We lost a duck yesterday — the first prolapse we’ve experienced. She didn’t lay a large egg, and the shell was not soft (we started giving them calcium a few weeks ago). She didn’t seem to be in distress, and we tried everything the Internet said to do to reduce the swelling and get all of the insides back on her inside to no avail. The other ducks were enjoying splashing in puddles of snow melt, but they would come over to the sick duck and give her ducky hugs — putting their neck across the top of her neck and draping their head down. Eventually, she put her head down, fell asleep, and passed away.

The five remaining ducks seemed pretty down today — they didn’t eat much and spent a lot of the day napping.