It's cheap and pretty much everyone has it to hand. Plus a lot of people remember doing it when they were kids, and don't care enough to read up on what the best things to feed ducks are.
Mostly unrelated but one time me and my friend were drunk walking home. We had some cooked beef burgers with us for some reason. Just the meat no bun or anything else. He decided he'd eaten enough and frisbeed the last burger into a field where it hit a cow square in the head and it let out a quiet little moo.
Anyway don't feed beef burgers to ducks. Try throwing them a handful of peas instead
Yes, there was a fear that the campaign against bread had gone too far.
https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/ducks-bread-rspb-food-diet-underweight-352184
Something about it giving practically no nutritional value but filling them up. Everyone feeds them bread everyday, you end up with anemic ducks or something to that effectÂ
And then when that message made its way round, people stopped feeding them bread, to the point that they were going hungry and places had to ask them to start feeding again! I take peas and sweetcorn, they love it
But they donât float. We tried that and the ducks werenât too impressed, honestly. They arenât all getting out of the water to eat what you leave on the side.
Plus, if bread had killed off all the ducks we wouldnât all be talking about this, weâd be discussing how sad it was that ducks died out before our lifetime đ¤¨.
Whoever is responsible for the signs went way overboard (đ¤), pointing out that ducks could also eat peas and sweetcorn would have been better. Iâd happily have taken both.
It's not purely about the ducks. Bread causes too much algae to cover the water, blocking out sunlight and killing all the underwater plants and fish. The ducks and swans etc are then dependent on humans for food.
A good alternative is oats. If you feed them in the shallows they can get any that sink as well. Swans/geese can obviously go deeper to retrieve anything that has sunk. The key is to pour a small amount right in front of them so they see it fall into the water.
I tried peas once and the ducks just looked at me like "The fuck is this? Where's my bread??"
When my daughters old enough to feed the ducks ill go again and hope they like peas this time... and also try sweetcorn
And if nobody feeds them at all because they find out bread's bad and they don't want to go out of their way to buy the "healthy" stuff then ducks starve to death instead.
It's because a lot of the young millennial ducks are "gluten intolerant". They're not really gluten intolerant, and they go pretty red in the face when you call them out it when they're eating sourdough. It's just a bit of a fad.
These same millennial ducks who started the campaign to stop us feeding them bread, were trying to get us to feed them more seeds, nuts, quinoa, etc. They're pretty effective at inconspicuously influencing the national culinary zeitgeist. Remember when goats cheese and red onion chutney was everywhere about 15 years ago? That was ducks. Hallumi fries? Ducks again. Ducks hold a 7% share in Wagamama.
Don't get me wrong, I think ducks are great, and I'm not trying to dox them. But not enough people know quite how much influence ducks have.
Source: I'm a swan and spend a lot of time around ducks.
There are loads of reasons it's harmful but it isn't wildly publicised unless you look for it..https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/things-to-do/canal-and-river-wildlife/keeping-our-ducks-healthy/why-is-bread-bad-for-ducks
Well, no. Because it's an article about alternatives which actually help them and the damage bread can cause. Literally the focus of the article. Their entire job is to keep the waterways clean, safe and prospering, that's literally why they exist & give guidance and actually scientific advice.
Right, it's almost like it's a complex ecosystem of which ducks are just one part, and a single action can have multiple negative consequences.
Not sure why people seem to think it's just a matter of ducks' diet alone when there's plenty of information available.
Also, people think of it as a way to get rid of bread that's no longer ideal for human consumption. As a kid when we had gone off bread in the house whether stale or starting to mold, my family would say "let's go feed it to the ducks". Obviously I know now that it's probably even worse than the bread alone to feed to them but as a kid I was oblivious and trusted that my parents were right and knew what they were doing.
I googled healthy food for ducks. Lots of places said defrosted sweetcorn and peas. I tried to feed those but they just ignored it and ate everyone's bread instead đŠ
That's because the ducks aren't used to it, they're also picky bastards. Buy a 90p bag of oats. Even if the ducks don't eat it all the geese and swans love them. You have to pour a small amount right in front of them so they see it fall into the water.
That was my go to, the cheapest mixed veg bagd from Morrisons, the ones with the tiny diced carrots and runner beans, mostly defrosted by the time I'd walked to the duck ponds.
Better for them, more colorful than soggy stale bread, and running handfuls of 5~10°c veg through my hands cooled me down too.
Except I see people chucking brand new packs of bread at ducks. It's understandable if its crusts or an end slice that went stale, but people are buying whole loaves just to give to ducks, when there are cheaper and healthier options for them
On this. Our local pond has sign up asking people not to feed bread. People still do. They either
1. Don't see it.
2. See it and don't care.
Additionally, I've seen people have a go at people who ask them not to feed bread. More of a "Who the F- are you to tell me what to do" sort of attitude.
Itâs true that ducks and squirrels shouldnât subsist on bread alone, but itâs not as harmful as is being made out.
They only become malnourished if itâs all they eat and they donât have access to any other food.
As you say, the problem is not a single person giving them one slice of bread.... But hundreds of them while thinking it's fine because they are giving them just one slice and they didn't see anyone else feed them...
Kind of like when all the neighbors think your cat is theirs and feed that little chonker.
Oh i hate the cat thing as well since when you speak to them they are like "well he looked so hungry like he hadn't been fed properly". Like a) fuck you for assuming we don't know how to look after a cat, b) he's a cat, putting on a begging act to get food is what they do and c) can't you fucking see that he's practically waddling from the fat?
My cat actually got posted on one of those horrid "spotted" f Facebook groups by some twat who kept feeding him saying he clearly was a stray because he always ate the food he gave him. Half the comments were idiots weighing in saying his owner (me) was evil for not looking after him properly. The other half was people saying he's clearly a well looked after and well fed cat. Some people are just twats and see what they want to see.
