Please can anyone help, problem with molt.

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Hi Everyone, I am new here. I have 3 ducks who I have reared from ducklings. I think they are aylesbury/pekin crosses. They are now just over 2 years old. The largest and most vocal (called Daffy because we thought she was going to be a drake) started a molt last winter - February time - but her large wing feathers and some of her tail feathers did not come out. They have gradually become more and more damaged until now she has nastly looking stubby bits sticking out from the ends of her wings and appears to be trying to grow new feathers over the top. I took her to the vet about 6 times over the summer, she was initially given a vitamin injection and then, as she was also limping on and off, 2 courses of antibiotics. Unfortunately none of this has worked and I am really worried about her. She still limps a bit, some days worse than others and some of the broken wing feather stems are looking a bit black. She still lays most days but the white of her eggs is almost cloudy, compared to the other 2. They are fed a waterfowl breeder pellet and get treats of lettuce and cucumber quite regularly. I also dig worms for them, they have never had bread. I love them a lot and am worried for Daffy, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Jen
 
Poor duck! So am I right in thinking she has new feathers growing over her old ones, which never quite came through? I would be tempted to remove those one to stimulate growth of her new ones.

Her diet sounds fine, she may moult better when she stops laying for the winter. You could though add a little cod liver oil to her feed may help her feathering

Have they been wormed? Ducks get terribly ill with worms, and typically under a high worm burden will go lame.

Also, is she bathing and preening properly? This will have a big impact on the condition of her feathers.
 
Agreed with previous, is she bathing? Also does she have natural daylight hours and proper darkness? Does she have access to oyster shell? Hormones and day length and nutritional status bring on molts, has she never molted these feathers or is it just this year? I have a drake with similar flight feathers.
Could you give a bit more info? Also is your vet an avian vet? What did she think was causing the limp and what breed/weight is she?
Zo
X
 
Hello,

Thank you so much for the replies, I really appreciate it! To answer the questions; she does appear to have new, smaller wing feathers attempting to grow over the stubs of last years, are you suggesting removing the old stubs? This is something I have often thought about but have been nervous of attempting. The 'stubs' as I call them are what I believe are the 'pins' (?) the shafts that contain blood while the feathers are growing. If you think it is a good idea to remove them, how would you do it?

I have not wormed them, can you buy wormer to add to food or does it need to be administered directly?

She does bathe and preen, she is often in the bath longer than the others and she does sit a little more than the others. I put this down to a sore leg. I live in rural Cumbria and attend a large vet practise that deals with a lot of farms. The vet I see is a specialist - or so I understand. I think she probably mainly deals with commercial flocks, her initial diagnosis to the non-molting problem was that Daffy's system was stressed and have her a multi-vitamin shot. Then later when she was lame and still not molting, with the older flight feathers getting quite tatty, she diagnosed an infection and she had antibiotics, first a course orally and then another course by injection.

They do have natural night and day, they have a very large enclosure where they free range during the day, they have constant access to food and water and they have two large children's sand pit type, plastic things for baths. They are shut up in a house at dusk and let out again in the morning about 7:30 - 8am - they have generally laid by then. They do not have food and water at night. They do not have oyster shell, should I get some?

Regarding a previous molt, I believe she has successfully molted once, they were ducklings in Oct 2009 and fully feathered and living outside by the December. I am sure she molted at some point in 2010. At the start of this year the other two molted quite quickly, losing all their flight feathers and going back to the little stubby wings for a brief period, but her big feathers (and some random tail ones) just never came out.

Finally, when I got them I was told they were Pekin but looking at pictures I suspect they are a Pekin/Aylesbory cross, I haven't weighed Daffy recently but believe her to be about 6 kilos. She is the most vocal of the three and almost always the one to 'play drake' when they first get in the clean water in the mornings.

Thank you again :-)

Jen
 
You obviously care a lot for your ducks!..I will give my thoughts so far, I hope dorsetduckowner will come along soon! Maybe take these thoughts from us to your vet for further discussion? :-)17

Firstly worming, yes she will need worming, and I suggest that you get hold of flubenvet.. the 240g packs you can buy this from the internet. I use it for my ducks and muscovies with no problems. She may require a slightly longer course however, again consult with your practising vet on this one.

Secondly the moulting issue. The good thing is that she is preening, for long lengths of time suggests she is either a bit uncomfortable and maybe trying to loosen her feathers..naturally as she is moulting.

