My duck laid her first egg 3 days ago, now she's acting differently.

[Pweetyhonks]

Hi!
The other day I had an idea to put a chicken egg in with my duck who is around 6 months old to see if it inspired her to lay. Turns out it did, as two days later she had laid an egg of her own. Her eggs are really well formed, hard shell and good shape (and very tasty), and she has laid for 3 days straight, so no worries there. BUT she's been acting odd. Normally she comes up to me and lets me stroke her, nuzzling her head into my lap. But now she's very distant and does her own thing, I have my own presumptions about her behaviour, but was wondering if this is a normal thing to happen? As a first time duck owner, I worry about the smallest things

 

[Amiga]

I need to dash out, but saw this and wanted to respond. Has she laid today? Is she getting extra calcium as in a layer feed or free choice oyster shell or similar? Sometimes egg startup can be a little challenging. I would give her a chance to float in some lukewarm water. It should help her muscles relax a little, in case she is having any discomfort.

 

[Pweetyhonks]

Thanks for replying.
She laid at about 2am this morning (it's now 7pm) She eats layer feed, she also eats a lot of snails in the garden and I put out some oyster shell so she can freely get to it if she wants it.

She has a little tub that I gave the ducks (I have 2) when they were little that I fill up as well as their pond, lately she has just been sitting in it so I put some warm water in it when I saw this post and I think she likes it. It's probably that, I'm sure if I started laying eggs I'd need a nice warm bath too. I'll keep on giving her lukewarm water to bathe in and see if she seems more normal. Thanks for the advice.