Female Khaki Campbell sitting often

[mlmaxson]

I have a female khaki Campbell who’s is acting strange. She’s <1 year old and started laying a few weeks ago (I’d say 8 weeks). It’s now winter, snowy, and icey and I notice that she will walk a few feet then stop and sit down, get up walk then sit. When she walks she looks fine, but I can’t tell if she’s just got cold feet from the snow, if she’s egg bound (I’ve had chickens be egg bound before), or if it has to do with her being broody since these last 2 weeks she stopped laying in her random spots and has built a nest for her eggs. The coop is filled with straw so she can stay warm, but this is my first year with ducks so I’m not sure what’s normal. My drake is acting fine, he keeps tucking his feet up when he’s standing around, but nothing atypical. Should I be worried?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Have you taken all the eggs she has laid? You could pick her up feel her belly for an egg sometimes you can feel them sometimes not. Usually being egg bound will take them out pretty quick how long has she been doing this?

 

[mlmaxson]

She’s been doing this about a week now and I have been taking her eggs (I don’t think she is egg bound, but again, I’m not familiar with a duck’s reproduction like I am a chicken’s, so maybe there is something I’m missing). I also feed a mixture of layer pellets with black oil seeds and cracked corn to increase their fat through the winter.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You could always give her a 1ml dose of Calcium Gluconate and if egg bound it will help bring on contraction to get the egg moving. But is she still eating good and drinking? And does she walk strange. I see @DuckyDonna passed through here she can explain what her Runner does when she is egg bound and how the cal glu helps. I doubt she is egg bound either she maybe just having trouble walking in the snow. Mine lay down a lot when there is snow on the ground.

 

[DuckyDonna]

When my runner gets egg bound she stands funny with her butt almost dragging the ground and her neck looks like the letter "S". She will walk a few steps and just plop down. If she tries to get up she will put out her wings to help her move to another location. It's a scary thing to watch but now that I know what to look for when I see the first signs starting I will give a dose of calcium gluconate right away and the egg will be out by morning....so far at least.