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Feeding wild ducks (1 Viewer)

Carless

Well-known member
The times article on feeding water birds such as ducks mentions the problems of a diet which is too high in white bread. The same article mentions that cake crumbs are a better option. I have a cake cooking in the kitchen which is fundamentally a white cake recipe, but made with wholemeal flour, and omitting salt, and the vanilla and almond essences. So, extremely basic recipe. Intended to be fed to ducks, geese, swans, coots, moorhens. I'm taking along some porridge oats to feed wild fish. I've seen the same recommended for wild birds, but aren't porridge oats a bit small?

Any comments?
 
although your wholemeal no salt recipe may be healthier for the birds themselves, feeding ducks, geese and other things is certainly not healthy for the water - there is enough food for them all naturally, and adding extra means the surplus will just go to feed bacteria - which will use much of the oxygen in the water, killing off fish and other aquatic life.

It is a pleasure to feed the ducks though, so if you do decide to feed, then perhaps let them come onto land to be fed, that way the surplus doesn't end up rotting in the water.
 
To my understanding, bread is discouraged because it fills up the birds on what, compared to their natural diet, is food lacking nutrition. I'm sure it's fine in moderation but I know too many urban-based ducks and geese neglect to seek out "real food" to get the more accessible crumbs.
 
White bread is supposed to be bad. But I've fed some whole wheat bread (torn up into very tiny pieces) to waterfowl in the middle of winter.

Bread (and I imagine cake) does contain carbs and to a bird that is hungry from a long migration, winter cold or laying and nesting eggs it can help give them some much needed energy.
 
The cake sounds good, but why not buy a bag of corn or grain mix to take to feed them?
 
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