Just as a reminder, my ducks are heavily imprinted on people, bonded to me and my fiancee and live a very spoiled comfortable life living in an indoor pen, going outside when they want to. They are super friendly with all of them like being pet, picked up, held, etc by not only us but also with other people, even little kids.
I know all dark colored ducks with the black gene who are female will eventually get white feathers. All of my dark runners have some to a ton of white feathers. My silly Vinny duck is more white now than black (he turned white so fast we barely could keep up)!
But, my Chocolate runner Ming Mei has been suffering a bit since her feathers started changing. She was not happy with her first white feather, pecking at it constantly, so I plucked it from her to keep her from developing a pecking habit. But then with the next molt, tons of white feathers came in and she pecked and got depressed by the white feathers. Eventually she got used to them, as most were around her neck and in her wings, though she still pecked sometimes. Then we added four more ducks to Ming Mei and her sister Victor. There has been many power struggles over who is where in the pecking order, with Victor coming out as number 2, and Ming Mei somewhere on the bottom. Just recently, during her latest molt, she developed a ton more white feathers especially around her head and even more on her body. The back of her neck has been an issue because the other dominant ducks peck at her white feathers since her brown feathers are still very dark (I think they peck because of the contrast).
My poor duck is at the bottom of the pecking order, always getting picked on, especially where her white feathers are. This past molt had been especially bad, with more whites popping up around her face. She has been depressed and unhappy. Her mood has changed greatly with not wanting to be handled or petted when she used to be super loving with me. I think it has to do with her getting picked on all the time (sometimes until she has bald spots). Since separating her isn't really an option (it'd have to be permanent which seems cruel), my big question is-
*Is there any type of natural coloring agents people use on ducks (like for shows or to mark which duck is which?) I know they use dyes (like dots of color) on natural colored baby ducks in hatcheries like Ideal to indicate which duck is which. I'm wondering if there are any natural dyes (like henna, turmeric, etc) or food safe dyes that can be used on a live bird? I don't want to color her pink or anything weird, but rather find something that can make her white feathers brown or less white so the others won't peck her.
She's very good at being fussed over, so I know she'll stand still if I applied something to her. She had bad bumblefoot a year or so ago and had to take epsom salt baths, and hold her foot out to be bandaged. She actually enjoys wearing things that make her pretty, and she even has some costumes she'll wear for a picture or two. (for easter she wore a flower lei necklace for photos, she has a tutu or two). She proudly struts about in her decorations and will hiss and lunge when it's time to take them off. We've used pet safe toe nail polish for her as well as it helps her spirits. she's very patient and doesn't seem to mind one bit being fussed over.
So is there any coloring, dye, or stain that is safe for me to put on her white areas? I figured the best time to do it would be after a bath, but before she started preening heavily (when there is the least amount of oil on her). She will allow herself to be dried by a hair dryer while preening too. I'm just looking for something to make her white feathers less obvious so she doesn't get pecked (or peck herself). I figure nothing will be permanent, but if something could last a week or so, we could make it a ritual for her.
Does anyone have any idea about this? I have read up on natural dyes and dying feathers, but the only info I can seem to find on coloring a live bird is injecting eggs, or it's so scientific (like coloring chests of diving sea birds so they can be easily identified) I can't read it. I know henna and woad will make a brown, but can I use it on her? What about food colorings to stain her feathers? I've read some feather dying with kool aid, but that seems more geared towards craft projects. I've read it can be done on chickens that are older, but they don't bathe as much as ducks do...
As a funny side note, Victor once got accidentally dyed pink in his belly. I made them a diaper harness from the right fabric from a local store that was hot pink and didn't think I needed to wash it first. I didn't have a clean harness so I put the pink one on Vic while his feathers were still wet underneath from playing in the pool and it stained them. It wouldn't go away until he molted. I've learned to only use high quality fabric from reputable wholesalers to fix that problem. But I thought since Vic was fine with the pink for months, there's gotta be something natural I can use on Ming? right?
