by a strange train of events i have aquired two biological duck units. The small one we believe is female, they aren't that old yet though. The female is malfunctioning and somehow losing wing feathers. We are not sure if it is natural, or if one or the other of the ducks is doing it. The feathers are being stripped down to their shafts--- any idea what is going on and what to do about it?

on another note, my mother thinks they look encasing around larger feathers. She had smaller feathers before, but they've never been as large as the shafts yet. If this true should we help take off the encasing?

bumping up. My duck need your help. If you have no knowledge concerning ducks you are a useless member of society! . . . . well i guess that would include me due to the fact that i need your help . . . . but just answer my question damnit!

why dont you just watch them to see if they are pulling each others feathers out or if it is happening naturally?

I do not know anything about ducks, but I ran a search and found this. It doesn't answer your question but you can email questions to them. Hope it helps.

 

http://www.liveducks.com/care.html#health2

There's a whole world of feathers on a duck - it could be that your duck is moulting and you are seeing another type of feather that's usually not visible. Take a look at this - http://www.ornithology.com/lectures/Feathers.html

 

If you want to go crazy here's a site with more information on a ducks feathers than I thought was possible! - http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/tools/duckplum/ducktab.htm

perhaps you should separate the duck in question from the other ducks to narrow down the possibilities.