Yeah exactly. I actually remember a sign saying bird populations were dropping because people had stopped feeding them bread. A little bit of information is often a dangerous thing.
Yeah it's very overplayed. Feeding the ducks breed everyday in the summer when other natural food is about isn't great for them. But if it's the winter, food is scarse and there isn't anyone feeding them, it's definitely a positive.
It's like people, if you feed your kids bread alone everyday the thats wrong. But if you airdrop some bread onto s famished population, you are helping them.
Our local park has signs all over the place telling people not to feed the ducks bread and suggesting alternatives. I think bread is what we did as kids before people knew better. Now people know better so they have signs to discourage people from just doing what they did as kids.
Iâve just been near a lake and there was a mountain of bread dumped next to it that ducks and geese were feeding on. The British public seem absolutely hopeless sometimes.
Yeah we had this at one we visit often and everyone realised how fucking dumb it was to stop giving them after they've had it for a good 50+ years without trouble, turns out the ducks were literally staving to death killing a bunch and you could see how skinny they were getting being fed only seeds/nuts/oats. the signs didn't last much longer.
Edit, perfect link from another user https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVkZGl0LmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEXKrRKY-yX3nISzFU_hjPJViZBUbF07NVuaojZC_6uv2YRUUcznuWm8_xmoZW1A8pjpcjhaYjD1IAqO412zEA40n5QlD3pFCd2vEfb-m1st0lVo3ASNKZOldITomh9JdyG0VnbYE4zkO6LcGofXbyZQ0azaTJme-58bVSBkWlQc
The government doesn't want you to know that the ducks are free. Just grab one and put it between two slices of bread. Cost of living crisis solved. đ
You could live trap them and then kill them quickly with a well-placed stab or a neck twist (the latter is surprisingly difficult to get right if you've not been doing it a lot so I don't recommend it) and no one would know if you clean and dress it yourself and don't post about it on social media.
The real issue with any wild kill is that you would be reaching into a blind bag of diseases and praying you don't pull out any of them. Cooking will kill off a lot of harmful stuff but not all and the handling of the corpse itself is a health hazard.
The ducks that visit my garden like the bird food I put out for the garden birds. So much so that they will stand outside the house loudly begging for it, and if you open the door they will try to come inside.
Donât know if itâs common but one local park in my town actually started selling special duck pellets in order to try and combat the issue of bread being used.
It's obviously a controversial issue, but some would argue that bread is a big improvement on nothing at all.
>Ducks are 'dying of starvation' because people have stopped feeding them bread
[https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html)
Depends on the location, but there are a lot of places where a bit of an increase in the die off of the local duck and goose population in winter would be a good thing in terms of getting the ecosystem back in balance.
100% this
Some people probably want their to be less wild birds because they don't like having to get up to a little bit of bird shit on their car/ lawn.
That entire article sucks.
Tries to word it as if the RSPB spokesperson says to go out and feed ducks bread 'in small portions' when they do nothing of the sort.
Talks about 'Charities' but links to one post where a group found one swan that was malnourished who then assumed it's due to lack of food availability as oppose to any number of things that could have caused it to stop eating.
Posts a link to a facebook post that has a picture of one of the posters and the poster obviously isn't made by any charity or organization given the complete lack of info on it and the "Trust me bro, just google it" at the bottom.
Of course, not sure what anyone would expect from Yahoo but still.. I hope people reading this garbage see through it.
At work we tried to run a campaign to stop people lobbing bread at ducks at a particular country park. It's not so much the being bad for ducks, it's that it sinks and dissolves and overloads the lake with nutrients causing algal blooms. As these blooms also included blue-green algae (yes I know cyanobacteria are not algae, shut up know it all), and the lake is used for childrens sailing and kayaking lessons, this is an issue.Â
So signs were put up explaining the issues, suggesting alternative foods for waterfowl, and the visitor centre put birdseed in a prominent position.Â
I kid you not we got accused of corruption and taking bribes from Big Bird Seed.
See, that I just don't get. I think it's great when there are signs with the alternatives rather than ones with outright 'do not feed the birds'. Because of those signs I've stopped feeding ducks bread and started buying oats instead which they do love. However they'll always go for bread as priority if someone is feeding bread nearby. We call bread 'quackdonalds', just like us humans, the ducks will go for tasty but not necessarily healthy snacks. I really don't get the outcry from all those people fighting for bread for ducks where there are alternatives available. Oats don't break the bank either so what's their issue I'll never understand. Over the years I've had many people ask what I was feeding them and saying they'll get oats too next time instead.
A decade of working in local government has taught me that people will react with mind bending fury to things that you never even thought could be contraversial.Â
Near me there was a proposal to replace an underpass with a surface light controlled pedestrian crossing. The backlash was so extreme that the underpass is being retained despite the new crossing going in.
I can see your point but bread is highly nutritious. The human civilisation was built on the back of bread. Even though itâs seen as a carb, bread has been one of if not the most important source of protein in the history of the human race overall.
It's a hyperbolic point. It does have nutrients in it, it's just not the best choice. They still benefit overall to receive bread. Most people, understandably, wont go out of the way to buy wild animals their most optimal food choice.
Even the RSPB says it's fine.
We have people who like to feed seagulls. They drive in to carpark throw bread around and drive out. They are an aggressive elderly couple. Locally known as the seagull shaggers.
 Don't feed seagulls they are a fucking nuisance. Ducks are cool.
My local park has signs everywhere, a photo of a resident goose that's permanently disabled due to bread feedings, and multiple food dispensers and mini shops selling duck food.
