Hello, we have five ducks, all female. Four are Welsh Harlequin type layers and one domestic mallard. They had laid phenomenally well since last fall, but about six weeks ago, two went broody and all laying tapered off... About two weeks ago, I started finding feathers and they molted some of their down. Now they’ve entered a hard molt and most have lost many flight feathers. It’s very hot here and I’d like them to be able to cool off in our pond, where they go when we are home and can watch them. They were flightless anyway, so I wouldn’t expect predator issues to be any different. But what about swimming? Can they still swim normally? Anything else I should be thinking about with going into the pond? Thanks!