If the old wing feathers are there and not shedding naturally, I would think this is because they were not fully erupted,an inflammatory process in the shaft/follicle of the feather may be the cause due to a local infection or irritation. There is only one follicle per feather, I really don't think it will work and imagine uncomfortable for her with another one erupting in the same place, Under a course of prophalytic baytril, and possibly metacam I would suggest the removal of the damaged flight feathers.

Again please take these comments under consideration with your vet and dorset duck! Good luck with her!
 
Sorry meant to add when I remove the wing feathers from a duck..I use a small pair of pliers and pull as close to the base of the feather as possible. There is usually a few drops of blood which I just apply a few seconds of pressure then let them go.
 
Hi Again

Thank you once more :-) I have purchased some cod liver oil at the supermarket today, how much would you give? Added to food?

I will phone the vet in the morning and get an appointment to discuss the other matters. I am now feeling optomistic that we can sort this out which is great. I really love all three of my ducks, they are each very different, but Daffy is the one who answers to me when I say hello and I have been worrying about this for some time now.

Thank you and I'll certainly keep you posted :-)

Jen
 
jen 14,

yes good idea, if she does need the old pins pulling out then the vet needs to either do it, or show you how it's done.

Molt issues can be overcome with nutrition usually but if you can avoid a forced molt that would be good.

Have they been deloused?

Zo
x
 
Hi Zo

No, they haven't been deloused. I have an appointment at vet tomorrow afternoon to see the specialist. I am going to take all the notes and advice from here to discuss/get help with. Will they have something for delousing also? The other two ducks do appear to be perfectly healthy by the way but they mean a lot to me and if there is something I should be doing that I am not doing then I am certainly keen to find out. :-)

Thank you again

Jen
 
Good luck at the vets tommorrow, and do let us know how you both get on!
 
Hi Foxy and Zo

We have been to the vet. She has checked the follicles and does not think there is infection present. I think I may have been mistaken thinking that Daffy was trying to grow new feathers from the same point - I don't handle them that much so was just going by what I thought I could see. Anyway, the vet doesn't think there is any infection in the follicles or any new feathers trying to push through the same place. She has pulled a few out and is testing them for infection overnight. I am to ring in the morning. Meanwhile I have some wormer to give them over the next seven days. I think the vet wants to know if there is infection present before pulling any more feathers out in case of spreading it. We did find a cyst on Daffy's tail which is clearly very sore as she was very unhappy when we touched it. That has been left for now but I think the vet thinks she may need to lance it. Poor duck! I will keep you posted. Thank you both so much for your interest and advice.

Jen
x
 
Hi There

Just a quick update on Daff, she has no infection in the feathers so they are all three now on a course of wormer for one week. The vet wants to see how they respond to that before considering pulling out these dead and broken wing feathers. I will let you know how it goes and thanks again :)

Jenn
 
Hi There

Sorry for the delay in reply, I've been a bit busy :-)

The girls had their wormer for a week and then I waited for another week to see if there was any improvement in Daffy's general health. There was no change so we went back to the vet last Tuesday. Interestingly Daffy has started to grow some new feathers where the vet removed a couple for testing. So the vet took a couple more feathers out and asked us to wait a week to ensure Daffy did not develop an infection. We are to go back tomorrow and assuming Daffy has tolerated the removal ok the vet proposes to gas her and remove the others, some of them are now in a shocking state, all black looking and broken but considering the number that need removing - and that they are the big flight feathers, the vet thinks she should do it under gas. I am really hoping that the couple of new feathers we saw last week coming through are a good sign and if she gets rid of these horrible ones she will grow new ones.

I will let you know :-)

Jen
 
Hi Jen,

What a saga! Sounds like you have found a fantastic vet there, really hoping that Daffy can turn a corner.
 
Hi Foxy

Yes, thanks :-) I think she perhaps thinks I'm a little mad as she probably has to think of all poultry as 'farm animals' and be very business-like generally. I do think though that she is genuinely fond of waterfowl - she like geese in particular - and she is very happy to help me now she knows that mine are definitely pets and don't need to be viewed from a commercial perspective.

Anyway, we had the operation yesterday, it went well and Daffy seems to be getting back to her normal self quite quickly. The vet has removed the bulk of the old dead feathers, including the large flight feathers and she also checked the egg duct (?). It seems there is some thickening there and so some infection, which could in turn explain the limping if pressing down on a leg. Apparently Daffy's legs are fine. So she is now on antibiotics and to go back in a week.

Fingers crossed and thanks to you both for the advice.
Jen
 
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