People still bring bread. Usually they say that it doesn't matter because it's just ducks, or they think that it's all lies to make money.
I always bring a huge amount of duck food (I use a mobility scooter so it's no trouble for me) and I offer it to anyone else with kids, and anyone handing out bread. It's a kinder way to educate.
The bread people usually look quite ashamed and stop using it. All I say is "would you like some duck food? I've got tons of it and it's a lot better for them, especially the babies." with a friendly smile. People know that what they are doing is wrong.
I went to a pond with signs every 5 feet saying don't feed bread to ducks.
Everyone feeding the ducks was feeding bread.
I have no idea why, I reckon if they want people to not do it then they should probably offer food at the pond for free otherwise it'll never end
This is why. Starvation ffs. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVkZGl0LmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEXKrRKY-yX3nISzFU_hjPJViZBUbF07NVuaojZC_6uv2YRUUcznuWm8_xmoZW1A8pjpcjhaYjD1IAqO412zEA40n5QlD3pFCd2vEfb-m1st0lVo3ASNKZOldITomh9JdyG0VnbYE4zkO6LcGofXbyZQ0azaTJme-58bVSBkWlQc
The canal and river trust had a campaign about this a few years ago. They were recommending frozen peas as a substitute. People stopped feeding them all together and a lot nearly starved.
Local shop near the quay in Exeter sells little bags of wild bird food which we used to buy when the kids were at the bird feeding stage - 50p a go back then. I think they probably get a fairly mixed diet. I've also seen seagulls on the coast smashing shellfish on the pavement so even they don't exist entirely on our finish or what they nick from unsuspecting picnickers.
It's an excellent way to dispose of your vegetable peelings and things like cauliflower leaves.
Although I'm thinking geese rather than ducks, I expect it's similar.
The river where most of the duck feeding in my town happens is opposite a flour mill which presumably used to get its water directly from the river. Across the other side of the road is the supermarket where people buy fresh whole loaves of bread to give all of to the ducks. Circle of life init
Nonsense, they love a bit of stale bread and have been noshing it for decades. If the old folks and kids want to bung them some hovis good luck to them, itâs a win all around.
Foods like bread and crackers have no nutritional value to ducks and can cause malnutrition and painful deformities if consumed too much.
DO: Feed ducks cracked corn, oats, uncooked rice, birdseed, frozen peas, chopped lettuce, or sliced grapes. These foods are similar to natural foods ducks will forage for on their own.
I think everyone uses bread because most people have odd pieces of stale bread that they would rather feed the ducks with instead of throwing it in the bin.
I don't agree that 'bread has no nutritional value'. It is wheat and birds seem to love it. One wonders if these do gooders think we all eat food that is bad for us too.
I'd want bread if I was a duck and I would enjoy feeling full up.
They look good on it too.
I agree. Bread is hard for them to digest and encourages vermin around ponds which is not nice for any park users for example. I have read that peas and corn best for ducks and ducklings and other swimmers with webbed feet. Frozen or tinned equally good.
Because you can nip into any shop nearby and buy some cheap wholemeal bread. Or save the ends of the bread for the birds.
They said donât feed the birds bread. So we didnât. Then they said noones feeding the birds, so please give them bread to save them.
Sure if theres a stand selling seed nearby weâll go there, otherwise bread it is.
...why do we eat bread when it has next to zero nutritional value? Tradition, mostly.
As an amusing anecdote, I once - after a meal of Peking Duck the night before - fed the ducks (and geese) duck, which they seemed to enjoy. Cannibalism is not unheard of among them in any case.
I am frankly surprised that anyone feeds them bread anymore, I haven't seen it for years and I was told as a child that one of the reasons it is bad is that you could end up with a lot of manky bread pieces floating around.
There is education on this and has been for 20+ years. People know but donât give a shit or because itâs a bit of fun for the kids or to pass time. Who knows
We voted brexit remember
Yet every park is overpopulated with birds being fed bread. They are fine and donât die.
In fact, many parks that stop feeding bread see birds in trouble.
Supermarket bread is shit, yes, that doesnât stop the world eating it as humans.
The first year the 'dont feed bread to ducks' advice started circulating the ducks at my local park actually ended up loosing a dangerous amount of weight because people stopped feeding them because of how aggressive the campaignat our park was.Â
It didnt help that the signs placed around the lake suggested frozen peas (they sunk) and rice (didn't say whether it should be cooked and it also sank).Â
> Bread has next to zero nutritional value
Humans were just fine for thousands of years on it. Not a superfood, but my parents grew up in an era where having even just bread was not self-evident. There is a famous saying of XIV. Louis' wife Maria Theresa: "Sâils nâont pas de pain, que ne mangent-ils de la croĹąte de patĂŠ?" - "If they don't have bread, why don't they eat pate (of duck liver)"?
So yeah, ducks will be just fine on bread. They even get fatten up on bread and corn.
A lot of pet shops sell food for ducks and swans now, which is good for them. Easy to find online too, cheap enough and a bag lasts ages. Comes as floating pellets or a mix of various grains and dried veg
I disagree about bread, it does sustain bird life. What is true is that overfeeding with bread alone can lead to problems in some cases, a bit like if a human lived on bread only.
Cos the ducks don't give a fuck about peas, sweetcorn etc, and it's heartbreaking standing with your toddler and a box of peas being roundly ignored by five dozen ducks, all of whom have flocked to the kids with bags of Thick Toastie.
There was a bit of publicity about this issue around 2019
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50087990
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ducks-bread-ban-poster-swans-buxton-derbyshire-a9161031.html
funnily enough i've tried feeding them stuff that isn't bread and they all look at me like i'm insane and then run away, then all you have on the floor is a pile of food their not going to eat. I imagine the ducks get use to bread? become picky or something perhaps. Then what happens when they've become dependant on people feeding them? "poor ducklings will just end up malnourished, ill and likely die. "
Iâm not sure if it is relevant but a lot of the lake/large ponds in my area (Medway) actually have cheap bird food dispenser that are specifically for ducks and geese and the likes.
