Do you feed bread to ducks?

No, I don't let the kids do that. I have chooks, and I know that bread is bad for chooks and ducks because it makes them fat without being very nutritious. You wouldn't necessarily know if it harmed the birds. You could feed them something that is closer to their natural food instead.

by Jennifer Muirhead

As my husband pointed out when we were discussing this, if you throw a handful of bird seed into a pond it will sink..... but bread floats, so it is easier for the birds to eat and more fun for the kids to watch. Do you know of an alternative that is good for ducks but would float?

Nope. That's why we just don't feed the ducks. Maybe you could feed them on land?

I used to before I knew it was bad for them. Now we just watch them instead.

by Sarah Bell

When my kids were smaller I would take them to the lake to feed the ducks bread. This was before it was advised not to do so, these days we will watch them but nod give them any food.

by thriftyfrugalfun

No.
Not good for them at all.

by jonaja

We have a lovely big duck pond in the park near our new house. My husband took our son to throw bread for the ducks and I raised concerns about it but he was of the opinion that the ducks there have a diet consisting mostly of bread and seem perfectly healthy. I couldn't think of an acceptable alternative for them to give so let them do it this time but was hoping to find one for future visits!

by VerityG

I don't now that I know it's bad for them, but I did until only a year or two ago when I learnt not to.

by meggf

No.

by Vee

I'm not sure the ducks in our park count as wild animals - they are very used to being fed by hoards of toddlers and their parents :)

We've used to take our daughter to feed the duckies at the botanic gardens on a very regular basis. There were no signs up about not feeding them and many others were openly doing it. I'd also be interested to know what sort of an alternative we could use? As feeding the ducks is great fun!

by lizzi

I used to live opposite a large lake where there were heaps of wildlife,waterfowl etc.
There were signs all over not to feed them however most people just ignored the signs.

One day, while walking my dogs which I did there every day, I happened to speak to a ranger and he told me that giving them bread is really bad for them.

I think this is quite well documented however people just dont care.

I DO NOT feed waterfowl.

I even had them on my property when I lived in the country and had a large lake on one side of the house and a river on the other -the previous owners had always fed the wild ducks bread however we did not.

by Finy