Duck sitting on the ground out of nowhere?

[Fleecy718]

One of my runners, Honey, was outside her pen with the other today and I noticed that out of nowhere she would sit completely down for about 15 seconds, and dabble under the leaves a little, then get up like nothing happened. I'd never seen this before. I was thinking she's egg bound too soon, maybe? I live in Virginia and its been remarkably warm this past week. Could she have mistaken it for spring?

It's definitely not like any of my runners to do that.

 

[Amiga]

Every now and then I see a runner or buff do that. So far, it hasn't seemed to be a problem.

To look more closely, consider bringing her in for a lukewarm bath she can float in. Has she already laid any eggs?

My ducks are getting spring-hormonal already, which is not that unusual, even in cold weather. There are so many factors involved including light, temperature, and diet. It's not the result of rigid testing, but it seems that the more greens the ducks get, the more they lay. That's just in general. It is not a case of salad one day means eggs the next.

Romy has been looking for nesting spots, making her little "where's my nest?" noise, several runners have been looking around and declaring certain spots in the garden as good nesting sites (there is a certain noise they make), and Bean hopped on Romy today.

And after tomorrow, the weather will be below freezing again for a while.

 

[myfinefeatheredfriends]

Completely normal, my ducks do it all the time, especially around this time of year when they're deprived of bathing water (it would freeze where we live).

 

[Chick1043]

My Indian Runner has been doing that lately too! Except its 0 - 15 degrees over here. I figured she was just trying to warm her feet up.

 

[petlove]

Her feet are probably cold and she is keeping them warm. I have a duck doing that as well. Also, my hens will change standing on one foot at a time. They do this in the early morning. Here, at least, it has been in the teens and twenties in the morning.