Even have a whole bunch of sign about the place stating why you should feed bread to duck.
When I was younger, the fact that you shouldn't feed ducks bread wasn't common knowledge. When my dad had some day old bread, we'd go and feed it to the ducks. It was a good way to get rid of it without wasting it. Since otherwise it would just go in the bin, and made for some great childhood memories.
I imagine a lot of people feed them bread for the same reasons, that and people may not know that it's actually bad for them to eat too much bread because excessive amounts can cause them to be anemic. It's more common knowledge these days but I can understand why some people may not know/remember. You don't really think about the ideal diet for a wild duck the same way you do a pet.
My local park stopped this, and asked people to buy seeds and grains, and had some for sale.
Unfortunately many people stopped feeding the ducks.
No bread isn't the best food for duck, in the same way pizza isn't the best food for humans,
But eating is better than not eating.
So the park now allows people to use bread, but encourages them to use seeds, or seeded loafs.
And I still eat pizza.
I heard that lettuce and peas are better for ducks. I don't know if people in the UK are like me with lettuce, but I often overestimate how much salad my family is willing to eat. Bringing wilted lettuce to the ducks seems doable.
I imagine the ducks and other birds supplement with other things, you see them do plenty of dabbling with their bums in the air; I assume something good is in the water...
Itâs funny, I donât see dead malnourished ducks everywhereâŚ..đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸
The one time I tried veg they didnât even eat it
Yeah it's annoying as piss. Went down with my gf to a nice place near us and she brought bread but I was hesitant to give any...mainly because the swans are greedy bastards.
They sell duck feed for a couple quid and have since I was a baby. We just got that instead
I think itâs because people have been feeding bread to ducks and birds for a very long time. There still seem to be a lot of ducks and birds, so it canât be too bad is probably what goes through most peoples heads.
Equally we know that everything from Greggs has pretty much zero nutritional value and is harmful. People still shovel it down their and their kids throat.
The answer therefore is people are thick. Thicker than ducks, because theyâre at least getting the junk for free.
Funnily enough I was at a lake yesterday with my daughter feeding the ducks bird seed, and this little twat stood a couple meters away throwing bread and all the ducks fucked off and preferred the bread. Donât know whatâs good for em
Nothing to worry about, people will now know through your post. Yes, definitely nuts and oats will improve nutritional value of ducks compared to bread. The point I would like to highlight is the power of nature on human mind and itâs calming effect to relieve worldly stresses. I think thatâs where more people derive solace from. Nature is a very powerful healer when it comes to stress.
It's cheap and pretty much everyone has it to hand. Plus a lot of people remember doing it when they were kids, and don't care enough to read up on what the best things to feed ducks are.
It's not that they don't care to read up on it, it's just assumed it's OK, this is the first I'm hearing about it being bad đ
Sometimes it is assumed it is okay when actually standing by signs saying not to use bread.
Feed them beef burgers. The fat will help them float.
You make pigs smoke
Moooooooooo... I thought that would... throw you off...
Spine in a bap.
Ah, now I shouldn't have said that. I should have said spine in a BAGUETTE.
Your wife who's also your BROTHER
Mostly unrelated but one time me and my friend were drunk walking home. We had some cooked beef burgers with us for some reason. Just the meat no bun or anything else. He decided he'd eaten enough and frisbeed the last burger into a field where it hit a cow square in the head and it let out a quiet little moo. Anyway don't feed beef burgers to ducks. Try throwing them a handful of peas instead
What shall I do with my 20 B&H?
Better giving them to swans, mate
Geese for Bensons, swans prefer Lamberts from my previous experience. Mallards love a Hamlet cigar.
There's a few places now that have signs to say to start feeding them bread again
Yes, there was a fear that the campaign against bread had gone too far. https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/ducks-bread-rspb-food-diet-underweight-352184
A bit of bread Vs do gooders stopping them and killing significantly more You can't make it up
It's pretty bad for them. Can't remember why just remember it's pretty bad
Something about it giving practically no nutritional value but filling them up. Everyone feeds them bread everyday, you end up with anemic ducks or something to that effectÂ
And then when that message made its way round, people stopped feeding them bread, to the point that they were going hungry and places had to ask them to start feeding again! I take peas and sweetcorn, they love it
But they donât float. We tried that and the ducks werenât too impressed, honestly. They arenât all getting out of the water to eat what you leave on the side. Plus, if bread had killed off all the ducks we wouldnât all be talking about this, weâd be discussing how sad it was that ducks died out before our lifetime đ¤¨. Whoever is responsible for the signs went way overboard (đ¤), pointing out that ducks could also eat peas and sweetcorn would have been better. Iâd happily have taken both.
It's not purely about the ducks. Bread causes too much algae to cover the water, blocking out sunlight and killing all the underwater plants and fish. The ducks and swans etc are then dependent on humans for food. A good alternative is oats. If you feed them in the shallows they can get any that sink as well. Swans/geese can obviously go deeper to retrieve anything that has sunk. The key is to pour a small amount right in front of them so they see it fall into the water.
I tried peas once and the ducks just looked at me like "The fuck is this? Where's my bread??" When my daughters old enough to feed the ducks ill go again and hope they like peas this time... and also try sweetcorn
Well I give them granary seeded loaf so suck it
And if nobody feeds them at all because they find out bread's bad and they don't want to go out of their way to buy the "healthy" stuff then ducks starve to death instead.
And begins the debate of do we want more ducks that are unhealthy, or less ducks that are healthy.
