Younger ducks getting feathers plucked out

[Brooke_R]

I recently got two Khaki Campbell ducks and now they’re fully feathered and seemed to get along okay with the older ones however lately I’ve noticed some feathers missing on their chests. And the others will occasionally bite at them. I hoped it wasn’t a big deal but I guess it got a lot worse overnight. One has a couple of decently sized bald spots on her chest. I’m going to separate them but I’m especially worried since it’s getting pretty cold here because of those bald spots. I thought about petroleum jelly since I read and that on their feet to prevent frostbite but what if that cause them to start picking at their own chests and making things worse. What should I do?

 

[CoriM]

I have a duck who pulls feathers from a couple of my other ducks. I would spray the area with vetericyn and definitely separate them for now so they don't get picked on.

 

[Brooke_R]

I have a duck who pulls feathers from a couple of my other ducks. I would spray the area with vetericyn and definitely separate them for now so they don't get picked on.

Okay thank you!

 

[Quatie]

How old are the ducks? Ducks molt not after long they grow they are fully feathered. That may be part of the reason your duck is losing feathers.

 

[CoriM]

If your duck is getting its feathers pulled it's pretty obvious - it's only in certain patches and the skin will show up fairly bare, and maybe even bleeding. Here is a picture of where I first noticed it on my duck. Later on it was on both her sides. My ducks molting have never looked anything like this.

 

[CoriM]

And I don't mean to say you'll obviously know it's feather-pulling. Because I wasn't seeing it happen and my ducks were raised together and got along I had no idea what was causing the raw patches, so I spent a lot of money at the vet trying to figure out what was going on, and finally caught my ducks in the act one day. When my ducks have molted it's just feather and down falling out and I never saw actual patches of raw skin. Just my experience.

 

[Brooke_R]

How old are the ducks? Ducks molt not after long they grow they are fully feathered. That may be part of the reason your duck is losing feathers.

How old are the ducks? Ducks molt not after long they grow they are fully feathered. That may be part of the reason your duck is losing feathers.

They’re around 2 or 2 1/2 months old. I hoped that but so many feathers are missing be the older ones keep biting them every now and then so I’m not sure.

 

[Brooke_R]

If your duck is getting its feathers pulled it's pretty obvious - it's only in certain patches and the skin will show up fairly bare, and maybe even bleeding. Here is a picture of where I first noticed it on my duck. Later on it was on both her sides. My ducks molting have never looked anything like this. View attachment 2446177

Oh goodness I’m sorry. Mine aren’t that bad, the patches where they’re missing feathers there’s still some fuzz I didn’t notice any raw skin

 

[CoriM]

That seems kind of young to molt - they just barely got their feathers.

 

[Brooke_R]

That seems kind of young to molt - they just barely got their feathers.

Yeah I kinda thought that too. I’m gonna separate them for a few nights or until their feathers are grown back decently. Hopefully the others will quit