Much needed duck and drake advice please

[Anna Ranieri]

What your seeing is juvenile molt after downy feathers were replaced with Baby feathers. Now they will grow in the actual adult colours they are meant to be...Then after breeding season the Drakes will eclipse...

Will my Khaki females change in colour at all too?

 

[chickens really]

This is fascinating - really looking forward to experiencing all this with my boys - I know wild mallard heads turn blue during mating - mine are Mallard type Runners does this mean my Runners heads will turn blue too? Also will they lose their actual drake curl feather during eclipse?

Hmmm?..Never heard of that happening to Mallard Drakes or seen it?..I'm in Alberta and Mallard are a dime a dozen here. Yes, the Drake curls are shed and Drakes are calm during eclipse..

 

[chickens really]

Will my Khaki females change in colour at all too?

No..They get shabby and molt..

 

[chickens really]

Hens already look like Hens so no difference..

 

[PirateGirl]

Will my Khaki females change in colour at all too?

Females are typically the same color all the time, unlike drakes. There is some color change that happens through the year, khakis are known to lighten, the way our hair gets bleached by the sun. Breeds that are white with another color tend to have more white feathers after every molt over the years and less of their other colors. Some blue breeds have blue feathers that tend to go brownish over time. The drakes though are the ones that truly transform annually in most duck varieties while the females remain the same in appearance.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

No..They get shabby and molt..

I did wonder as they both have pinfeathers on the bottom of their wings at the moment - the younger still has a few tufts of downy feathers but nearly all gone now

 

[chickens really]

I did wonder as they both have pinfeathers on the bottom of their wings at the moment - the younger still has a few tufts of downy feathers but nearly all gone now

Yours are how old?..

 

[Miss Lydia]

Aww I'd love to see some pics of your ducks?

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Yours are how old?..

Well, given we were first told they are older than they are I'm not totally sure but we got them I believe them to be 10 weeks and 9 weeks

 

[PirateGirl]

I did wonder as they both have pinfeathers on the bottom of their wings at the moment - the younger still has a few tufts of downy feathers but nearly all gone now

Khakis do get some wing/flight feathers that aren't the same color as the rest of them.