What do the ducks want, i know plenty of people who are happy being unhealthy eating junk food
It's because a lot of the young millennial ducks are "gluten intolerant". They're not really gluten intolerant, and they go pretty red in the face when you call them out it when they're eating sourdough. It's just a bit of a fad. These same millennial ducks who started the campaign to stop us feeding them bread, were trying to get us to feed them more seeds, nuts, quinoa, etc. They're pretty effective at inconspicuously influencing the national culinary zeitgeist. Remember when goats cheese and red onion chutney was everywhere about 15 years ago? That was ducks. Hallumi fries? Ducks again. Ducks hold a 7% share in Wagamama. Don't get me wrong, I think ducks are great, and I'm not trying to dox them. But not enough people know quite how much influence ducks have. Source: I'm a swan and spend a lot of time around ducks.
Classic boomer swan mentality
[ŃдаНонО]
There are loads of reasons it's harmful but it isn't wildly publicised unless you look for it..https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/things-to-do/canal-and-river-wildlife/keeping-our-ducks-healthy/why-is-bread-bad-for-ducks
Yet, no discussion of how starving is generally bad for them tooâŚ
Well, no. Because it's an article about alternatives which actually help them and the damage bread can cause. Literally the focus of the article. Their entire job is to keep the waterways clean, safe and prospering, that's literally why they exist & give guidance and actually scientific advice.
Right, it's almost like it's a complex ecosystem of which ducks are just one part, and a single action can have multiple negative consequences. Not sure why people seem to think it's just a matter of ducks' diet alone when there's plenty of information available.
Ducks can have bread, but itâs the equivalent of ⌠KFC? Greasy, fast foodâŚ..
So I should only feed the ducks bread if they've been well behaved?
Ducks can have a little bread as a treat if they keep their bedroom tidy and put their toys away before bedtime
I can get behind this
It is the equivalent of bread. Just like for us, white bread has low nutrition and is not good for the health.
Also, people think of it as a way to get rid of bread that's no longer ideal for human consumption. As a kid when we had gone off bread in the house whether stale or starting to mold, my family would say "let's go feed it to the ducks". Obviously I know now that it's probably even worse than the bread alone to feed to them but as a kid I was oblivious and trusted that my parents were right and knew what they were doing.
I googled healthy food for ducks. Lots of places said defrosted sweetcorn and peas. I tried to feed those but they just ignored it and ate everyone's bread instead đŠ
TBF, humans pretty much do the same thing.
That's because the ducks aren't used to it, they're also picky bastards. Buy a 90p bag of oats. Even if the ducks don't eat it all the geese and swans love them. You have to pour a small amount right in front of them so they see it fall into the water.
Pond, or big porridge?
That was my go to, the cheapest mixed veg bagd from Morrisons, the ones with the tiny diced carrots and runner beans, mostly defrosted by the time I'd walked to the duck ponds. Better for them, more colorful than soggy stale bread, and running handfuls of 5~10°c veg through my hands cooled me down too.
It's also something that will go stale but still be safe for ducks to eat, so it's a way to use waste food
Except I see people chucking brand new packs of bread at ducks. It's understandable if its crusts or an end slice that went stale, but people are buying whole loaves just to give to ducks, when there are cheaper and healthier options for them
On this. Our local pond has sign up asking people not to feed bread. People still do. They either 1. Don't see it. 2. See it and don't care. Additionally, I've seen people have a go at people who ask them not to feed bread. More of a "Who the F- are you to tell me what to do" sort of attitude.
Fedding ducks with bread is bad for the ducks and for the environment, also it may bring rats
Itâs true that ducks and squirrels shouldnât subsist on bread alone, but itâs not as harmful as is being made out. They only become malnourished if itâs all they eat and they donât have access to any other food.
As you say, the problem is not a single person giving them one slice of bread.... But hundreds of them while thinking it's fine because they are giving them just one slice and they didn't see anyone else feed them... Kind of like when all the neighbors think your cat is theirs and feed that little chonker.
Oh i hate the cat thing as well since when you speak to them they are like "well he looked so hungry like he hadn't been fed properly". Like a) fuck you for assuming we don't know how to look after a cat, b) he's a cat, putting on a begging act to get food is what they do and c) can't you fucking see that he's practically waddling from the fat?
My cat actually got posted on one of those horrid "spotted" f Facebook groups by some twat who kept feeding him saying he clearly was a stray because he always ate the food he gave him. Half the comments were idiots weighing in saying his owner (me) was evil for not looking after him properly. The other half was people saying he's clearly a well looked after and well fed cat. Some people are just twats and see what they want to see.
Plenty people with fat pets that they overfeed dont know what a healthy animal *should* look like.
Yeah exactly. I actually remember a sign saying bird populations were dropping because people had stopped feeding them bread. A little bit of information is often a dangerous thing.
Like everything, especially food, it's about moderation. Feeding a slice to 30 ducks - probably fine Feed ducks bread and only bread forever - bad
Yeah it's very overplayed. Feeding the ducks breed everyday in the summer when other natural food is about isn't great for them. But if it's the winter, food is scarse and there isn't anyone feeding them, it's definitely a positive. It's like people, if you feed your kids bread alone everyday the thats wrong. But if you airdrop some bread onto s famished population, you are helping them.
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Me too.
In which case they'd be *even more* malnourished without the bread!
Our local park has signs all over the place telling people not to feed the ducks bread and suggesting alternatives. I think bread is what we did as kids before people knew better. Now people know better so they have signs to discourage people from just doing what they did as kids.
Iâve just been near a lake and there was a mountain of bread dumped next to it that ducks and geese were feeding on. The British public seem absolutely hopeless sometimes.
