Moulting, right?

[CrazyCrttr75]

Y'all.... I went outside to clean the coops and collect eggs etc. today and this what I found in my duck area.
The video is upside down. My phone was being weird I guess.

My poor Xena looks like she's been in a fight, the poor girl! Female ducks moult also right? Not just the males (since their feathers change colors with spring and fall)? Totally normal? My goodness she looks rough! Should I bump up her protein?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes they usually have one hard molt a year where they lose a lot of feathers even flight feathers. And don’t lay while molting. You can add some good quality kitten dry feed over their reg ration for extra protein while molting.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

Yes they usually have one hard molt a year where they lose a lot of feathers even flight feathers. And don’t lay while molting. You can add some good quality kitten dry feed over their reg ration for extra protein while molting.

She is the only one that is going through it at the moment. I think she is a little older than my Annabelle. By using the kitten dry feed, will it adversely affect Annabelle and Noah or will it just "fatten them up before winter" lol. Any particular feed that you'd recommend? I don't own cats so I don't know anything about cat food.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I actually use dry dog feed salmon an pea from Sams club since I have dogs. I don’t know brands of kitten food so if you go that route you’ll just want to buy one that’s not full of fillers. You want quality protein. It’s good for all of them and shouldn’t fatten them up unless you go over board I have 18 waterfowl 19 chickens and add 2 cups between 4 feeding bowls. It’s also a good way to get them to eat out of your hand mine love it.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I certainly looks like a hard molt to me. My ducks are always a bit aggressive during that phase, maybe because their instinct tells them that they can't fly away at that moment? (Not that they could at any other…)
Cat food: I usually buy the cheap store brand with chicken, no sea-food. I remember the first store bought eggs from Aldi (in Germany) as a kid: Obviously the farm fed a lot of (cheap) fish-meal to the hens, the eggs had a fishy smell and tasted disgusting. So no Salmon of sea-food for my duckies.
I have tried the store brand from Aldi, Walmart and Kroger and expensive cat food from Purina. Guess what, my ducks like the stuff from Kroger the best. - Except for the bag, it scares the eggs out of them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am just about as particular about what I feed my critters as I am myself so I don’t buy feed that is full of fillers. I eat the eggs my birds lay and want them to be as healthy as possible. I have birds that live long lives and healthy so I am hoping this has something to do with it. We each do what we think is best for our birds, I am just thinking if I am trying to help my birds through molt I’d rather they be eating quality protein than junk food.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Y'all.... I went outside to clean the coops and collect eggs etc. today and this what I found in my duck area.
The video is upside down. My phone was being weird I guess.

My poor Xena looks like she's been in a fight, the poor girl! Female ducks moult also right? Not just the males (since their feathers change colors with spring and fall)? Totally normal? My goodness she looks rough! Should I bump up her protein?

Yes. . this freaked me out the first time as well.
When they molt their primary flight feathers they pretty much all come out at once. I just happened to be watching one day when one of my call ducks got in the pool and went crazy flapping. . all her flights were gone when she got out

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I am just about as particular about what I feed my critters as I am myself so I don’t buy feed that is full of fillers. I eat the eggs my birds lay and want them to be as healthy as possible. I have birds that live long lives and healthy so I am hoping this has something to do with it. We each do what we think is best for our birds, I am just thinking if I am trying to help my birds through molt I’d rather they be eating quality protein than junk food.

You are correct about the food quality! My duck's main food sources are the foraging area around our house, where are no chemicals applied and their (layer) pellets, which i buy at a local feed mill, a third generation family owned company, using locally produced ingredients whenever possible. - They had a batch of pellets with sunflower kernels mixed in recently, because they were just available at this time of the year. No chemicals or spoiled stuff, they are proud of what they do.
With the treats, however its a different story: Treats are treats and not the main source of my birds diet. My 24 raptor-ducks get ~12 spoons of cat-food/meal-worms per day, that is barely ½ spoon per duck and in my opinion it isn't worth spending too much money on this.
And you are right, if there is a real need to increase the amount of protein for your ducks, a good quality food is better.
As said the cat-food is just a treat for my ducks and treats by default must be unhealthy, bad for you and make you fat! - According to my wife, or else they aren't treats.

 

[chickens really]

She is molting and no you don't need to do anything different as far as feeding the appropriate balanced nutrition...
I do nothing and mine are fantastic during and after molts..