French Rouen changing colors?!

[SkeeterandLenny]

hi there! I’m in south Texas and have two French rouens as pets.
They hatched 06/16/18 and both developed their adult feathers, revealing that they’re both males.
Backstory on them: We purchased them from TSC and they don’t check gender, just ship 11 per order and it’s a crap shoot! We have a local zoo and we donated 9 to their aviary since we were hit directly by Hurricane Harvey 08/2017 and tragically lost some of their flock. The two we kept are named Skeeter and Lenny. So these two are fat and happy in the backyard but in the past month, Skeeter started moulting and has lost most of his gender specific feathers. Lenny is still carrying all of his though. What gives? Is this normal? Is Skeeter having an identity crisis?! They’re healthy and have not changed behaviors-wise either. I’ve attached one of them before Skeeter’s transformation and after...

 

[Cayuga momma]

Looks like your one drake got his eclipse plumage. They will molt and lose their bright colors for duller colors to blend into the environment better.

 

[Jpat]

Looks like your one drake got his eclipse plumage. They will molt and lose their bright colors for duller colors to blend into the environment better.

What season do they naturaly eclipse? and when do the green heads come back?

 

[SkeeterandLenny]

Looks like your one drake got his eclipse plumage. They will molt and lose their bright colors for duller colors to blend into the environment better.

Will it come back in the future and is it in response to us having two males and no females? He had such a beautiful bright green head! I hope so!
They get along 99% of the time, occasionally Lenny picks on Skeeter but not regularly.

 

[WVduckchick]

Beautiful boys!!

Here's a thread with several links of information, and lots of pretty drake pictures in both plumages.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/drakes-eclipse-nuptial-plumage-pics.1258939/

 

[SkeeterandLenny]

Beautiful boys!!

Here's a thread with several links of information, and lots of pretty drake pictures in both plumages.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/drakes-eclipse-nuptial-plumage-pics.1258939/

Thanks!

 

[Cayuga momma]

What season do they naturaly eclipse? and when do the green heads come back?

They usually get eclipse plumage after mating season. Since they don't have any females this drake probably molted early. They will stay this color until their flight feathers grow back. It could be a few weeks to a few months for them to get their bright plumage back.