Why do ducks need feathers?

Preventing and treating wet feather in backyard ducks will help keep them in tip-top shape.

Wet feather is a condition that can afflict backyard ducks who are not properly cared for.

Most common in ducks not allowed regular access to a pool or other source of water to splash around in wet feather  can also be caused by a poor diet, a lack of essential vitamins or external parasites.

Most likely if you provide your ducks regular bath time and a good-quality diet, you won't encounter wet feather in your flock, but it's always good to be aware of the condition and how to treat it...just in case.

What is Wet Feather?

Every duck has a preen gland at base of tail which produces oil. Each time a duck has access to water in which to swim, he or she will preen their feathers both during the swim and after being in the water.

This preening stimulates the oil gland and distributes the oil onto the feathers, making them waterproof.

If the gland stops producing oil, or the duck doesn’t have access to water, the duck can’t clean off the dirt and mud from her feathers and maintain the oily coating - and normally waterproofed feathers get waterlogged and stay wet after the duck gets out of the water. 

If the outer feathers and even sometimes the down underneath the feathers stays wet, that can lead to the duck becoming chilled and unable to stay warm.

This often will lead to the duck avoiding water all together, which just makes the condition worse.  And if a duck gets their feathers muddy and can’t clean them, the mud will stop the oil from being effective.

This in turn can lead to parasites living in the feathers and over preening by the duck trying to clean itself. 

Pekin ducks are apparently most susceptible to wet feather, so if you raise Pekin ducks, it's very important to keep their pen as dry and mud-free as possible and be sure that they get the opportunity to splash around in water or swim often.

Preventing wet feather, or conditions that might lead to the condition, is important. Knowing what can cause wet feather is the first step in preventing it.

As mentioned above, in addition to inadequate water for bathing, causes of wet feather can include overall poor health, a poor diet that doesn’t include enough vitamins, or a non-working or clogged preen gland.

The presence of lice or other parasites which can make a duck over-preen herself is also a contributing cause to wet feather, since parasites also lead to declining health in a duck, another trigger for wet feather. It becomes a vicious cycle at that point.

Treatment for Wet Feather

Treatment should entail bringing the affected duck indoors and washing her in water water and Dawn dish detergent, rinsing her well and then blow drying her on a warm setting before putting her back outside. 

This removes the old oil as well as any dirt or mud from the duck’s feathers and gives her a chance to start over.

If the duck has wet feather, she should be kept from swimming for a few days, but allowed access to a small tub of water so she can begin to splash a bit of water on her head and back to being the preening process. 

After a few days, short swims can be allowed again until you see that her waterproofing is back.

If you do have a duck suffering from wet feather, you will need to limit pool time, especially in the colder months, and be sure to dry her off whenever she gets wet.

Depending on the severity of the wet feather, if the above method doesn’t work, often you will need to wait until the duck molts and grows in new feathers, keeping the duck as clean and dry as possible for the duration.

Adding some Nutri-drench or black strap molasses to her feed can help her get proper vitamins and nutrients to help her along as well.

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Ducks are known as aquatic birds or waterfowls. Despite being categorized as birds, they are nearly flightless and are super dissimilar to regular birds. Have you ever wondered what makes the ducks a bird? And do they not have feathers as they are incapable of taking a flight? Well, if these kinds of questions brought you here, allow us to reveal the mystery to you. 

Do ducks have feathers? 

Yes for the record, ducks have feathers. In fact, the other fellow waterfowls also happen to have feathers. Duck feathers are a sight for sore eyes as their feathers are waterproof, bright, colorful. 

Why Do Ducks Have Feathers? 

As now our readers know that ducks do not have fur, they have feathers, a question “why do ducks have feathers?” might have been raised in their minds. As whenever a mystery is revealed to us we often find ourselves questioning, if it is so, why is it so? Don’t we? 

