What's Up with Martha's Feathers?

[3bird]

Hi, Everyone.

We have seven silver Appleyard ducks going into their first winter here on the coast of Maine. It's been a warm fall with the first hard freeze last night. We've noticed over the past couple weeks that Martha's feathers look markedly different from the other ducks in the morning. Here's a picture:

By the evening, her feathers look mostly like the other ducks (although she's always been a little darker). Does anybody know what's up with this? Is it something about which we should be concerned? Our major worry is that she may not be able to properly fluff up for those cold winter nights.

What else do you need to know? They have an elevated 4'x8' duckhouse with a deep litter, cedar shavings bed and some straw. They have 24-hour access to a 16'x8' covered run with a small (8-gallon-ish) pool, their food, shells and their waterer. They are let out to forage a couple hours in the morning and again in the evening. The get mealworm treats when they come in .

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[sourland]

Waiting on the picture.

 

[CarleeAnn]

Try to reupload the picture, it isn’t showing (for me at least).

 

[3bird]

Waiting on the picture.

Sorry about that. Are you able to see it now?

 

[3bird]

Try to reupload the picture, it isn’t showing (for me at least).

Done. Any luck?

 

[3bird]

Here's another of just Martha:

 

[Miss Lydia]

Has she had a molt yet? My ducks tend to look like Martha before molt feathers aren't as water repellent just don't look very good then they molt out all the old and grow in the new and all is well again.

cedar shaving aren't healthy for poultry something about the oils cause respiratory issues.

 

[3bird]

Has she had a molt yet? My ducks tend to look like Martha before molt feathers aren't as water repellent just don't look very good then they molt out all the old and grow in the new and all is well again.

cedar shaving aren't healthy for poultry something about the oils cause respiratory issues.

Sorry. Pine shavings. NOT cedar.

Being new duck parents, we're still a little confused by the whole molt thing. She does seem to always want to be in the water...well, she is a duck.

 

[CarleeAnn]

Done. Any luck?

Perfect! Yes, looks like may be getting ready for molt? Another thought; does she bath before bed? If so, allow her time to preen. Sometimes my ducks will bath and go straight to bed, if I allow them to do this it doesn’t seem as though they clean themselves in the coop and they wake up with feathers similar to Martha’s. I encourage them to come out of the coop after bathing at night and they usually start preening, once they are done I shoo them back in for bedtime.

 

[3bird]

Perfect! Yes, looks like may be getting ready for molt? Another thought; does she bath before bed? If so, allow her time to preen. Sometimes my ducks will bath and go straight to bed, if I allow them to do this it doesn’t seem as though they clean themselves in the coop and they wake up with feathers similar to Martha’s. I encourage them to come out of the coop after bathing at night and they usually start preening, once they are done I shoo them back in for bedtime.

Thank you! They have had access to their little pool in their run all night (we may stop filling it now that it's below freezing at night). When I check on them overnight (yes, we have the coop and run wired with wifi cams), they are almost always outside and it's not unusual to see at least one of them in the pool.