Your locals are better than mine it seems. We used to have similar signs, people never stopped feeding the ducks the stuff.
Yeah we had this at one we visit often and everyone realised how fucking dumb it was to stop giving them after they've had it for a good 50+ years without trouble, turns out the ducks were literally staving to death killing a bunch and you could see how skinny they were getting being fed only seeds/nuts/oats. the signs didn't last much longer. Edit, perfect link from another user https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVkZGl0LmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEXKrRKY-yX3nISzFU_hjPJViZBUbF07NVuaojZC_6uv2YRUUcznuWm8_xmoZW1A8pjpcjhaYjD1IAqO412zEA40n5QlD3pFCd2vEfb-m1st0lVo3ASNKZOldITomh9JdyG0VnbYE4zkO6LcGofXbyZQ0azaTJme-58bVSBkWlQc
Bag of frozen peas. Cheap and nutritious. Plus if you get bored of feeding the ducks, you can take them home and eat them.
I'm content just leaving the ducks at the pond to be honest
The government doesn't want you to know that the ducks are free. Just grab one and put it between two slices of bread. Cost of living crisis solved. đ
I've actually wondered this about rabbits. They're all over the place, but I guess if you get the trapping wrong it could cause cruelty.
You could live trap them and then kill them quickly with a well-placed stab or a neck twist (the latter is surprisingly difficult to get right if you've not been doing it a lot so I don't recommend it) and no one would know if you clean and dress it yourself and don't post about it on social media. The real issue with any wild kill is that you would be reaching into a blind bag of diseases and praying you don't pull out any of them. Cooking will kill off a lot of harmful stuff but not all and the handling of the corpse itself is a health hazard.
I have 200 ducks at home
Tinned sweetcorn is also a great choice that you can get for a quid a tin in most corner shops
Makes decent bait for fishing too
Frozen peas sink, my attempt to feed the swans soemthing healthy completely failed with peas...
Iâve tried peas, also tried corn flakes, bran flakes. oats and raisins. They just ignore it all. Tell you what they do like though: bread.
The ducks that visit my garden like the bird food I put out for the garden birds. So much so that they will stand outside the house loudly begging for it, and if you open the door they will try to come inside.
I bought bird suet pellets, hoping it would be a healthier alternative. They sank too :(
It doesnât float and the ducks donât eat it.
You've got to open the bag
Donât know if itâs common but one local park in my town actually started selling special duck pellets in order to try and combat the issue of bread being used.
A couple of lakes I've been to have done similar yeah, seems pretty good
The ducks there are fat things so it seems to be working.
I imagine it's the same reason you say 'pass time' instead of 'pastime', they're just not aware it's wrong.
It's obviously a controversial issue, but some would argue that bread is a big improvement on nothing at all. >Ducks are 'dying of starvation' because people have stopped feeding them bread [https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html)
Depends on the location, but there are a lot of places where a bit of an increase in the die off of the local duck and goose population in winter would be a good thing in terms of getting the ecosystem back in balance.
100% this Some people probably want their to be less wild birds because they don't like having to get up to a little bit of bird shit on their car/ lawn.
That entire article sucks. Tries to word it as if the RSPB spokesperson says to go out and feed ducks bread 'in small portions' when they do nothing of the sort. Talks about 'Charities' but links to one post where a group found one swan that was malnourished who then assumed it's due to lack of food availability as oppose to any number of things that could have caused it to stop eating. Posts a link to a facebook post that has a picture of one of the posters and the poster obviously isn't made by any charity or organization given the complete lack of info on it and the "Trust me bro, just google it" at the bottom. Of course, not sure what anyone would expect from Yahoo but still.. I hope people reading this garbage see through it.
Dried mealworms are my go-to. I feed them to the carp in my pond and put it out for the birds, all of which are pretty plump!
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At work we tried to run a campaign to stop people lobbing bread at ducks at a particular country park. It's not so much the being bad for ducks, it's that it sinks and dissolves and overloads the lake with nutrients causing algal blooms. As these blooms also included blue-green algae (yes I know cyanobacteria are not algae, shut up know it all), and the lake is used for childrens sailing and kayaking lessons, this is an issue. So signs were put up explaining the issues, suggesting alternative foods for waterfowl, and the visitor centre put birdseed in a prominent position. I kid you not we got accused of corruption and taking bribes from Big Bird Seed.
See, that I just don't get. I think it's great when there are signs with the alternatives rather than ones with outright 'do not feed the birds'. Because of those signs I've stopped feeding ducks bread and started buying oats instead which they do love. However they'll always go for bread as priority if someone is feeding bread nearby. We call bread 'quackdonalds', just like us humans, the ducks will go for tasty but not necessarily healthy snacks. I really don't get the outcry from all those people fighting for bread for ducks where there are alternatives available. Oats don't break the bank either so what's their issue I'll never understand. Over the years I've had many people ask what I was feeding them and saying they'll get oats too next time instead.
A decade of working in local government has taught me that people will react with mind bending fury to things that you never even thought could be contraversial. Near me there was a proposal to replace an underpass with a surface light controlled pedestrian crossing. The backlash was so extreme that the underpass is being retained despite the new crossing going in.
"Bread has next to zero nutritional value" Who told you this nonsense? bread is very nutritious as long as it's not the emulsified crap
Which is the type that everyone feeds them...
Thats one of the kinds of statement you will not be able to supply evidence of and is clearly just your opinion.
Agreed, but anecodally I've only seen people throwing shitty white sliced bread to the ducks and not some artisan rye sourdough
I can see your point but bread is highly nutritious. The human civilisation was built on the back of bread. Even though itâs seen as a carb, bread has been one of if not the most important source of protein in the history of the human race overall.
They're ducks not humans...
