Pekin duck & wet feather

[kmanndel]

I was going to use Dawn bc of how muddy he is and not bathing properly and the mud can cause the oil glands to not work properly causing wet feather and I think that’s what’s happening in this case.
I’d post pictures but it’s downpouring and turning icy so I’m hoping tomorrow morning I’ll be able to.

 

[Thinking duck mum]

Interesting thread. We brought an elderly Pekin Cross duck indoors for winter with similar waterlogged feather issue. We found her sinking in her pond and had to rescue her! Daily baths will help keep your duck clean & give them exercise but might need to stay indoors as they can get too cold without waterproofing. The feathers may not regrow until spring. PS I've seen feather lice and they're quite easy to see if that's part of the problem, although at at first they just look like tiny specks. Check closely at base of the broken quills for red skin/tiny mites or what looks a bit like a clump of sugar (eggs). A vet could check him over in case something else is going on ie arthritis.

 

[3DFowlFarm]

Can you post a picture of the duck?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

My duck did have wet feather, I took her to the vet, and the vet did not recommend dish soap. My understanding is that dish soap can be indicated in some circumstances, like if the bird has become water logged by an oil spill or an extremely filthy living environment. Then the soap removes the contamination, and allows the bird to reoil themself. If you give a soapy bath when it isn't indicated you risk removing natural preen oil and making the situation worse.

In my duck's situation her preen gland was fine, and I recommend that you look at your duck's preen gland. Touch it gently with your fingers and then rub your fingers together, they should feel a little bit slippery.

If your duck is disabled he might not be preening well and that could be why. My vet did x-rays and discovered that my duck had arthritis, so it was painful to preen well. For my duck we kept her warm, and dry. And also bathed her, with only water, inside daily to encourage preening in the bathtub. We had the water deep enough to get her off her feet. We had lots of soft bedding for her. When it was warm outside we misted her with a spray bottle set on the mist function. I often dried her with towels.

A vet is a great idea.

This is a very informative post.
It's too bad that people think they need to use dish soap on ducks because some bloggers wrote about it. Ducks will be dirty, that is true, but they don't need soap to be cleaned. In fact they will eventually get dirty again.
The only time wild ducks get soap is when there is an oil spill and the rescuers have no other options.

 

[KaleIAm]

This is a very informative post.
It's too bad that people think they need to use dish soap on ducks because some bloggers wrote about it. Ducks will be dirty, that is true, but they don't need soap to be cleaned. In fact they will eventually get dirty again.
The only time wild ducks get soap is when there is an oil spill and the rescuers have no other options.

Thanks.

It would be great if "wet feather" had two different terms. One for the kind from an oil spill, and another term for the kind from lack of preening. I feel like that could help with this common confusion.

 

[Genn Rocks]

Idk if uve figured this out with ur duck yet , but I just wanted to say , I have a little duck that had an eye injury when she was a duckling so I raised her inside the house until she was well enough to go back outside with the others . Since she was inside with me for so long being coddled , she's not all that good at ducking and she won't get into the pools and bathe like the other ducks . Well eventually she got wet feather . I did alot of research on how to treat it and what I did was , gave her a good room temp/luke warm bath with Dawn dishwashing soap *name brand and then blew dried her with a blow dryer on low and very carefully not to burn her until she was completely dry ! She hated me after that for a bit , but she got over it and it completely took care of her wet feather !! Now I bring her inside and give her a bath in the tub once a week to make sure she's getting herself clean and the wet feather doesn't return again . I've done this to another duck of mine as well and it worked wonderfully too ! I think it's the 2 steps , Dawn and blow drying that really take care of the wet feather ! Hope this helps and that ur duck is doing well !

If it’s wet feather, I know it’s okay to use Dawn dish soap to help the oil glands. I feel like he does have wet feather bc he looks like a drowned rat when he gets wet

 

[BelovedBirds]

Idk if uve figured this out with ur duck yet , but I just wanted to say , I have a little duck that had an eye injury when she was a duckling so I raised her inside the house until she was well enough to go back outside with the others . Since she was inside with me for so long being coddled , she's not all that good at ducking and she won't get into the pools and bathe like the other ducks . Well eventually she got wet feather . I did alot of research on how to treat it and what I did was , gave her a good room temp/luke warm bath with Dawn dishwashing soap *name brand and then blew dried her with a blow dryer on low and very carefully not to burn her until she was completely dry ! She hated me after that for a bit , but she got over it and it completely took care of her wet feather !! Now I bring her inside and give her a bath in the tub once a week to make sure she's getting herself clean and the wet feather doesn't return again . I've done this to another duck of mine as well and it worked wonderfully too ! I think it's the 2 steps , Dawn and blow drying that really take care of the wet feather ! Hope this helps and that ur duck is doing well !

dawn dish soap actually strips their feathers of their oils, a simple lukewarm bath achieves the same thing, its best not to use soap. It does nothing beneficial in this scenario.
If you are having to repeat this so often, its clear that it isn't curing her of wet feather. Simply you washing her in lukewarm water and then drying her achieves the same thing.