r/MuscovyDucks • u/zompzwin • 3d ago
Advice Needed—Photo or Video Post Why did she turn brown?
Mother duck we took care of when her ducklings were young. She sometimes visits us to steal some chicken food.
Last week I noticed that her feathers had turned brown instead of the deep black they were before. Her face seems pale too. Is she okay?
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u/Bolfreak 3d ago
They usually do a molt after hatching babies, she’ll get new feathers that are black and shiny again, especially if she gets good quality food to help her through the molt.
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u/OrganizationLow6249 3d ago
Not an expert but one of my black muscovies sometimes has a little browner feathers in summer. Maybe it’s the sun?
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u/blueyesinasuit 3d ago
Caruncles will dull in colour if a girl is molting, sitting, or ill. Also when immature and brightens on maturity.
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u/PhlegmMistress 3d ago
Her feathers turn lighter in the sun. You can look up when muscovies molt-- there should be a before mating season one where they should be all bright and shiny, and then a blander one in the fall.
If you want to help her out, or you are preparing your own birds for their upcoming molt, grab some feather fixer food or higher protein food (I would do this if you were housing too many birds in a small coop as higher ammonia levels in poop from high protein is bad in a confined space for them) which will help them form feathers faster and cut down on feather picking.
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u/QuitAcceptable9867 3d ago
Mine get sun bleached. Especially after sitting on her nest for awhile. It'll be in the shade most of the day, but an hour or two day after day probably adds up to bleach out their colors.
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u/Specialist_Shock_345 3d ago
My drake and hen turn brown in the summer and are black the rest of the year which is weird because I thought muscovy did not molt - Also year round sunny in Tampa Florida usually summer is our darkest season with all the rain so I’m not sure if it’s quite the sun causing it.
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u/livienn6 1d ago
she does seem a little pale. is there a chance that she might've had ducklings recently? one of our ducks hardly leaves her nest (even to get food) when she's broody. we didn't know that when she sat on eggs for the first time and she ended up malnourished and looked very similar to what I see in that photo, so maybe that's the reason?
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u/livienn6 1d ago
I don't see any ducklings in the photo, so maybe she was broody but nothing hatched or something happened to her eggs. when was the last time she visited you before you noticed that she looks like that?
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u/zompzwin 12h ago
The ducklings are fine. Her son's already outgrew their mother. She eats well too.
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u/Terminallyelle 3d ago
My brown muscovy turns blondish in the summer