Any constructive thoughts or ideas would be appreciated (and please no "just separate her" or "just leave her alone" comments as we've tried this and it has not helped).
thanks guys....
I know all dark colored ducks with the black gene who are female will eventually get white feathers. All of my dark runners have some to a ton of white feathers. My silly Vinny duck is more white now than black (he turned white so fast we barely could keep up)!
But, my Chocolate runner Ming Mei has been suffering a bit since her feathers started changing. She was not happy with her first white feather, pecking at it constantly, so I plucked it from her to keep her from developing a pecking habit. But then with the next molt, tons of white feathers came in and she pecked and got depressed by the white feathers. Eventually she got used to them, as most were around her neck and in her wings, though she still pecked sometimes. Then we added four more ducks to Ming Mei and her sister Victor. There has been many power struggles over who is where in the pecking order, with Victor coming out as number 2, and Ming Mei somewhere on the bottom. Just recently, during her latest molt, she developed a ton more white feathers especially around her head and even more on her body. The back of her neck has been an issue because the other dominant ducks peck at her white feathers since her brown feathers are still very dark (I think they peck because of the contrast).
My poor duck is at the bottom of the pecking order, always getting picked on, especially where her white feathers are. This past molt had been especially bad, with more whites popping up around her face. She has been depressed and unhappy. Her mood has changed greatly with not wanting to be handled or petted when she used to be super loving with me. I think it has to do with her getting picked on all the time (sometimes until she has bald spots). Since separating her isn't really an option (it'd have to be permanent which seems cruel), my big question is-
*Is there any type of natural coloring agents people use on ducks (like for shows or to mark which duck is which?) I know they use dyes (like dots of color) on natural colored baby ducks in hatcheries like Ideal to indicate which duck is which. I'm wondering if there are any natural dyes (like henna, turmeric, etc) or food safe dyes that can be used on a live bird? I don't want to color her pink or anything weird, but rather find something that can make her white feathers brown or less white so the others won't peck her.
She's very good at being fussed over, so I know she'll stand still if I applied something to her. She had bad bumblefoot a year or so ago and had to take epsom salt baths, and hold her foot out to be bandaged. She actually enjoys wearing things that make her pretty, and she even has some costumes she'll wear for a picture or two. (for easter she wore a flower lei necklace for photos, she has a tutu or two). She proudly struts about in her decorations and will hiss and lunge when it's time to take them off. We've used pet safe toe nail polish for her as well as it helps her spirits. she's very patient and doesn't seem to mind one bit being fussed over.
So is there any coloring, dye, or stain that is safe for me to put on her white areas? I figured the best time to do it would be after a bath, but before she started preening heavily (when there is the least amount of oil on her). She will allow herself to be dried by a hair dryer while preening too. I'm just looking for something to make her white feathers less obvious so she doesn't get pecked (or peck herself). I figure nothing will be permanent, but if something could last a week or so, we could make it a ritual for her.
Does anyone have any idea about this? I have read up on natural dyes and dying feathers, but the only info I can seem to find on coloring a live bird is injecting eggs, or it's so scientific (like coloring chests of diving sea birds so they can be easily identified) I can't read it. I know henna and woad will make a brown, but can I use it on her? What about food colorings to stain her feathers? I've read some feather dying with kool aid, but that seems more geared towards craft projects. I've read it can be done on chickens that are older, but they don't bathe as much as ducks do...
As a funny side note, Victor once got accidentally dyed pink in his belly. I made them a diaper harness from the right fabric from a local store that was hot pink and didn't think I needed to wash it first. I didn't have a clean harness so I put the pink one on Vic while his feathers were still wet underneath from playing in the pool and it stained them. It wouldn't go away until he molted. I've learned to only use high quality fabric from reputable wholesalers to fix that problem. But I thought since Vic was fine with the pink for months, there's gotta be something natural I can use on Ming? right?
Any constructive thoughts or ideas would be appreciated (and please no "just separate her" or "just leave her alone" comments as we've tried this and it has not helped).
thanks guys....