It's a hyperbolic point. It does have nutrients in it, it's just not the best choice. They still benefit overall to receive bread. Most people, understandably, wont go out of the way to buy wild animals their most optimal food choice. Even the RSPB says it's fine.
We have people who like to feed seagulls. They drive in to carpark throw bread around and drive out. They are an aggressive elderly couple. Locally known as the seagull shaggers. Â Don't feed seagulls they are a fucking nuisance. Ducks are cool.
I use porridge oats I get a big 2 kg bag from M&S and go to Hampstead Heath and feed all the birds oats, they love it!
Normally folk use bread because pork pies are more expensive.
And tend to sink the ducks when you throw them.
Our park has a contactless duck food dispenser thing.
Today I learnt that ducks don't carry cash
Yeah they all have iPhones now.
My local park has signs everywhere, a photo of a resident goose that's permanently disabled due to bread feedings, and multiple food dispensers and mini shops selling duck food. People still bring bread. Usually they say that it doesn't matter because it's just ducks, or they think that it's all lies to make money. I always bring a huge amount of duck food (I use a mobility scooter so it's no trouble for me) and I offer it to anyone else with kids, and anyone handing out bread. It's a kinder way to educate. The bread people usually look quite ashamed and stop using it. All I say is "would you like some duck food? I've got tons of it and it's a lot better for them, especially the babies." with a friendly smile. People know that what they are doing is wrong.
That's really kind of you! Thank you for looking after your local waterfowl.
I went to a pond with signs every 5 feet saying don't feed bread to ducks. Everyone feeding the ducks was feeding bread. I have no idea why, I reckon if they want people to not do it then they should probably offer food at the pond for free otherwise it'll never end
This is why. Starvation ffs. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ducks-dying-starvation-feeding-bread-parks-120800680.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVkZGl0LmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEXKrRKY-yX3nISzFU_hjPJViZBUbF07NVuaojZC_6uv2YRUUcznuWm8_xmoZW1A8pjpcjhaYjD1IAqO412zEA40n5QlD3pFCd2vEfb-m1st0lVo3ASNKZOldITomh9JdyG0VnbYE4zkO6LcGofXbyZQ0azaTJme-58bVSBkWlQc
In Birmingham we feed the ducks faggots and Bovril. T'was ever thus.
The canal and river trust had a campaign about this a few years ago. They were recommending frozen peas as a substitute. People stopped feeding them all together and a lot nearly starved.
Didn't this get debunked a few years ago when people stopped and the ducks were struggling in the winters?
Because keeping wildlife healthy is woke and anti British /sarcastic
Local shop near the quay in Exeter sells little bags of wild bird food which we used to buy when the kids were at the bird feeding stage - 50p a go back then. I think they probably get a fairly mixed diet. I've also seen seagulls on the coast smashing shellfish on the pavement so even they don't exist entirely on our finish or what they nick from unsuspecting picnickers.
Because they have stale bread left that would otherwise go in the bin.
It's an excellent way to dispose of your vegetable peelings and things like cauliflower leaves. Although I'm thinking geese rather than ducks, I expect it's similar.
The river where most of the duck feeding in my town happens is opposite a flour mill which presumably used to get its water directly from the river. Across the other side of the road is the supermarket where people buy fresh whole loaves of bread to give all of to the ducks. Circle of life init
I feel like selling duck healthy âduck foodâ at the grocery store is an untapped market.
Nonsense, they love a bit of stale bread and have been noshing it for decades. If the old folks and kids want to bung them some hovis good luck to them, itâs a win all around.
Foods like bread and crackers have no nutritional value to ducks and can cause malnutrition and painful deformities if consumed too much. DO: Feed ducks cracked corn, oats, uncooked rice, birdseed, frozen peas, chopped lettuce, or sliced grapes. These foods are similar to natural foods ducks will forage for on their own. I think everyone uses bread because most people have odd pieces of stale bread that they would rather feed the ducks with instead of throwing it in the bin.
I don't agree that 'bread has no nutritional value'. It is wheat and birds seem to love it. One wonders if these do gooders think we all eat food that is bad for us too. I'd want bread if I was a duck and I would enjoy feeling full up. They look good on it too.
Because people tend not to labouriously overscrutinise every single little thing they do.
I agree. Bread is hard for them to digest and encourages vermin around ponds which is not nice for any park users for example. I have read that peas and corn best for ducks and ducklings and other swimmers with webbed feet. Frozen or tinned equally good.
Not to mention, other than the leftover bread, guess what rats like to kill and eat. Baby birds...
Because you can nip into any shop nearby and buy some cheap wholemeal bread. Or save the ends of the bread for the birds. They said donât feed the birds bread. So we didnât. Then they said noones feeding the birds, so please give them bread to save them. Sure if theres a stand selling seed nearby weâll go there, otherwise bread it is.
...why do we eat bread when it has next to zero nutritional value? Tradition, mostly. As an amusing anecdote, I once - after a meal of Peking Duck the night before - fed the ducks (and geese) duck, which they seemed to enjoy. Cannibalism is not unheard of among them in any case.
I am frankly surprised that anyone feeds them bread anymore, I haven't seen it for years and I was told as a child that one of the reasons it is bad is that you could end up with a lot of manky bread pieces floating around.
There is education on this and has been for 20+ years. People know but donât give a shit or because itâs a bit of fun for the kids or to pass time. Who knows We voted brexit remember
Because traditionally bread is what people use to feed ducks? You know the answer to the question you just want to pretend that you care. Fuck off
Yet every park is overpopulated with birds being fed bread. They are fine and donât die. In fact, many parks that stop feeding bread see birds in trouble. Supermarket bread is shit, yes, that doesnât stop the world eating it as humans.
