What Makes WATER REPEL Off The Ducks?

[PlumTuckered]

Take two ducklings, one hatched in an incubator and one hatched by a duck...put them in a small pan of water and you do see a difference after a few minutes.

Michelle

 

[gofasterstripe]

...there you go..hows that for an answer

 

[Duck_feeder]

Quote:
It's been a while since I read the research on the feather morphology that you referenced but I thought the research was limited to adult feathers and not duckling down. If that's accurate, I wouldn't draw any conclusions about ducklings based on that research.


That said, I firmly disagree that preen oil does not *ANY* water rellency. My ducks managed to get a small amount of soap in their bath water (no idea how) and all six of them lost significant amount of waterproofing and needed a couple weeks for their feathers to regain their previous state. I'll trust real world results over theoretical conjectures any day of the week. ;-)

 

[1234duck]

Yikes I didn't understand any of that. I was thinking more like... Once upon a time Ok well maybe not that simple. Thanks, ~Julie~

 

[Wytchlynd]

Bella, one of our ducklings who is about 8 weeks old (now and in these first two pics) has feathers that don't repel water. Which explains why she tends to avoid water while her sister, Rosa is constantly swimming and bathing.


Bella also has a curvature of the spine that affects her gait when walking - we noticed it when she was about 6 weeks old. Even when she stretches and flaps her wings, it is obvious she has an "S" shaped spine similar to some scoliosis patients.

While she doesn't seem to be bothered by her spinal curvature, she seems much more aware of the lack of water repellency of her feathers.

Our concern is how this lack of repellency might be cause for concern once winter arrives in May/June (New Zealand), which is very rainy, but not extremely cold (about 1/2 a dozen hard frosts this past winter). Could this lack of repellency leave her susceptible to hypothermia?


Bella and Rosa with our Redneck pond at five weeks old.

Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Bailey1204]

They have an oil gland and rub oils on themselves, but what I think is really cool is that when they are very young chicks the mother does that for them! It's so cool how she knows exactly what to do.