As a good duck owner, you want to be knowledgeable and prepared about everything to do with your ducks. One such unique aspect that sets ducks apart from other pets or farm animals is that they molt on a bi-yearly cycle.
Molting refers to the period in which ducks replace all of their feathers. Just like with humans, as our skin renews every month, so do your ducks’ feathers. This is crucial to keeping ducks happy and healthy.
For new duck owners, molting can be a concerning time if you’re unsure of what is happening and why. Although the details can vary between duck breeds, there are some important things to know that can help you make your ducks’ molting periods go as smoothly and stress-free as possible.
Today, we’re going to break down everything you can expect when your ducks molt as well as learn about why ducks molt in the first place and everything you can do to keep your ducks happy and healthy while they are molting.
Why Do Ducks Molt
First thing’s first: why do ducks molt? It’s a natural and instinctive process by which your duck will lose and replace all its feathers. From the point of view of your duck’s wellbeing, molting is very important.
Feathers play an integral role in ducks’ survival and good health. They perform the obvious tasks, like keeping these birds warm and providing the coloring that helps them attract mates. However, the special design of ducks’ feathers also makes them water-resistant and keeps them from sinking when they swim.
Feathers also play a hygienic role by keeping dirt, grime, and other substances away from the duck’s skin while also keeping the duck’s own protective, natural oils close where they can coat the plumage and help ducks stay healthy.
Ducks need to molt to keep all of these protective benefits. Just as human skin gets worn down and needs renewing through the replacement of the layers of skin cells, ducks need clean, fresh feathers as the old ones become worn out.
When Do Ducks Molt
Now, when do ducks lose their down? Most ducks molt naturally twice every year. The first molting period will occur during the late winter into early springtime, and the second happens in the summertime. Similar to how some dogs shed at particular times of the year to usher in the growth of a summer or winter coat, most ducks molt around the same times of the year to prepare themselves for the seasonal changes.
The springtime molt is the less drastic period. Some duck owners might only notice a few stray feathers lying about. For most ducks, the summer molt is much more dramatic, making some owners fear for the worst when they see large piles of feathers lying around.
The springtime molt mainly benefits the drakes, who shed their outermost primary feathers that were drab throughout winter for brighter ones that will attract females better during mating season.
If you do see large piles of feathers during ducks molting season, don’t panic. They’re simply a result of ducks’ simultaneous molt. This means that, whichever type of feather they are molting, they will lose all of them at once and then regrow them all back in a matter of weeks.
The summer molt will allow both drakes and hens to trade in their brighter mating season plumage for more neutral colored feathers, which make camouflaging from predators during oncoming winter months easier.
During this molt, ducks will lose both their primary (or outer) feathers and all their downy feathers. These are the feathers that start to pile up and can make some duck owners wonder if predators have torn through their flock.
This molt takes place in a time span of about two to three weeks during which the birds will be pretty much flightless. Still, your birds won’t be without their outermost waterproof feathers, which are enough to maybe make it seem like your duck hasn’t lost any feathers during his molt at all.
At what age do ducks first molt?
As a general rule, duckling begin molting at around fifteen weeks of age. Before this, they will shed their down feathers and go through what’s called a juvenile plumage molt. During this molt, after losing their down, they’ll start to grow their first real adult feathers. Therefore, ducklings’ first real adult molt occurs after this process.
How Does Molting Vary Between Breeds
As we’ve mentioned, there are obvious differences between males and females when it comes to molting throughout the year. But with all the different types of domesticated ducks out there, can molting vary between duck breeds?
It absolutely can and does. Thankfully, it doesn’t get too complicated. Most duck breeds can be divided into two families: Muscovy ducks and Mallard ducks. Mallard molting follows the pattern described above that is based upon the mating and migration patterns that their ancestors followed.
Muscovy ducks, on the other hand, are not migratory birds and were bred for tropical regions that don’t follow the same seasonal patterns that Mallard ducks are adapted for. Because of this, Muscovy duck molting is also different.
Muscovy ducks―which are heavier, larger ducks with long necks that can make them look similar to geese―follow a once-yearly molting pattern but are sometimes known to not molt at all.
This once-yearly molt affects females and is called a nesting molt because the downy feathers are removed to line the nest. The number of feathers removed will vary from individual to individual, and it is not known whether males molt at all, but evidence of them molting is scarce.
However, if you have any of the most common domestic duck breeds, such as Pekin, Cayuga, Rouen, Campbell, or Aylesbury ducks, these are all Mallards and will follow the bi-yearly cycle for molting.
Can There Be Complications With Molting?
Now that we’ve discussed what molting is and how and when it occurs, it’s easy to see how this process can leave ducks vulnerable and open to predator attacks, health issues, and greater nutritional needs.