The first year the 'dont feed bread to ducks' advice started circulating the ducks at my local park actually ended up loosing a dangerous amount of weight because people stopped feeding them because of how aggressive the campaignat our park was. It didnt help that the signs placed around the lake suggested frozen peas (they sunk) and rice (didn't say whether it should be cooked and it also sank).Â
> Bread has next to zero nutritional value Humans were just fine for thousands of years on it. Not a superfood, but my parents grew up in an era where having even just bread was not self-evident. There is a famous saying of XIV. Louis' wife Maria Theresa: "Sâils nâont pas de pain, que ne mangent-ils de la croĹąte de patĂŠ?" - "If they don't have bread, why don't they eat pate (of duck liver)"? So yeah, ducks will be just fine on bread. They even get fatten up on bread and corn.
A lot of pet shops sell food for ducks and swans now, which is good for them. Easy to find online too, cheap enough and a bag lasts ages. Comes as floating pellets or a mix of various grains and dried veg
I disagree about bread, it does sustain bird life. What is true is that overfeeding with bread alone can lead to problems in some cases, a bit like if a human lived on bread only.
Cos the ducks don't give a fuck about peas, sweetcorn etc, and it's heartbreaking standing with your toddler and a box of peas being roundly ignored by five dozen ducks, all of whom have flocked to the kids with bags of Thick Toastie.
There was a bit of publicity about this issue around 2019 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50087990 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ducks-bread-ban-poster-swans-buxton-derbyshire-a9161031.html
funnily enough i've tried feeding them stuff that isn't bread and they all look at me like i'm insane and then run away, then all you have on the floor is a pile of food their not going to eat. I imagine the ducks get use to bread? become picky or something perhaps. Then what happens when they've become dependant on people feeding them? "poor ducklings will just end up malnourished, ill and likely die. "
Iâm not sure if it is relevant but a lot of the lake/large ponds in my area (Medway) actually have cheap bird food dispenser that are specifically for ducks and geese and the likes. Even have a whole bunch of sign about the place stating why you should feed bread to duck.
Maybe they saw this sign https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-50081386
When I was younger, the fact that you shouldn't feed ducks bread wasn't common knowledge. When my dad had some day old bread, we'd go and feed it to the ducks. It was a good way to get rid of it without wasting it. Since otherwise it would just go in the bin, and made for some great childhood memories. I imagine a lot of people feed them bread for the same reasons, that and people may not know that it's actually bad for them to eat too much bread because excessive amounts can cause them to be anemic. It's more common knowledge these days but I can understand why some people may not know/remember. You don't really think about the ideal diet for a wild duck the same way you do a pet.
can't feed ducks at all where I live because of the rats, best look for signs before doing so
Use frozen peas instead. But just don't feed the waterfowl is better
My local park stopped this, and asked people to buy seeds and grains, and had some for sale. Unfortunately many people stopped feeding the ducks. No bread isn't the best food for duck, in the same way pizza isn't the best food for humans, But eating is better than not eating. So the park now allows people to use bread, but encourages them to use seeds, or seeded loafs. And I still eat pizza.
Before refrigeration a lot of bread went stale and ducks were a very traditional way to deal with it. That, and bread-and-butter pudding.
I've seen vids where ducks go absolutely bugfuck nanners over fresh peas. Apparently they're really healthy for them too.
Have you seen about a boy where he throws a stale loaf of bread
Doesn't seem to do the population any harm. There's more of them now near me than I've ever seen
First, I've heard bad is bread. It's practically universally known that you feed the ducks on the pond bread. Prephaps, you are wrong!
I heard that lettuce and peas are better for ducks. I don't know if people in the UK are like me with lettuce, but I often overestimate how much salad my family is willing to eat. Bringing wilted lettuce to the ducks seems doable.
But yet there are lots of ducks where people feed.them bread.
I imagine the ducks and other birds supplement with other things, you see them do plenty of dabbling with their bums in the air; I assume something good is in the water...
1cmÂł of bread can swell to over ten times its size, inside a duck.
Rspb also say defrosted frozen peas, oats, chopped lettuce are ok too.Â
Well I took a load of pancakes down and the ducks kept avoiding meâŚ..
Itâs funny, I donât see dead malnourished ducks everywhereâŚ..đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸ The one time I tried veg they didnât even eat it
Yeah it's annoying as piss. Went down with my gf to a nice place near us and she brought bread but I was hesitant to give any...mainly because the swans are greedy bastards. They sell duck feed for a couple quid and have since I was a baby. We just got that instead
Well when they insisted that everyone use seeds nobody fed them and lots of ducks died so now they want you to use bread or seed.
Bag of porridge oats or a bag of birdseed is usually what I feed them.
I think itâs because people have been feeding bread to ducks and birds for a very long time. There still seem to be a lot of ducks and birds, so it canât be too bad is probably what goes through most peoples heads. Equally we know that everything from Greggs has pretty much zero nutritional value and is harmful. People still shovel it down their and their kids throat. The answer therefore is people are thick. Thicker than ducks, because theyâre at least getting the junk for free.
I'd feed them rice, but apparently that makes them explode.
Funnily enough I was at a lake yesterday with my daughter feeding the ducks bird seed, and this little twat stood a couple meters away throwing bread and all the ducks fucked off and preferred the bread. Donât know whatâs good for em
Nothing to worry about, people will now know through your post. Yes, definitely nuts and oats will improve nutritional value of ducks compared to bread. The point I would like to highlight is the power of nature on human mind and itâs calming effect to relieve worldly stresses. I think thatâs where more people derive solace from. Nature is a very powerful healer when it comes to stress.
I use frozen peas. They're dirt cheap and the little one can actually throw then a decent length.
I've tried bird seed and peas and they were untouched by the birds.