Imprinted Duck not preening his wing feathers

[Spiase20]

Hi Alyssa,

If you don't mind me asking, what region of France are you in? My husband and I plan to move to France in about 1.5 years (he's french) and I am curious as to where there may not be a avian vet.

I'm kinda surprised to here there are so little. When we were in Germany, there were quite a few. I know from experience that a good avian vet is a life saver when you have ducks.

 

[Alycea]

I loved reading about BeepBeep!! My ducks also come running when they see a shovel. I love gardening with them.

Attached are photos of my duck I took just now. One of her terrible flight feathers. She just had a bath yesterday, inside the house in a bathtub in perfectly clean water. She lives in a perfectly clean barn with an attached grassy aviary - so she has no excuse to look like a neglected duck.

The other is of her preen gland. You can see the skin of the, "bump," is healthy pink like the rest of her skin with a little yellow oil on it.

Another thing my vets inquired about when I asked them about my duck's feather quality is her diet. So I suspect the quality of food is another thing to consider.

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Thank you for reading my writing And thank you for the photos. Very helpful. I will check his gland for comparison.

Yes, food is always a possibility. We are limited in our choices of feed, but luckily there is one that is fairly decent. No feeds come with additional niacin, so I add that. And, this time of year especially, I add a calcium treatment when they start to lay eggs. Mealy worms for a treat and protein. And fresh greens. They also are able to forage (supervised) throughout the garden. All of the other ducks (we have 9 in total) are preening normally, even BeepBeep, so I don't think it is the diet, though I would never rule it out. I do make certain that Gabby gets niacin as he needs it more regularly than the others. It makes a real difference too.

It's definitely something specific to Gabby. He can turn his head to stick his beak in he feathers, and does sleep that way. He can rub his head on his oil gland and keeps his head, chest and side feathers in neat fashion. It's just the wings and tail. This makes me wonder if it is because of the different movement. When preening chest feathers, for example, it is a sort of pecking movement. Whilst preening long wing feathers requires running them through their beak combs. Hmmm, (thinking out loud) maybe I need to check his combs to make certain they are okay...

Here's Gabby in December, when he was still fully preening. This not preening is the past month - so again thinking out loud - maybe something to do with mating season, or being a teenager, eg testosterone... (like a teenage boy not cleaning his room).

 

[Alycea]

Hi Alyssa,

If you don't mind me asking, what region of France are you in? My husband and I plan to move to France in about 1.5 years (he's french) and I am curious as to where there may not be a avian vet.

I'm kinda surprised to here there are so little. When we were in Germany, there were quite a few. I know from experience that a good avian vet is a life saver when you have ducks.

Hi. We are in Saone et Loire. Before that we were in Yonne (both in Bourgogne). Neither area had/have an Avian vet. One of our local vets in the Yonne area (near Auxerre) was willing to x-ray, but wasn't comfortable about anything beyond prescribing medication. He was the one who told me about the specialist 'exotic' pet vets.

We were looking after rabbits at that time and one of the rabbits needed an operation. We had to take her to Paris to the 'exotic' pet vet. There are 2 exotic pet vets near Paris. I can't remember where exactly the third is, somewhere south west I think, but I will see if I can find out.

It's always possible that a local vet has some knowledge or willingness, like the one we had in Yonne. Thus far, where we are, we have not found one willing to go beyond prescriptions. We do know some other pet duck owners south about an hour and a half south of us that have a vet willing to be a vet to ducks, as he has own ducks. I can find out a bit more if you like?

 

[Alycea]

Hi. We are in Saone et Loire. Before that we were in Yonne (both in Bourgogne). Neither area had/have an Avian vet. One of our local vets in the Yonne area (near Auxerre) was willing to x-ray, but wasn't comfortable about anything beyond prescribing medication. He was the one who told me about the specialist 'exotic' pet vets.

We were looking after rabbits at that time and one of the rabbits needed an operation. We had to take her to Paris to the 'exotic' pet vet. There are 2 exotic pet vets near Paris. I can't remember where exactly the third is, somewhere south west I think, but I will see if I can find out.

It's always possible that a local vet has some knowledge or willingness, like the one we had in Yonne. Thus far, where we are, we have not found one willing to go beyond prescriptions. We do know some other pet duck owners south about an hour and a half south of us that have a vet willing to be a vet to ducks, as he has own ducks. I can find out a bit more if you like?

