Why is my duck wet?

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Seriously

The last couple of days we've noticed that one of our runner ducks is wet when she gets out of her pool (they are 5 months old). The water isn't running off her like it should be. Could there be a problem with her oil gland? Has this happened to anyone else and what should we do?

 

[L0rraine]

One of my Runners had a problem like this last winter. He seemed smart enough to stay out of the pool, but wouldn't get out of the rain and would eventually be soaked through to the skin so I ended up drying him with a hairdryer on a few occasions and tried to make sure he was locked in out of the weather anytime it was bad. There is apparently a condition called 'wet feather' which can be caused by a variety of things which result in poor health, or, as you suggested, there can be a problem with the oil gland. I started adding brewers yeast to the feed and made an effort to get all the ducks free ranging for at least a part of each day and he seemed to improve right away. He was just so skittish when I first got him that I had been afraid to let him out of his pen and I'm not sure if that contributed to him being in poorer condition or not. With an improved diet and more exercise he started looking healthier and happier, he started preening more, and his feathers came back in in much better condition after his next molt (though they continued to get soaked up until that first molt). And, when he got his new feathers in, he started using the pool again with the other ducks, and I haven't had a problem since. I thought it was quite interesting that he seem to instinctively know that the pool was a bad idea.

 

[rainplace]

Oh Lorraine, I'm so happy you posted because I've been cutting and pasting and not really getting any feedback.

To the OP, here's a thread that also talks about this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=236548

 

[L0rraine]

Pretty amazing that there ended up being two posts on this on one day. I was desperate for information last winter when I was dealing with it, but hadn't yet discovered BackYardChickens. I do remember eventually coming across some of the information that's in the link on the other post and had ruled out parasites and moldy bedding, and their pool water is changed at least once a day so it wasn't a problem. The thing that he did do was hang out in a muddy patch in his pen even though there was grass in most of it, and I read somewhere that constant exposure to mud isn't good either, so I moved all the ducks to our unused dog run. It's 20' x 40' with half cement and half grass and an indoor kennel attached. They seem to do pretty well in there and I open it up to the yard during the day.

I don't know if it was because he was depressed or just under the weather but he really didn't seem to be preening much at all so even if his oil gland was functioning he didn't seem to be using it. So it's hard to say exactly what was wrong in my case, but I sure was relieved when he improved. And it does sound like once they have the condition the feathers will be damaged until the next molt, which my experience confirmed.

 

[TK Poultry]

also if they dont have suffient oils tat will happen!! you have to be patient if that is the case and exposure to a pool will help i just bought one with not so great oils and i just give her a pool and she will get them built back up given a chance ive had this happen several times buying birds!!! just let them bathe regularly non of my birds raised here have had that problem b/c they have a clean pool every day

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Thanks for the info all! We have 6 runners and this is the only one with this problem and it doesn't appear to be all the time either. They don't free range and are kept in an enclosed pen (don't ask me the measurements LOL but they have room to run). They also have a pool with clean water at least once a day. I just noticed she was wet when she got out of the pool yesterday and it didn't look right.

We did check her oil gland tonight and it looks and is working fine. One of the other girls just started laying last week so we are hoping she's getting ready to lay too and just out of sorts. We'll have to give the brewer's yeast a try.