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!
I wouldn’t think they’d have any trouble swimming mine still get into the pool when they are molting but that isn’t a pond.
I had a series of small ponds that I created in a creek at the base of our property. I never had problems with molting birds using them. That being said they were never denied access to the ponds and constantly preened and maintained oil level on their feathers. If your birds have been denied access to swimming, that may change things.