Preening Pekin ducklings

[Tor7039]

We took our Pekin ducklings for a swim yesterday which they absolutely LOVED! It was so cute seeing them swim under water and dunk their little heads in. Henry, our youngest duckling hasn’t been dunking his head underwater with his waterer, which is a large ricotta cheese container with holes cut out. Our others are fine with it but Henry just isn’t into it. When we had them swim yesterday, Henry full on dunked his head under and cleared his nostrils several times! I was so excited to see that for him. I’ll attach some pictures of the babies (who are growing up too fast!)

my question is though...I noticed Henry is preening a lot which is good but there’s a particular area on his back that he seems to preen more than any other area so much so that there’s a red spot and it looked pretty raw after swim time yesterday. He looks fine now and I know the water made it look worse because he was wet but I don’t want him to keep picking to the point where he’s making it bleed. Henry went to our vet who specializes in ducks and chickens and she did take a look at their skin and said it looked really healthy so I’m glad about that. Is this just the normal process of preening where they’re going to have a few bald spots here and there? Just concerned about it being too raw.

Here’s some pictures of the babies! I love these little things so much! We started off with about 3-4 inches of water since this was their first time and they were a little unsure at first. Wanted to make sure they still had the option of standinf

 

[Mylied]

I'd believe the vet who specializes in ducks. ;-) He might just be losing baby fluff and getting ready to grow in juvenile feathers. They shed a lot of fluff and those pin feathers are annoying growing in.

 

[Isaac 0]

X2 That's common around that age.

 

[Miss Lydia]

And could what you saw have been his preen gland it’s on top of his body where tail an body meet?

 

[Tor7039]

I'd believe the vet who specializes in ducks. ;-) He might just be losing baby fluff and getting ready to grow in juvenile feathers. They shed a lot of fluff and those pin feathers are annoying growing in.

Haha yes I’m really glad I have her as a vet for my duckies. She was my vet a few years ago but I moved recently and switched vets because of it but still good to have them about 30 min away if needed. I just was worried about that one spot that he seems to keep picking at and making it so raw. I feel so bad . But all sounds good, thanks for the extra info

 

[Tor7039]

And could what you saw have been his preen gland it’s on top of his body where tail an body meet?

Aha! I bet that’s EXACTLY what it is. This makes much more sense. Thank you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

First time I saw one I about freaked out thinking something was awful was wrong with my baby duck .