Do ducks suffer from wet feather

[Cheviot]

Hi,
Tonight when shutting some of the ducks in, it was pouring down again! 06 I noticed that my moscovy drake looked as though he was soaked, the raindrops were just running off the duck, but on the drake they were just soaking in, for the past week or so all the ducks have been enjoying swimming in the large flooded pools that have formed, the white on the duck is sparkling but on the drake it just looks muddy, the drake doesn't look clean even after swimming, so I suspect this has been going on for at least the last week, but have only just noticed because the rain was so heavy tonight, he appears to be in good health otherwise

Will I have to keep him under cover until he dries out, and once dry will I be able to let him out when it is wet or will he just continue to get soaked, is there anything else I can do, either in the feed or actually put on him to help him become waterproof again.

Regards
Sue

 

[foxy]

what are you feeding the ducks? I usually switch to 50% wheat this time of year with cod liver oil or vegetable oil twice a week. Muscovies do look a bit ragged, as they don't have quite as much water proofing as other ducks.

 

[victorias poultry]

Ducks get wet feather when the preen gland is not working at the base of the tail, this can be caused by many things including stress. There is very little that can be done until it rectifys itself, some people put code liver oil on the gland to get it working again. I would keep the duck in and off water for a few weeks and just give it a bowl of water. When a duck does get wet feather they can drown as they are not buyont on the water and the weight of the feathers can pull them down into the water.

 

[Cheviot]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies, luckily today has been fine and sunny and the drake has dried out. I started to feed the ducks more wheat about 4 weeks ago, although I haven't been using cod liver oil, but will start asap, will also try it on the preen gland.

I don't have anywhere suitable to keep a pair of ducks inside for any great length of time, but I have an enclosure that doesn't have any water in it, so I could keep them in if it was going to be really wet, and let them out in the enclosure on drier days.

Regards
Sue

 

[victorias poultry]

Hi Sue
I would just try and keep the duck off ponds if it has wet feather, will sort itself out over time.

Regards sue

 

[Davidd]

Hi Sue, is he fully through the moult? Mine are moulting at the moment and can look very wet- they can suffer from "wet feather" - it is usually hard to get them right but if he looks dry then it shouldn't be a problem.
regards, David

 

[Cheviot]

Hi,
I only got the moscovies in August, and I don't think they have started to moult as there are no feathers lying about, unless they went through the moult before I got them.
I have moved the moscovies so they only have access to a small dish of water, so hopefully he will sort himself out.
Regards
Sue

 

[victorias poultry]

Hi Sue
Do let me know how you get on, I had a Mandarin Drake that got wet feather I had to fish him out of the pond, his whole body was under the water with just his head above by the time I managed to net him. I kept him in a pen and run with only access to a small tray with water in to drink and bathe. I put oil on him every other day, was fine in around 3 weeks.

Regards Sue