Just don't feed wild animals
I keep seeing this but as far as I can tell the only study on the subject seems to show that it has no effect on their normal grazing patterns and that both domesticated and wild ducks heavily fed bread spend 90% of their time "naturally grazing"
https://absa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Cor-Vol-35-Pg101_106-Ducks.pdf
It's basically just duck junk food. https://www.uu.nl/en/background/what-to-feed-ducks-according-to-science Probably not an issue if they don't get too much, and still get plenty of good quality food in. I'd still rather give them something good for them, but I'm glad it's not as terrible as it seems.
Totally agree, it's just that there is a lot of pearl clutching when it comes to this topic and we need a more balanced approach.
A little bit of bread is not going to hurt them, but maybe there are some other options that are better. But if they get fed some bread, probably don't need to have an aggressive confrontation about it
In my defense, the only time I gave ducks bread was one time a gang of them surrounded me. One started biting/pecking my toe while the other was jumping up snatching at the sandwich I was eating. It was ducking extortion!!
That's fair, I'd probably throw the sandwich and run.
Idk I tried to feed ducks with some frozen peas, and those fuckers just spat them out.
Just like people, some like them, some don't! I usually let them thaw first, so I'm not sure if they'd like them still frozen. Maybe that was a factor?
There's these two identical swans at the local park named Tom & Jerry that have been there for years. One of them loves peas and will gobble them straight from your hand (if they know and trust you,) but the other one will go to eat whatever you're giving them from your hand, see/smell that it's peas, and their head flies back and they violently shakes their head like "NOPE!" It's hilarious! I love those goobers.
as a treat, many ducks love blueberries! it shouldn't be their main food though. I had a duck that would go wild for blueberries.
You get little cans of peas that you can keep in your car in case of duck sightings
I would love to explain my Emergency Peas to people who saw them.
Based on the meme in a freezer you have in your car as it seems it must be frozen peas otherwise they will fight you to death.
I should explain, due to my experience in this matter. Frozen peas are better, simply because they float. Canned peas sink, so you can only throw a few at a time
That said, I've seen what I am sure was a duck getting brain-freeze from the frozen ones. Can't be sure but I didn't imagine the stinkeye
I thought the reason they say not to feed ducks bread was because they would get used it and flock to city centers.
Mainly they flock to bakeries. Once they've tried the artesianal stuff they come up with all kinds of crazy hijinks to get it. It's really a nuisance.
“Ok that’s seven loaves of sourdough- Wait. I’m gonna need to see some ID.”
(Reasonable quacking sounds)
“Dang it. It’s ducks in a trench coat again. Third time today.”
No bullshit, the local crows know when I'm baking sourdough now. They smell it, I guess, and they know that I'm a soft touch. I usually do little batches of "discard" pancakes, and share a few with them.
They have, however, decided that they will only visit the side yard because of our chicken. She rules the back yard, and they won't fuck with her. So there's this solid mass of iridescent black on that patch, just cawing and waiting until I open the damn window.
I like crows lol.
Now teach them to bring you money for your bread
If only!
For a few years, I had a crow friend who liked to perch in the trees across the street. I would yell hello, and they would caw back. They were great, I always have them my food scraps. Stopped coming one day, and I really miss them. I hope they just found greener pastures somewhere.
Oh yeah, crows are survivors. If they moved away, it's because something better drew them. They don't abandon a solid resource without a damn good reason.
I find it funny that my local family of crows will gang up on and harass the living shit out of any hawks that dare to show up in the neighborhood, but a single bluejay (like a third their size) will chase the whole family off in no time. Bluejays are some tough motherfuckers.
I love crows and I feed peanuts to my local family, but they're still extremely skeptical of me after more than a year and won't touch the peanuts until I go back into the house. I keep reading that they give gifts to humans they like but they haven't left shit for me - except one time when one of them puked up whatever he had just eaten so he had more room for the peanuts.
I also make sourdough. Maybe I should try giving them some of that.
(Reasonable quacking sounds)
thanks for the good chuckle. 😁
It's practically an epidemic.
I was always under the impression that ducks liked to eat at Subway.
In most countries you're not allowed to call Subway cake "bread" so that's ok
what if I feed them human flesh?
Just be careful; once they get a taste for man, that's all they'll want from then on.
the ducks round here go wild for oats
cheap as hell too
What about mealworms
We have signs saying the same all around our local park. It seems to stop no one :(
What nutes do those foods have that the bread does not? Isn't white bread usually enriched?
Bread is a good and easy source of carbs. Even if it has other nutrients, the duck is going to be consuming far more carbs than it should. While the other things have carbs, they aren't nearly as bio-available. It's like drinking juice that's had a bunch of sugar added and thinking it's healthy because it's juice. Carbs are the thing that'll make you fat, regardless of what other nutrients come with it.
Corn: probably the Potassium
Lettuce: water. That's honestly why we use lettuce in human food. Well that and the crunch.
Seeds: protien/fat
Peas: some potassium, iron, vitamin B6, and vitamin C
Oats: good carb/fiber/protein balance
Source: Chef that isn't fat. I'm not skinny either, but I know enough about the nutritional content of the foods I make to graze without getting more than a little chub
Doesn't enriched white bread have a lot of that stuff in it though?
It does, but I don't know if the duck can actually digest it, and the protien, fat, and liquid content is very minimal.
I'm a chef, Jim! Not a veterinarian
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