White duck molts to buff?

OR4-hmom

Songster
7 Years
Mar 20, 2012
2,751
68
183
Grants Pass, OR
I was talking to a friend the other day, she had a white duck move onto her pond. They had to repair the outflow so they caught the ducks before draining the pond. While the white duck was contained in the run she molted and is now buff colored. Any guesses on her breed? She now wants more.
 
When we adopted Hazel, she was pearl white. But we knew she was a Buff, with bleached feathers. Once she molted, they came in buff colored.

Here is a picture of Romy and Michele.


Romy, in front, had not molted in nearly a year.
 
We were just out of town for a few days and when we got back noticed that our all black duck - Gladys - looks like she's been plucked for pillows and has white spots all over now.

We got her late last spring, and this spring she molted out her black crest and it came back in white and brown. I'm assuming this is a molt, too, but it seems really extreme. She just looks terrible. This is our first full year with the ducks, so we're still getting used to all of this. The others have been blowing feathers, but don't look as bad as poor Gladys.

Any thoughts?



 
Did she seem to be getting ready to molt before you left? Sometimes going without food for a day or two can precipitate a molt - not casting accusations, just thinking out loud.
 
She's been eating normally that we've seen, and we had a housesitter who was feeding them while we were gone. They've all been dropping feather this past week or so, including Gladys, but then poof, all gone and white down now.
 

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