Wet Feather

[808ducks]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the help with my eggbound girl. She is super happy and healthy now!

I wanted to see if any of you guys also have any experience with wet Feather? My favorite girl has had this condition since we got her - likely because the farm kept them in pens without access to enough water for ducks. She has gotten better than she was when we got her ( only her head would have enough oil on it to be water resistant), but it's been about a year, and I was hoping that her wing feathers would be coming in???

I'm happy most of her is now water resistant and she can enjoy ducky things like swimming and hunting our guppies in the pond, but I wanted to see if any of you had an idea of how to help her get to 100%? I read they molt 2 times a year and you want to keep them out of the water while molting so their feathers can get set up- is this true? It rains here almost every day in the winter and she lives to take baths, so that's could be challenging...

Here are some pics

 

[BReeder!]

following out of interest, but I cannot provide any advice. I hope the experts chime in.

 

[chickens really]

She is molting and not wet feather...
Nothing to worry about..Let her bath and continue to do as usual.

 

[Ratchnick]

In Dave Holderreads book he suggests mites or cloged/infected oil gland as potential causes for chronic wet feather. Hope that helps.

 

[KaleIAm]

I don't have any experience successfully treating wet feather. My vet told me to add a tablespoon of fresh ground flaxseed to our ducks food daily, so I've been doing that for over 9 months and it hasn't helped. She's finally molting after 2 years of horrible feather quality. I'm sorry I have nothing to say besides flax didn't help us.

Can you tell me what breed your duck is? She looks exactly like my Plantain.

 

[chickens really]

In Dave Holderreads book he suggests mites or cloged/infected oil gland as potential causes for chronic wet feather. Hope that helps.

Hold smokes....
Highly doubtful...

 

[Miss Lydia]

http://www.duckdvm.com/condition/wet-feather

So this has been going on for a year and she hasn't molted in that period?

http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/artwetfeather2.htm

 

[808ducks]

In Dave Holderreads book he suggests mites or cloged/infected oil gland as potential causes for chronic wet feather. Hope that helps.

Thanks, we checked those and she has tears of oil when she preens

 

[Ratchnick]

Thanks, we checked those and she has tears of oil when she preens

Then if it were my duck i would treat for mites as they can be hard to see. Pyrethrum is made from Chrysanthemum, certainly won't cause any harm.

 

[Jpat]

Definitly check for mites!

i picked up two horrible looking hens last spring. They were wet, tired, and beaten. Worst looking ducks i ever seen. They even stunk.

i fed them water fowl feed with nutritional yeast and cat food on top, And fed meal worms as treats a few times aday. plus gave them a kiddie pool

it took about 3 weeks before they whent into a molt, and about 6 weeks before they were presentable again. more protein helps them through a molt

Goodluck! You have a very pretty duck!