Molting is also known as shedding, signifies the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often but not always an outer layer or covering either at specific times of year, or at specific points in its life-cycle. Moulting can involve the skin, hair or fur, or other external layer. Ducks shed their feathers and grow new ones twice every year first moult is in early summers and the process takes few weeks. During the first part of the molt, a duck's body feathers fall out. New feathers grow in, and they're dull brown and a bit scraggly. The feathers don't look flashy, but blend in with the landscape instead. This is important, because the wing feathers are about to fall out. For the next three to four weeks, ducks will not be able to fly. So they hide themselves in grass or somewhere else. As new wing feathers grow, they're filled with blood and are actually heavy. They grow fast. In one day, a wing feather may grow about the length of your pinkie nail, or even more! Once feathers stop growing, blood no longer flows to them. They become hollow and light. September is followed by second moulting.
