Is this wetfeather; from parasites or what? pics, vid links

[KaleIAm]

Thanks! We have an awesome avian vet, and to be fair to her, she's never seen the duck in question. We've only mentioned it to her while she's been treating other animals of ours. The issue has persisted for so long with no other noticeable ill effects that we kind of just assumed it was her "normal." We're not convinced it's wetfeather, but we are going to go down that path of research now. So thanks!

...and yes, @Isaac 0 rocks! ;-)

If you do take her to the vet, or learn something significant another way, could you let me know? My duck has been struggling with feather quality issues for years. We also have great avian vets, but they aren't very worried about it.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Yes I agree & I would check my geese, they are harder to handle but not impossible and I love them so much. But we did a very thorough inspection today and found no pests on little Buttercup, hallelujah! So I gave her scrambled eggs in case she needs more protein, but she didn't like them So next I'm going to try chicken, maybe turkey, and high protein kitten food I heard is ok to give ducks a little of that too? Maybe organic plain yogurt? Tried serving that years ago to my older ducks once, none of them liked it though. I will put her (and Daffy) in the tub tomorrow, and again the next day and so on. I think these last 2 days are the first ever since they were tiny ducklings that they have not gone swimming. Hopefully she is going to molt soon and maybe already is, but why winter? it's so cold! Thanks for the picture of your precious duck!! Love the hairdo!

 

[KaleIAm]

Yes I agree & I would check my geese, they are harder to handle but not impossible and I love them so much. But we did a very thorough inspection today and found no pests on little Buttercup, hallelujah! So I gave her scrambled eggs in case she needs more protein, but she didn't like them So next I'm going to try chicken, maybe turkey, and high protein kitten food I heard is ok to give ducks a little of that too? Maybe organic plain yogurt? Tried serving that years ago to my older ducks once, none of them liked it though. I will put her (and Daffy) in the tub tomorrow, and again the next day and so on. I think these last 2 days are the first ever since they were tiny ducklings that they have not gone swimming. Hopefully she is going to molt soon and maybe already is, but why winter? it's so cold! Thanks for the picture of your precious duck!! Love the hairdo!

You are feeding Mazuri, which I understand to be a great formula. My avian vet has told me to feed Mazuri and I do as well.

I know that other members here feed their ducks dairy, like plain yogurt, but I choose not to since birds aren't mammals and it isn't a natural food for them. Also, when my ducks were recovering from antibiotics my vet was specific to get them probiotics that had no dairy in them. I have also heard of other members offering small cat kibble in small amounts, but I don't have any experience with that.

My thought is that if Mazuri waterfowl is formulated by avian vets specifically for waterfowl then any additions are likely disrupting those optimal ratios? Perhaps instead of adding things you could take away the scratch feed and reduce the treats? I'm just guessing.

Edit: I forgot to mention, yay about no parasites! And I'm not sure why she would be molting this late either! All mine molt early fall. But ducks never surprise me anymore.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I think you are right <3 And they love the Mazuri! But I don't know why my geese won't eat it. When I tried getting the geese off of Flock raiser crumbles, I put All Flock pellets mixed in and they ate around the pellets. I tried 2 seperate bowls, and they kept dumping over their pellet bowl! I tried Mazuri on their water and they just let it float & turn to mush, in a bowl they dump it out. Again, mixed in with crumbles they pick out the crumbles and leave the Mazuri behind. Silly Geese!

 

[KaleIAm]

I think you are right <3 And they love the Mazuri! But I don't know why my geese won't eat it. When I tried getting the geese off of Flock raiser crumbles, I put All Flock pellets mixed in and they ate around the pellets. I tried 2 seperate bowls, and they kept dumping over their pellet bowl! I tried Mazuri on their water and they just let it float & turn to mush, in a bowl they dump it out. Again, mixed in with crumbles they pick out the crumbles and leave the Mazuri behind. Silly Geese!

How is your duck doing?

I don't know if this will help your geese transition to Mazuri or not, I don't keep geese. But my ducks rejected their Mazuri at first as well. I put it in their water buckets and they literally turned their backs on it. Lol. They had been eating Purina pellets for a couple years and were convinced that the Mazuri wasn't food.

So everyday in their regular bowl I put their regular Purina pellets with just a few Mazuri pellets. The next week I put in in about 1/4 Mazuri, and the next week 1/2 Mazuri. This entire time they ate around the Mazuri and at the end of the day I composted everything remaining. But finally after 3.5 weeks they started eating the Mazuri as well!!

I continued feeding 1/2 and 1/2 for several more weeks and then transitioned to 3/4 Mazuri until we ran out of Purina. Now they love Mazuri and dive bomb it. Silly ducks.

