David carried her down to the house and I thought I could feel an egg so we put her in the kitchen sink full of warm water (something I'd read was the thing to do at such times). She was calm and so sweet- no quacking at all. She was alarmingly drowsy, though, and kept shaking her head and knocking her beak against the side of the sink. She seemed uncomfortable still but after an hour- with David mostly sitting with her and keeping the water warm while I desperately looked for information on the web, she seemed to have perked up a bit. I lifted her out and put her on the tiled kitchen floor where she started to preen herself vigorously. I was very relieved at this as it was the liveliest I'd seen her for at least two days. (That's how long she's be skulking about- although I'd been trying to tell myself she was ok.)

 

In the meantime, I'd had to cancel our booking at the country pub (where they stop serving food at 9 pm on a Sunday) but we decided I couldn't just sit and watch her all evening - too stressful for me and probably not much use to Sheldon- so we put her back with her feathery chums and headed into town to another restaurant for what turned out to be a lovely meal.

 

When we got home the fantastically helpful New York State duck farmer, Daphne, who I write to for help had replied to my mail pleading for her phone number so I rang her! We had a wonderful chat about what I could do if the problem continued and shared ducky stories. (After a year of e-mails, it was fun to hear each other's voices!) Of course, Sheldy was in bed and seeming a bit  better by then but the conversation reassured me our warm water treatment had probably helped.

 

The next morning, I was so pleased to see Sheldon looking MUCH livelier. I found an egg with a weak shell in the house she'd slept in- which might have been hers- and she was busying herself round the garden although she looked very bedraggled. (Perhaps she'd had a long night awake trying to lay the egg!) I brought her back into the kitchen sink to give her another warm bath to be on the safe side and the difference in her behaviour was huge. She seemed so much brighter and inquisitive and created quite a splash! Of course, with her apparently well, all thoughts then turned to the website and photos were taken!

 

Days later, she is still doing well and is back to her normal busy, energetic self  but I think we may have saved her life. Having watched her anxiously earlier on my birthday, I knew that when we found her in the evening, she was going downhill fast. It was either an egg stuck or something she'd eaten but the warm bath must have kick started her system!