What to Feed Ducks (and What Not To)
A searchable checker plus the safe-and-unsafe lists for backyard ducks.
Ducks are easy to feed and brilliant foragers, but two things trip people up: bread (never) and niacin (they need extra). Get those right, give them a waterfowl or layer feed plus greens and foraging, and they thrive.
Two duck-specific rules:
- Never feed bread. It is the classic duck mistake: empty calories that cause "angel wing" deformities and foul their water.
- Ducks need extra niacin (vitamin B3). Add brewer's yeast to their feed or use a waterfowl feed, or ducklings can develop leg problems.
- They eat wet. Ducks need water beside food to swallow, and they forage slugs and snails better than any other bird.
Can ducks eat...? Search it
The never list
Bread (especially for ducks), avocado, chocolate and caffeine, raw or green potato, dried raw beans, rhubarb leaves, heavy onion or garlic, and anything salty, oily or mouldy. Everything else fresh and unsalted is fair game in moderation.
Track feed costs in the app. The free Flock tracker works out feed for ducks, ducks and chickens together, and what your eggs are worth.
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