of this.

 

[BelovedBirds]

I have a (new to me) almost adult (5 months) muscovy duck who looks mangy. Her feathers are ragged from over mating at her last home (farm). She was the smallest and probably got picked on a lot, as she definitely often takes the position when my drake comes up to her.

She likes to bathe (sometimes more than once a day) as do my other 2 ducks but keeps going back in for more when her feathers never seem to get dry until much later (hours) and she preens and preens (spends way more time than the other 2 ducks) but does not use (that I observe) her oil gland. I looked at it today and it is yellow and does not seem like it has an issue. What should I do? I am concerned with very cold night that if she doesn't dry completely she'll get way to cold at night here in NH.

Could you get a photo of her? Im wondering if she could possibly be going through a moult too. Do you know if she had access to a pond before? Or if she had a good diet?

Does she have constant access to the pool now? Does she get completely soaked, or just a little wet?

If her oil gland is yellow, it isnt blocked, so that should all be fine. Some recommend doing a bath with dawn dish soap, but this actually strips the oils from the feathers, so is pretty counterproductive. A warm bath and being dried after achieves the same thing

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

This happened to my pekin duck last year
I took her in to the kitchen sink and washed her with dawn dish soap
Then took paper towel to dry most of her then used a blow dryer to dry completely
After this keep her from pools or ponds for 24-48 hours
My girl would use the water dish to splash herself but not swim in
After that it never happened again

 

[RebinNH]

Could you get a photo of her? Im wondering if she could possibly be going through a moult too. Do you know if she had access to a pond before? Or if she had a good diet?

Does she have constant access to the pool now? Does she get completely soaked, or just a little wet?

If her oil gland is yellow, it isnt blocked, so that should all be fine. Some recommend doing a bath with dawn dish soap, but this actually strips the oils from the feathers, so is pretty counterproductive. A warm bath and being dried after achieves the same thing

I'll try to post a pic today after she gets soaked again (to the skin), which she does all the time. She was pretty much a rescue from a farmer's failed attempt at ducks. He had 60 in a pen with hardware cloth all around (and above) and a mud with feces floor. No pond and no idea of the diet - I did ask and didn't get an answer. This small hen was picked on a lot and she suffered and came to me with broken wing feathers and just dingy from all the muck. After 3 weeks she finally is cleaning up some - getting more white. Her larger sister (Luna) is all white and is really good at running from my drake (Jupiter), so I assume that is why she was in better condition, though it took her a few baths to finally clean up and be pretty again.
Anyway she (Fern) preens and preens (spends SO MUCH time doing that) but just does not seem to get her gland involved. The other day when I held her and looked at her oil gland - stroked it a bit, she almost immediately laid an unformed egg....?!

I think I'll try the warm water and drying (may even use a hair dryer a bit unless it freaks her out too much - she is a bit nervous, as it is). I think I agree about dawn. I use it in gardening (it kills bugs) and it will strip any oils she has (if any) for sure.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I have a (new to me) almost adult (5 months) muscovy duck who looks mangy. Her feathers are ragged from over mating at her last home (farm). She was the smallest and probably got picked on a lot, as she definitely often takes the position when my drake comes up to her.

She likes to bathe (sometimes more than once a day) as do my other 2 ducks but keeps going back in for more when her feathers never seem to get dry until much later (hours) and she preens and preens (spends way more time than the other 2 ducks) but does not use (that I observe) her oil gland. I looked at it today and it is yellow and does not seem like it has an issue. What should I do? I am concerned with very cold night that if she doesn't dry completely she'll get way to cold at night here in NH.

I used the dawn and it worked 100 %
She doesn’t have oil on her or she wouldn’t be soaking wet
This isn’t something I just read and post about
I did this and it was amazing
My duck was able to put new fresh oil on her feathers
This was almost a year ago in a few weeks and has never had the issues since
See when she has old oil with gosh knows what in it the new oil will be rejected and wash right off not keeping her dry
She needs the old oils off so the new oil can stick

 

[HollowOfWisps]

While I have never had Muscovies @Miss Lydia, @ruthhope do and might be able to better assist. From what I have heard they are much more prone to wet feather issues than mallard derived breeds.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I've never used Dawn on my ducks but i do know that Muscovy can get wet feather I had 2 solid white with blue eyes to get wet feathers every year at end of summer then they would go into molt and new feathers would be beautiful. One did have an oil gland issue but I used warm compresses and got it cleared up.

You could try dawn and see if it helps. Do you notice any feathers laying around like she may be in a molt? She won't be in her big one like she'll have next year where she'll lose her wing feathers but she may be having a small molt. When she preens she never rubs her head over her oil gland?

 

[ruthhope]

My muscovy haven't had wet feather. One drake is a stinker who wont go into the kiddie pool, but he does make up for it in preening and "dab washing" with water from his drinkign water pot.