Fluffed feathers in water?

[Andrea PNW]

I tried to do search on this but I was having trouble so just gonna ask...

Every now and then when I get my ladies in warm water - instead of doing the normal duck floaty thing one of them will puff out all their feathers like they want to get water logged. Like they want to get the water close to all their skin vs just be all sleek and floaty (and hilarious as they play in the water). They do the this for just a little bit - flop around all ungracefully and even sink into the water on purpose a little.

Then after a few minutes they stop and return to their normal duck/water behavior. Since I've seen each of them do it at different times and each go back to normal duckness shortly thereafter - I assume it's a normal duck thing right?

Are they just taking a real bath?

 

[Isaac 0]

That is normal behavior; it tends to be females only, but I have seen males do it as well. Considering that they do it right after getting in the water, it tends to be an "act" they do when they're all-around happy to be bathing in water. I think it also may be an attempt to thoroughly clean their feathers out as well.

 

[416bigbore]

Our Ducks are funny to watch also, the cleaner the water in their pool the better they seem to love it. Then within two minutes of them all playing, it's time to change their water again. Just ducks being ducks.

 

[KaleIAm]

My ducks also do this. They are so fun to watch!

 

[Pollo Blanco]

I tried to do search on this but I was having trouble so just gonna ask...

Every now and then when I get my ladies in warm water - instead of doing the normal duck floaty thing one of them will puff out all their feathers like they want to get water logged. Like they want to get the water close to all their skin vs just be all sleek and floaty (and hilarious as they play in the water). They do the this for just a little bit - flop around all ungracefully and even sink into the water on purpose a little.

Then after a few minutes they stop and return to their normal duck/water behavior. Since I've seen each of them do it at different times and each go back to normal duckness shortly thereafter - I assume it's a normal duck thing right?

Are they just taking a real bath?

I have noticed with my Runners that they will do this style of bathing only when the water is super clean.
So, I am assuming that they are going for a deep clean that they know they can't get from a dirty pool.