Wet feather or something else?

[Katybird80]

I have a Rouen drake who is about 8-9 weeks old. He is almost completely feathered out except for a little “baby fuzz” on his back. I also have 2 female mallards that are the same age. I have had a baby pool in their pen for a couple of weeks now and they have had no problems getting in and out as it is pretty small. I also change the water everyday or if it gets especially dirty I will change it twice.
The last two days I have noticed that my drake just stays in the water. Usually he is first in and first out and the girls will follow him wherever he goes. Now the girls will get out, preen, eat, etc. and he just stays in the water. It doesn’t look like he necessarily wants to be in there by himself and I know he can get out with no problems. Last night I had to physically take him out of the pool and put him in the duck house. The girls had already gone to bed. Then today I went and physically took him out again and he seemed a bit waterlogged. He did get himself dried off with some preening and thankfully it is in the upper 80s here so it is pretty warm. I am just worried that maybe a predator (which would likely have been a hawk or other bird as the pen itself is otherwise really secure) went after him so he went to the safety of the water and now is a little scared to come out or this is the start of wet feather.
Any thoughts here?

 

[fatty and friends]

is it hot there? mallards are smaller than rouens so it makes sense that the biggest duck would get hotter easy and want to spend more time in the pool. my pekin boys get hot easily in the summer and always wanna be in the pools

 

[Katybird80]

It has been pretty warm here, upper 80s into low 90s. It does cool off in the evenings and into the night. I found him again tonight in the pool long after the girls had gone to bed and after dark. He seems to be a little distressed and when I pick him up and put him in the duck house with the girls he seems to be happy. I think tomorrow I will rework the ramps I have set up and if he does it again I will take the pool away for a few days. I just don’t have a good feeling about it. This just started recently and hasn’t been his typical behavior prior to a few days ago. Somethings is up, I just haven’t figured it out quite yet. Any and all input at all is greatly appreciated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

A way in and out will help a lot and keep them from hurting their legs. The larger the duck the harder to get in an out.

How is he doing eating drinking and other wise acting? At 8-9 weeks old and just getting feathers in good i can't see wet feather being the problem. Also look at his poop does it look normal?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

The larger the duck the higher the chance of overheating especially larger breeds like Rouens, Pekins, Swedish etc. Ducks being waterfowl are biologically designed to be spending most of their time in the water and when it gets hot that is their main cooling method. At 8-9 weeks he is starting to really grow and in turn is going to get hotter much faster than when he was a smaller duckling. How big is the duck house? Is it adequately vented? If it's something like a dog house the reason why he may be protesting leaving is it gets too hot in the duck house at night. My larger ducks always preferred to sleep in the run on hot nights rather than in the coop.

 

[Katybird80]

The duck house is approximately 4’x5’. There is decent ventilation although with this warmer weather I will definitely reconsider that aspect. He is eating and drinking normally. Poops are normal. Maybe he is just too hot to want to go inside. Makes sense. I am going to revamp the ventilation and make sure it is adequate and hopefully that will help. Thank you to everyone for the input!

 

[Katybird80]

Also, I rebuilt the ramps both in and out of the pool today and he has been using them without any problems.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here is a good article on ventilation.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop.47774/

 

[Katybird80]

Thank you for the article link! Super helpful and really informative. Working on additional ventilation today. Makes so much sense and fingers crossed, it’ll do the trick!

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Husband was not that happy with me when I wanted to add more windows to my coop but he went along with the idea. It has been one of the best things we have done. Even in winter they need really good ventilation.