Help!!!

[LLCoyote]

Ok, I'm freaking out! My duck that I just bought looks fairly heathly. She has bright eyes, no discharge. I've never owned ducks before so don't laugh. All of the sudden she is looking her feathers, but not just a little bit. She's stopped laying eggs and loosing a LOT of feathers. She almost has no wings left! I know ducks molt but at what extent do I need to contact my vet?

 

[Kevin565]

This sounds fairly normal to me. My ducks look very bare when they molt.

 

[AdamD77]

It's fine! The moult is normal. Only worry when they lose feathers out of moult, or lose a patch of them - one of my girls acquired a large bald patch on her chest over a couple of days. We figured out it was the boys pulling her through the fence that separates them, so we put a finer mesh over and it stopped getting worse. Now she's moulting and has regrown a lovely new patch

I think ducks are one of the few species which loses all their flight feathers at once instead of one or two at a time to be able to sustain flight throughout the moulting period. You'll find they suddenly drop all their flight feathers at once!

 

[Amiga]

I agree it sounds like a regular molt - they can look a bit scraggly for a while. Bless you for caring enough not to assume she's okay.

Could you upload a picture so we can all be sure?

 

[LLCoyote]

Ok good news, me being extremely parinoid took the duck to the vet. He said that everything was normal and showed me new quills trying to grow in. Just to be sure she had a vitamin shot or something of the sort and she is perfectly healthy and happy back with her two friends.