In May the drakes will begin to flock. Usually in July or the first eight weeks of the ducklings life, the hens will show their young how to fly. The hens will stay with their young until the young learn how to fly and then the hens begin to flock. In September the ducklings will molt into their adult plumage. The adult feathers are replaced every year.
Ducks replace their wing feathers once and their body feathers twice, during each molting cycle.
The adults begin to molt in the summer after they finish breeding and nesting. Molting is most noticeable in the drake. He first loses his body feathers and he will look like a hen. Usually in July when he has a camouflaged hen like body covering he will lose his flight feathers. He cannot fly for a month then.