Weird feather stuff - Any ideas? (Not urgent)

[JadeComputerGal]

Scott noticed tonight that one of our ducks looked kind of like parts of her feathers have been chopped. She's fine, doesn't even seem to notice it, and she can still fly, but I'm not sure what could cause something like this. We of course checked the others after we saw this, but none of those look like this. I can't imagine what could cause this. Much of the chopping is so regular that it reminds me of something that's been cut with pinking shears.

Any thoughts?

 

[Amiga]

Mercy that is so odd.

I am trying to picture if the feathers were compressed somehow. If it's been a while since molt they might be a little brittle, and could they have broken off oddly in the wing got pinched somehow? You know how sometimes two boards or other long objects can be not quite parallel, but instead there's a slight v-shaped gap between them? If some duck were flailing her wings around, and got the end of the wing slid into something like that, I think it might be able to shred the feathers like that.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Mercy that is so odd.

I am trying to picture if the feathers were compressed somehow. If it's been a while since molt they might be a little brittle, and could they have broken off oddly in the wing got pinched somehow? You know how sometimes two boards or other long objects can be not quite parallel, but instead there's a slight v-shaped gap between them? If some duck were flailing her wings around, and got the end of the wing slid into something like that, I think it might be able to shred the feathers like that.

I can't think of anything she could have gotten caught in. It hasn't been too long since she molted, and this feather thing had to have happened in just the past few days. I'm very puzzled and also trying to decide whether it's anything to really be concerned about. Maybe I'm just hypersensitive after the death and then treating sick ducks for weeks.

 

[Orca5094]

That is one of the oddest things I've ever seen. I have no idea what could've caused that! Hope someone will come in and see this who has a clue. I'm interested to know what happened, too!

 

[jducour]

@JadeComputerGal - do you have kids? That looks like something my kids would have done. You can see cut marks, like a toddler trying to cut paper. It doesn't look shredded or ragged like she hit something. I just don't know what else it could be!

 

[JadeComputerGal]

@JadeComputerGal - do you have kids? That looks like something my kids would have done. You can see cut marks, like a toddler trying to cut paper. It doesn't look shredded or ragged like she hit something. I just don't know what else it could be!

No kids at home, nope.