6 February 2025
It sure is fun to feed the birds but not all food is good for them. Did you know that bread is junk food for birds? Just like us, ducks love junk food but it is bad as a steady diet.
Bread, crackers and our own junk food snacks have no nutritional value for ducks and geese. These foods are especially bad for ducklings because their little bodies are still growing and have special nutritional needs.
If a duckling depends on bread instead of a varied normal diet its wing bones will grow in a deformed manner called angel wing, a condition similar to rickets in humans. Both are permanent deformities caused by malnutrition.
Because this bird has angel wing it will never fly.
Since ducks don’t control their own junk food intake, and since we don’t know how much bread they ate before we got there, don’t feed bread to birds. Maine Audubon suggests what to feed them instead.
Some great options are lettuce or cabbage … Other things you can give them are: corn (not popcorn), rice, peas, broccoli, tomatoes, and most fruits (not citrus).
— Maine Audubon: Do’s and Don’ts of Duck Feeding
“Hey, Duck, no more! Didn’t you hear that bread is bad for you?”
Give this duck some lettuce.
Read more about bread and ducks in this vintage article from 2018.