Frankly, ducks have been blessed with feathers for a variety of legitimate reasons. If they had fur or hair we have no clue how they would have survived. The reasons why ducks have been blessed with feathers are;

• Ducks have feathers because they are classified as birds
• Ducks have feathers to fly 
• Ducks have feathers to assist them in migration 
• Ducks have feathers to protect them from harsh weather conditions
• Ducks have feathers to assist them in finding a mate

Ducks have feathers because they are classified as birds

Ducks, geese, and swans are all classified as waterfowls, aquatic birds, or simply birds. If we try to judge the situation from this point of view, ducks can not have fur or hair but feathers.

If all birds have been blessed with feathers, how would these aquatic birds be deprived of that? 

Ducks have feathers to fly

It’s pretty obvious that all birds are blessed with feathers to fly and they use their feathers for the same purpose.

Though most duck breeds have lost their ability to fly yet domestic mallards, calls, indies, muscovies, and some other breeds use these feathers to fly. 

Ducks have feathers to assist them in migration

Ducks, geese, and swans are all migratory birds. Ducks prefer living in the areas that are warmer for some legitimate reasons even though they have a nice thick layer of body fat and waterproof feathers to survive winters. The reasons why they have to migrate all the time are; 

• Food; they can not find food when everything is covered with snow
• Breed; in the breeding season they have to move to a warmer area to breed and lay eggs. As the baby ducklings hardly have feathers on their bodies, it’s nearly impossible for them to survive such harsh living conditions. 

So to live in a warm environment, find food, breed, and lay eggs they keep on migrating all their life from colder to warmer areas. The ducks migrate in flocks, the flock flies in V shape. The V shape helps these big aquatic birds to pull their body weight easily. 

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Ducks have feathers to protect them from harsh weather conditions

Since birds and animals can put on layers of clothes to survive winters, they have been given fur and feathers to protect themselves.

Ducks might have lost their ability to fly but their feathers are not useless anyway.

They may not be supporting the flight but these feathers have been protecting them from the cold and harsh weather conditions. 

Ducks have feathers to assist them in finding a mate

What’s even more surprising about feathers is that they assist ducks in finding a mate.

The ducks either swim rapidly or spread their feathers to show that they are interested in courtship and have been looking for a mate. 

Now that we have got the idea that like every bird out there even ducks have feathers and they use them to migrate, fly, attract a mate, and protect themselves from harsh weather conditions. Let’s wind up today’s discussion with some worth-knowing facts about the duck feathers;

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Duck Feathers Have Types

It might come as a surprise to you that duck feathers have types. The type of feathers we have found on the duck’s body is;

• Contour feather
• Down feather 
• Filoplumes feathers
• Semiplumes feathers

Contour feather

The outermost feather that covers the duck’s wings, tail, and the rest of the body is known as contour feather.

The contour feathers have different colors and shapes, it usually distinguishes one breed from other breeds.

The contour feathers have well-developed shafts, barbs, tiny barbules, and a hackle feather. 

Down feather

The down feathers are the easiest ones to spot on a duck. The first fine layer of feathers on the duck’s body is known as the down feathers.

To be more specific, down feathers are the feathers that cover the tough exterior feathers.

The down feathers are quite useful as they do not just cover the body but also trap the air and protect the ducks against heat loss. 

Filoplumes feathers

The stiff hair-like feathers appearing at the base of contour feathers are known as filoplumes.

The filoplumes feathers lack the feather muscle however they have a few countable soft barbs near the tip. 

Semiplumes feathers

Semiplumes feathers are found hiding under the contour feathers. Their job is to cover and provide extra insulation to the bird’s body.

Moreover, Semiplumes feathers are the part of the duck’s body that assists in maintaining the appearance of these aquatic birds. 

Ducks replace their worn out and broken feathers at least twice a year

Feathers are super delicate even if they appear strong. They can get broken or worn out quite easily, however the ducks replace these broken and worn out feathers themselves.

The whole process of replacing the old broken or worn-out feather is called molting. The duck’s feathers remain in top condition as these aquatic birds replace their feathers at least twice a year.