I think geese might be even more set in their ways, so maybe this will be useless for you. But just in case - that is how I convinced my stubborn waterfowl that Mazuri is actually not poison.

 

[Jenbirdee]

TY for asking, Buttercup is doing well and enjoying her time indoors with her once a day bathtub swim and eating only Mazuri/oyster shell/grit (and a teeny bit of lettuce/mealworms) I think I'll keep her inside just a couple more days and then try outside again, and watch how she does. I'm transitioning the rest of the flock to Mazuri only as well, so when she gets outside I won't have other feed available anymore. I've been watching her and her sister preen after they swim, and I still have not seen her use her oil gland... I wonder if she just forgot what to do...? I have to keep watching. The gland absolutely looks and feels healthy, she just isn't using it, I wonder why not.
And yes, silly geese are superduperextra set in their ways, lol. Since I got my goslings last May, I have learned that my ducks and geese are very different in many ways. here's a few;
ducks run away from danger, geese run towards it
ducks wreck lawns, geese trim them neatly
ducks try to stay up late, geese go to bed early
ducks are hard to catch, geese are easy to catch
ducks escape under fences, geese flap-climb over them
ducks are afraid of toys, geese play with toys!
ducks do their own thing, geese follow you around

 

[loofa]

I think that all four of my girls have wet feather (which I also just learned about via this forum - thanks all!) but not my drake. He only over mates one of the girls, so I think I can rule that one out. They do not have deep water to swim in, just a wading pool, which I think I have not been changing the water in frequently enough and am now doing daily. They eat Mazuri, get fresh greens, have access to oyster shells, and forage on about half an acre full of slugs and grubs all day so I don't THINK the issue is nutrition. This leaves external parasites or their water as the main likely culprits right? Am I missing anything else?
• Now that the water is being changed daily, is the wading pool good enough until someday when we can make a pond? Or is it just not deep enough?
• What do people recommend for treatment of external parasites? I've read permethrin on another thread, but then also read that it is toxic to cats and harmful to natural waterways. We have cats AND live on an important watershed natural area so that's out unless you all have different input on it. I'm thinking of doing a parasite treatment just in case.
@Isaac 0 , so much gratitude if you can weigh in here.

 

[Isaac 0]

I think that all four of my girls have wet feather (which I also just learned about via this forum - thanks all!) but not my drake. He only over mates one of the girls, so I think I can rule that one out. They do not have deep water to swim in, just a wading pool, which I think I have not been changing the water in frequently enough and am now doing daily. They eat Mazuri, get fresh greens, have access to oyster shells, and forage on about half an acre full of slugs and grubs all day so I don't THINK the issue is nutrition. This leaves external parasites or their water as the main likely culprits right? Am I missing anything else?
• Now that the water is being changed daily, is the wading pool good enough until someday when we can make a pond? Or is it just not deep enough?
• What do people recommend for treatment of external parasites? I've read permethrin on another thread, but then also read that it is toxic to cats and harmful to natural waterways. We have cats AND live on an important watershed natural area so that's out unless you all have different input on it. I'm thinking of doing a parasite treatment just in case.
@Isaac 0 , so much gratitude if you can weigh in here.

Is the wet feather mainly occurring on the back/ and wings?
I am betting their problem is due to lack of deep water. Preferably we would want deep enough water they can submerge their whole body, as it can be hard to clean their whole body in shallow water.
I would try to figure out a way you can allow them to bathe in deep water, then just monitor for improvement. Depending on how far progressed the wet feather is, they may need to go through a full molt (replacement of feathers).
Microscopically this is what happens when a duck is not bathing sufficiently.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/feather-comparison.1458061/

 

[loofa]

Is the wet feather mainly occurring on the back/ and wings?
I am betting their problem is due to lack of deep water. Preferably we would want deep enough water they can submerge their whole body, as it can be hard to clean their whole body in shallow water.
I would try to figure out a way you can allow them to bathe in deep water, then just monitor for improvement. Depending on how far progressed the wet feather is, they may need to go through a full molt (replacement of feathers).
Microscopically this is what happens when a duck is not bathing sufficiently.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/feather-comparison.1458061/

Okay, I went and looked more closely, and I think that it extends down their sides and is worse than I had realized - I didn't know that wet feather was a thing and thought they were just getting molty. Then the other day I saw that one of them still looked wet after swimming and I knew something was amiss and well, searching brought me here.

Should I do the soapy bathing bit?

 

[loofa]

Update: So we got a bigger tub for them - a 110 gallon plastic stock tank with a drain at the bottom. It's no pond, but it's way better than the kiddie wading pool. They love it, and after only two days of time in deeper water their feathers already look better. Not fixed of course, but better. Thank you so much @Isaac 0