New duck mom - what’s going on with my gal?

[KaleIAm]

I am seeing some dry feather for sure though make sure she takes a bath daily and if she’s soaked after dry her gently with a towel and if you must rub, rub extremely gently in a downward direction. Ragged feathers are a sure sign of dry feather the good news is if you start bathing her and stuff she will recover.

Do you mean wet feather? Or is there a different feather condition I am unaware of?

 

[Compostflower]

Omg yes! Sorry I was so tired.

 

[DuckDuckSook]

I have a one year old Indian Runner duck that has been exhibiting this same behavior for months now. She doesn't do the silent quack and her feathers look normal but, I'm chalking it up to broodiness. She eats well, drinks, enjoys treats, etc. She just keeps her neck in tight and honks loudly, especially when I'm around. I think she is just not happy that I come down every day to collect eggs. I might start going down more than once so eggs don't sit too long to try to break the broodiness, but I don't know if it will work. She seems set in her ways. I also seem to notice it more when it's colder outside too.

 

[CatBarr]

That’s a good idea to give her some space of her own. That way you can watch her more closely and make sure she’s eating and drinking. When my Muscovy are broody she will come outside all fluffed up and everyone scatters because she resembles a sumo wrestler she will even go after my rooster. She walks around all fluffed she will eat drink get in the pool and poop the most vile smelling stuff. Then she hurry’s straight back to her nest. Poultry vitamins,Durvet makes one and poultry Nutri drench is the only two I’ve ever used. I’m sure there are others. @CoriM might has some advice.

Isolation is the first thing I do with my chickens if something is happening and it’s worked out well with this duck and allowed me to observe her really well! I’d love to see your duck telling off a rooster, that sounds so funny

I’ll check out those brands of vitamins. Thank you!!!

 

[CatBarr]

From your description she sounds exactly like a broody or pre broody duck. My welsh harlequin behaved exactly like that for several weeks last year. I didn't want her to be broody because running around quacking angrily takes a lot of energy, and I wanted her to relax and eat. So I took away nesting boxes, destroyed her nests daily, removed eggs promptly (and egg shaped rocks!) and took away any items that created dark cozy cubby holes.

Here's a couple videos of my duck, Pigweed, when she was "peribroody" last year. She usually comes right to me when I call. Sorry they aren't so great and one is sideways....

You can always weigh her regularly. I do it daily for my ducks when they are sick, and every few months when they are not. Assessing weight visually isn't the best method, palpating the keel bone and having a weight history is preferred. I like to use a baby scale because my ducks seem most comfortable that way, but most members just use a kitchen gram scale and that works fine!

A vet can determine the best course of action for you. I'm paranoid and take my ducks to the vet when they stub their toes, but I didn't take my broody duck in. Something different could be going on with your sweetheart, though.

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Pigweed is so adorable! The videos were really helpful, thank you! I would normally make brooding very uncomfortable for my chickens to snap them out of it but I wasn’t sure if that’s what was going on with my gal. Though it kind of sounds like she might just be broody from what everyone is saying here. I considered weighing her, and I usually use a kitchen scale for my chickens, but she’s such a big gal I need to find another way haha. I would say she’s between a 3-4 on that keel scale, which seems ok, but I was worried because she used to be more plump. I totally understand about the vet. I’m the same way with my chickens but I’m trying to be better about that. A lot of times they’re fine so I end up bringing them in for no reason. That’s definitely my backup plan though at the moment I feel like she’s declining.

I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate your help! This community is so helpful and supportive, so thank you! I’ve learned so much in this thread already.

 

[CatBarr]

I am seeing some dry feather for sure though make sure she takes a bath daily and if she’s soaked after dry her gently with a towel and if you must rub, rub extremely gently in a downward direction. Ragged feathers are a sure sign of dry feather the good news is if you start bathing her and stuff she will recover.

Is that what’s going on with her stick-like wings? They look pretty bad but I couldn’t find out what might be happening by googling. They have access to a pool that I fill every other day and they all swim in it but maybe she was skipping her baths for some reason.

 

[KaleIAm]

Is that what’s going on with her stick-like wings? They look pretty bad but I couldn’t find out what might be happening by googling. They have access to a pool that I fill every other day and they all swim in it but maybe she was skipping her baths for some reason.

Here's a photo of my duck with wet feather:

This was taken shortly after molting, and it just got worse and worse until fall when she molted again. For her she didn't preen well because she had arthritis. Regular bathing in clean water (no soap or additives), a clean not muddy environment, and even misting them with a squirt bottle like they are parrots can help encourage preening. You just set a squirt bottle on mist and squirt over them so the water falls gently on them.

Your duck could also have problems with her preen gland, contributing to her feather quality, so I would check that out. And look for external parasites as well. My ducks got them by swimming in water wild mallards had visited.

How is she doing?

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Hello! I’m hoping someone can help me out here. I’m a long time chicken keeper, but new with ducks. We’ve had our 7 ducks for about 6 months now and they’ve settled in well, happy and healthy, until I noticed this one gal with unusual behavior this week. I’m hoping that maybe she’s just broody and my inexperience with ducks is just making me nervous that she may have a bigger issue. Here are her new behaviors she’s exhibiting:

• Walking with her head pulled in tight to her body
• Very vocal, louder and more than usual, and is almost hoarse sounding
• Opening her beak like she’s going to quack but nothing comes out
• A little leaner than usual
• Her wing feathers are almost stick-like, not a lot of feather to them
• Sits on the eggs a lot (not sure if she’s laying). I can’t tell if she’s sitting on the eggs specifically or if she’s just sitting in the bed because it’s quiet, dark and comfy.
• Is extremely excited about their pool right now and spends a significantly longer time cleaning and preening than the others

Attached are videos and photos that might help:

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Have you checked her esophagus? Just like you would check your chickens crop maybe that could be what's wrong. When she is walking idk if you have a donaint female or male it looks like she is almost bowing down to them. I know some of my ducks do that. Otherwise I think shes probably just broody