One of the most common duck molting problems is the concern that ducks are bleeding when they molt. This comes into play as ducks start to lose and regrow their blood feathers, or the feathers that contain an artery and vein inside them. For this reason, the center of these feathers appears pinkish, especially while they grow in.
If these feathers become damaged, broken, or cut, your duck will bleed. The amount of blood lost will vary, but sometimes injuries to blood feathers can cause enough blood loss to result in death. As long as your duck is losing and regrowing its feathers naturally and not by yanking them out, this shouldn’t be an issue.
If you notice a bird that’s bleeding because of broken blood feathers, you’ll want to catch the bird and intervene quickly. Thankfully, pulling the feather out will close the blood flow and stop the bleeding. This is pretty easy to do with pliers or, in a pinch, with just your fingers.
As mentioned before, your ducks will also be flightless during their molting period. Because most domesticated duck breeds are no longer migratory and might have clipped wings anyway, this shouldn’t cause much of an issue.
However, for this and many other reasons, it’s crucial to have a good duck shelter available to them for safety both from predators and the elements.
Another often overlooked issue that ducks can experience during their molting periods is nutritional. While your duck is working hard to regrow nearly a whole body’s worth of feathers, it needs extra minerals and nutrients to produce that new plumage.
If your ducks’ diet isn’t supplemented with molting in mind during these key times of the year, then your ducks could suffer from malnutrition, which could even affect their laying yield land the health of their feathers later on.
How To Best Help Molting Ducks
Thankfully, many of the common complications with ducks’ molting can be easily remedied with just a little bit of knowledge and effort.
When it comes to nutrition, understanding the process your duck’s body is undertaking is helpful so you know what to feed ducks when they are molting. The feathers that they are working to regrow are made overwhelmingly of amino acids, a type of protein. So it’s important to supplement their feed with higher levels of protein than usual.
During their molting periods, it’s a good idea to switch to a high-protein feed and even supplement with other sources of protein. Dried mealworms, grubs, and extra foraging time will go a long way to making sure their bodies have all the building blocks necessary for new feathers.
As silly as it sounds, molting ducks need a little bit of understanding and patience as well! Molting periods are likely to be the times that your flock of ducks is most at odds with each other. Individuals are likely to be grumpy, as molting isn’t very comfortable, and the strain on their bodies can be great.
And if you want to go a step further to prevent broken blood feathers, take care to not handle your ducks while they are molting. Newly grown feathers can be sensitive and fragile. Because of this, they can bend and break easily and result in great blood loss if a blood feather is broken.
So do your best to avoid touching your ducks and give them all plenty of space during molting seasons. Consider keeping especially moody ducks apart so as to lessen the chances of them hurting themselves or other ducks.
What if a duck is not molting?
If you’ve noticed that not all your ducks molt on time, then don’t worry! Sometimes individuals have a different internal clock than others, which is fine. However, if you notice that some of your ducks don’t seem to be molting at all, then it might be time for a closer look.
If your duck appears to have healthy plumage but isn’t molting, then this shouldn’t be worrisome. As long as the duck and its feathers all appear healthy, then there is probably no issue. But if a duck that hasn’t been molting seems sickly or has unhealthy-looking feathers, the culprit is likely to be the duck’s diet.
Ducks can skip a molt if their diets are not rich enough in protein to grow back all their feathers. So it’s important to anticipate when your ducks might be molting and switch over their feed as soon as possible.
Likewise, if you notice that your hens are not laying as much during molting season, then this is normal, too. Their bodies are diverting the majority of their nutritional resources to regrowing feathers, which causes a high demand for the same nutrients needed in mass quantities for producing eggs.
Final Thoughts
If you are a new duck owner, then thoughts of molting might bring to mind images of chickens molting. Thankfully, ducks don’t look quite as bedraggled as chickens when they molt! Matter of fact, you might miss that they are molting altogether at certain times of the year, if not for all the loose feathers laying around.
So if you’re surveying your ducks’ area and notice large, abnormal quantities of feathers laying around, don’t panic. Chances are that your ducks are going through molting and not that a predator has had a field day with your flock.
When it comes to duck molting, don’t forget that it will vary based on whether your ducks are a Mallard or Muscovy breed. Mallard ducks will follow the standard migratory molting pattern, while Muscovy ducks don’t follow seasonal or migratory patterns and molt far less.
The most important thing to remember about molting is that it’s a perfectly natural and necessary process for your ducks. And although Mother Nature knows best and it’s helpful for them to renew their plumage, they could benefit from a little help from you, too.
Give high-protein feed and supplement with other good, healthy sources of protein, and your ducks will have a much more comfortable and productive molting season. This will help ensure that your flock stays happy and healthy for the rest of the seasons of the year.