Muscovy wet feather

[MS_pond]

Hello all,

My male muscovy has a bad case of wet feather and I can't figure out why. He's otherwise perfectly healthy. His preen gland looks normal and secretes oil which I can feel on my fingers.

All my ducks are 8 months old. His feathers were fine for his first few months of life, and he loved swimming in the pond with the others, till his feathers gradually lost their waterproofing.

I know muscovy have less developed preen glands so perhaps there's nothing to be done here, but I feel bad for him because the rest of the flock (including a female muscovy) spend so much time in the pond and he can't join them. He's turned into rather of a loner and follows us around whenever we're outside.

At this point his feathers are probably too far gone, but once he molts what can I do to help him stay waterproof?

Thank you!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

That is actually a very mild case of wet feather and not anything to worry about. Some Muscovy simply do not like water as much as others. He will be just fine if he does swim and weather should not be a problem with how mild his feathers are.

 

[MS_pond]

That is actually a very mild case of wet feather and not anything to worry about. Some Muscovy simply do not like water as much as others. He will be just fine if he does swim and weather should not be a problem with how mild his feathers are.

Thank you for your response. If this is truly mild then I don't want to see a serious case. I've watched him try to swim several times (e.g. to go mate one of the girls) and he becomes waterlogged and starts sinking. He panic-swims back to shore before he can fully sink.

Whenever he gets wet he is completely soaked

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Thank you for your response. If this is truly mild then I don't want to see a serious case. I've watched him try to swim several times (e.g. to go mate one of the girls) and he becomes waterlogged and starts sinking. He panic-swims back to shore before he can fully sink.

Whenever he gets wet he is completely soaked

Muscovies in general are not designed to swim quite like mallard derived breeds because of their underdeveloped oil glands. That’s why if you see Muscovy out in the wild many will have some degree of wet feather. I would give him a shallow water source like a kitty pool.
“They do not swim much because their oil glands are under developed compared to most ducks”

https://breeds.okstate.edu/poultry/...ot swim much,developed compared to most ducks.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Not to be off topic but are you sure he's only 8 months old? That is some serious caruncle growth!

 

[MS_pond]

Not to be off topic but are you sure he's only 8 months old? That is some serious caruncle growth!

Right??

 

[Klutch]

Extra ordinary Maybe it's a gene you could breed for, there's always ppl looking for new the fad.