I did find this website - which helps find vets for 'farm poultry'. Ducks, and chickens, are just not considered pets here. Really purely farm animals, so its more about treating a flock than an individual bird. Saying that, there are of course some vets who would be willing.
https://geranimo.fr/animaux/volailles-delevage/

 

[Alycea]

I did find this website - which helps find vets for 'farm poultry'. Ducks, and chickens, are just not considered pets here. Really purely farm animals, so its more about treating a flock than an individual bird. Saying that, there are of course some vets who would be willing.
https://geranimo.fr/animaux/volailles-delevage/

And here is a site that you can look up the speciality of bird medicine and surgery (last on the list) which then gives you a list of regions in France that offer this specialty. It's a quick way to see what areas do not have a vet option. And for those that do, I would recommend researching to be sure - https://www.veterinaire.fr/annuaires/listes-des-veterinaires-specialistes.html

It just really is a different mind set here. Pets are cats and dogs. Some vets treat 'new types of pets' which seems to cover reptiles and/or guinea pigs mostly. It's not that they are unwilling to consider other animals as pets, it's that their education does not cover these other animals - they are specialties.

 

[NorthWitch]

Hello all
This is a new one for me. So curious if anyone out there has some ideas or knowledge.

I have a male piebald duck, part mallard part call duck, that is imprinted on me. He is a couple months shy of being 1 year old.

He preens, particularly his chest feathers. I have literally just now seen him use his head to get oil from his gland and preen his side feathers. But, his wing flight feathers are dirty and bedraggled, as is his tail feathers (the ones that wing outward) though not as bedraggles. He is not preening these.

So, you will ask - yes he has access to clean water 24/7. He does hate swimming. If I put him in a paddling pool he literally dog paddles. This is/was true of my other imprinted duck. She does this and still does, but she has no problem washing and then preening from a bowl of water. She has always done. But our young Gabby, varies in terms of washing. Maybe once a week he goes to town and has a full on fling it about bath, from a bowl. But he always seems to neglect his flight feathers.

The rest he maintains well and normally. Oh yes, and he can fly, with no issue. So, why is he neglecting his wings and tail and not the rest? Any one come across this before? He eats normally, talks normally, follows me about or hangs with the other ducks. There are no adverse things going on other than the wing thing.

And last detail, he was hatched here at our place, but was abandoned by his Mum when he developed niacin deficiency symptoms. We took him in and gave him niacin and he recovered, and imprinted as a consequence. So possibly something in the niacin deficiency when young may be part of it? No idea. I have never seen this before and we have had ducks for going on 8 years now.

 

[NorthWitch]

Hello all
This is a new one for me. So curious if anyone out there has some ideas or knowledge.

I have a male piebald duck, part mallard part call duck, that is imprinted on me. He is a couple months shy of being 1 year old.

He preens, particularly his chest feathers. I have literally just now seen him use his head to get oil from his gland and preen his side feathers. But, his wing flight feathers are dirty and bedraggled, as is his tail feathers (the ones that wing outward) though not as bedraggles. He is not preening these.

So, you will ask - yes he has access to clean water 24/7. He does hate swimming. If I put him in a paddling pool he literally dog paddles. This is/was true of my other imprinted duck. She does this and still does, but she has no problem washing and then preening from a bowl of water. She has always done. But our young Gabby, varies in terms of washing. Maybe once a week he goes to town and has a full on fling it about bath, from a bowl. But he always seems to neglect his flight feathers.

The rest he maintains well and normally. Oh yes, and he can fly, with no issue. So, why is he neglecting his wings and tail and not the rest? Any one come across this before? He eats normally, talks normally, follows me about or hangs with the other ducks. There are no adverse things going on other than the wing thing.

And last detail, he was hatched here at our place, but was abandoned by his Mum when he developed niacin deficiency symptoms. We took him in and gave him niacin and he recovered, and imprinted as a consequence. So possibly something in the niacin deficiency when young may be part of it? No idea. I have never seen this before and we have had ducks for going on 8 years now.

We had just went through this and either it’s because he will lose his flight feathers soon so why bother or his preening gland is dirty. Either way you can leave him out of the water for one week and just supply him with a bucket to dunk his head and when he is ready he will start preening again hope this helps as well I give dried mealworms for protein and niacin and sprinkle Diatomaceous earth in his food. I mix it in with equal parts cracked corn and duck pellets with mealworms in a large jar and shake it and feed on demand good luck