This process takes about 6 weeks and produces a dull coloured feather on the bird until their next moult at around 15 weeks. You will then have to wait until the 14 week mark before having this option again.
They will then go through their adult plumage moult at around 15 weeks. This is where the magic happens. This is the point where you will start to see the potential of your new flock for the year. Read my disclosure policy. Treating and Preventing Wet Feather in Ducks in ducks ,. Preventing and treating wet feather in backyard ducks will help keep them in tip-top shape.
All rights reserved. Newer post. Older Post. Be social! Fresh Eggs Daily, Inc. For more details see the Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosure. Mallard-descendant molting patterns are entirely different from Muscovy molting. Male and female Mallard-related ducks also have two separate molting timelines. The timing for molting can vary significantly between domesticated duck breeds and even genetic lines in the same breed.
They can also be affected by environmental conditions including care practices and natural factors like climate and weather. Each duck may molt on schedules that vary as much as months.
Feather loss, too, can range from being imperceptible to almost total. The good news is that there is a basic overriding pattern to the Mallard-descendant molt. Unlike the Muscovy, these ducks do molt every year.
However, unlike chickens who molt all at once, duck molts are progressive and happen over a good portion of the year. It is not entirely clear to researchers if the replacement of feathers is a continuous process or an intermittent one.
It could be that there are stop and start points and short breaks in between each phase of molting. Or, this may be one long process that appears faster or slower depending on some environmental and dietary factors. Drake male duck molts start with what is often called the nuptial molt. The nuptial molt happens at some point after completion of the winter migration, usually in fall to early winter.
During the nuptial molt, males lose their drab-colored contour feather and get brightly colored new dress-up feathers. Often, duck owners only notice this molt when it is completed in late winter period is because drakes may suddenly look all dressed up for their impending spring nuptials with iridescent blue or green feathers in some breeds under their wings or on top of their heads. The female version of the nuptial molt is the nesting molt that occurs from spring to early summer. However, they do need to have a good supply of feathers to use to make their nest comfy and warm for the little ones on the way.
However, by the time it is warm enough for females to lay and sit a clutch of eggs, they have downy feathers to spare for feathering their nest. Even in ducks that do not get broody or sit nests, they still tend to molt during this time frame. This is the time of year when most people notice their duck molting because there are often lots of downy feathers flying around the homestead.
Toward the tail end of the breeding season from summer to early fall, adult Mallard-descendants lose their wing feathers. Similar to chickens, this can be either a hard almost all wing feathers or soft only a few wing feathers type of molt.
Also, like chickens, some ducks seem to put back on new feathers in no time, while others seem to drag it out for months. In other words, there can be a considerable difference in wing molts from duck to duck, from year to year. There is one more molt. Around the time of the wing molt, male ducks will also lose those fancy nuptial feathers and grow some new dull, boring feathers.
The purpose of this molt is to make the males inconspicuous to predators while they are regrowing their wing feathers and then later during migration. During hard wing molts, Mallard-related ducks that can usually fly, are grounded and more vulnerable.
Drab-colored feathers blend in better and offer a greater chance of survival. However, in my drakes, I have witnessed this safety molt both before and after the wing molt. In my Mallard-related ducks that still fly like my Mallard-looking call duck, this molt happens weeks before the wing molt starts.
In most of my Pekin drakes, this occurs well-after the wing molt is noticeably underway. Molting is the process of both losing and replacing those old feathers.
Male Mallard-descended ducks can essentially be molting from fall to late summer. However, on average females are believed to lose more feathers than males. They also tend to start their wing molts later. Females can be molting from their first nest through to the moment their wild ancestors would typically take off for their winter migration.
They are also probably putting on extra downy feathers in winter while the boys are swapping out their nuptial feathers. Overall, molting — as in the replacement of old feathers with new — is a process that takes places throughout most of the year in Mallard family ducks.
You probably have ducks for a reason such as eggs, meat, garden fertility. Depending on your needs, you likely chose breeds that lay lots of eggs year-round. Or, maybe you picked ducks that gain weight fast which means they are flightless and have probably lost the instinct to go broody.
Through the process of breeding, those preferred qualities were selected at the expense of some of the other Mallard-like behaviors. What this means for molts is that your backyard ducks might not keep the same timing as Mallards. They may start their molts a bit earlier or later depending on your climate. They might take longer or finish faster depending on whether and how much they forage in addition to the feed you provide.
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