Is this wet feather?

[Debby Duck]

Three of my 1 year old ducks look like this. A fourth one in the 2nd picture isn't quite as bad but his feathers are not laying flat like they used to.
The three that are looking bad have the shaft on their wing feathers bare at the ends. They are always damp on the wings too and show many of the symptoms, tail shaking, preening a lot. I've also noticed on one, his wings seem to twitch a lot.
Their bedding is dry, we clean it every day. And they do swim in a pond all day.
From what I've read if it is what I suspect, it's going to be difficult to treat 4 ducks who don't like being handled.

But maybe it's not even wet feather?

 

[fatty and friends]

looks like they are molting

 

[Debby Duck]

Thank you everyone. I don't know what I'd do without this forum. You all are the best!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Here are two of mine. This girl keeps herself pretty nice and doesn't let any other ducks bother her. My guy is handsome, but you can see his tail is tattered. Once he molts he will look very spiffy.

 

[KaleIAm]

Here's my duck with wet feather. My duck was wet for hours after getting in water and water didn't roll off her. Her vet did not recommend the soap bath. Her vet discussed nutrition with me, and checked her preen gland.

 

[GranderTheGander]

But don't domestic ducks loose some of their waterproofness when they are molting? It's summer and their feathers look exactly like they are molting. Ducks also can act different while molting--much more preening, tail shaking, etc. Molting can make them feel very uncomfortable. I once met a Call duck breeder who had a female who would plop down on her back sometimes when she was molting! He would just go and set her back up on her feet.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

If you're only basing it on how the feathers "feel", I think that would be inaccurate for wet feather. My ducks "feel" wet to the touch almost all of the time. Their feathers are not dry and fluffy like a chicken's.
The photos that are originally posted do not look like wet feather at all - except KaleIam's photos which is a great example of wet feather.
However, if you do treat for wet feather, clean the preening gland using a soap that is tough on oil and massage with warm water. Then remove all bathing water and only allow water that they can't bathe in (but can get their heads in) for about a week or so. If they continue to have access to the water to bathe in, the wet feather will never clear up.

 

[Debby Duck]

All 4 are drake's. And their feathers are definitely not soggy wet like yours were KaleIam. They just stay damp and brittle as you can see on the new picture I took. I should mention that we're in our rainy season now so there's that.
I guess this would be their first real molt, so I don't know what it should look like. They turned 1 year old just this month. They lost a lot when their adult feathers came in but its probably not the same.

Since we had him for a picture of the wing, we took a look at the preen gland. I don't know what it should be like so I got one of that too, and a gif from the video.

Does it look normal?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Like I said, I have muscovies. Except for one case of wet feather, my ducks feathers are really nice looking after the full molt. But, once breeding season starts the feathers get a little ragged. Drakes can weigh 12 pounds or more and the hens are around 8. I'm not sure about all muscovies, but mine pester each other and like to grab tail feathers as they walk by. I've had them for over 3 yrs now and they all do it. Maybe a learned behavior within my flock?
So, as the seasons go by the ducks look more tattered until they molt again. I love the way they look right after their new feathers come in, but it doesn't last long with my crew.

Edited to add that muscovies do love water, but they don't use it all of the time like mallard derived ducks. Maybe that's the difference as well.

 

[Debby Duck]

That preen gland looks great to me. Here's Thimble's, after being looked at by the vet and declared healthy. But it is just me holding her and photographing so the photo isn't great.

View attachment 2743617

That's a great wing photo. My girls, aside from Thimbleberry who had such poor feather quality, have never looked like that before molting. Their feathers do look less pristine than right after molting, but not even close to that ragged. I'm absolutely not saying it isn't the case for some ducks, clearly it happens to Crazy Mazie's ducks.

Unless your ducks are having thermoregulation issues I might just wait for them to molt their feathers and grow nice new ones. If they have problems after that you'll know there is an issue. Thimble had issues a few weeks after molting.

For all my molting ducks one day I just suddenly notice long flight feathers on the floor of the barn. It takes about 3 days for them to drop them all. Then they look really silly and naked while growing them back for a few weeks.

Oh good. I guess I consider them looking worse than they are because I'm comparing them to what they used to be. Like you said, all pristine.

"Then they look really silly and naked while growing them back for a few weeks."... And their crests were finally just filling in again after beating each other up the whole mating season. Oh well!