losing duck feathers

[MyMonsters91]

Is this what molting looks like? One of my female ducks are losing all her neck feathers. None of my other ducks are showing signs of doing so, I checked for mites/fleas/lice and saw nothing concerning, the skin isn't raw... I have no idea what's going on. If it was a wide range problem, you would think it would be showing up on my other ducks, and not just her, which is what is making me think molting.

 

[quackingdom]

How many drakes do you have? How old are the ducks? This sounds like a problem I've run into many times when I procrastinate butchering all my young drakes, and they start practicing mating and tend to gang up on one female. Then they pull the feathers off her neck while trying to get a grip.

I doubt it's molting, because they usually all molt at the same time (if they're the same age), and you shouldn't notice loss of feathers only on the neck.

The picture doesn't look exactly like what drakes do, though...something doesn't quite look right. Maybe others have more suggestions.

 

[Orca5094]

It looks like she's getting in all her new pin feathers in that bald area, so I think it's just maybe an odd-looking moult.

 

[MyMonsters91]

I have one adult drake, and 3 young ones that I haven't seen mating yet. I'm working on rehoming 2 of the younger ones, but nobody is taking them, even for a cheap $3 each >.> I doubt it's from over mating, the older one has plenty of girls to choose from. I've seen the back of their necks when they get over-mated (when I had 2 boys and only 3 breeding age girls) and the skin was raw on the back of their neck. This doesn't look like that, though.

 

[Amiga]

Hmm, could be an odd molt, and for her safety I would watch closely, as sometimes for unknown reasons drakes will pick on one poor female.