Ducks will eat pretty much anything that comes into their mouths - especially if they are served food by humans. But can you actually feed the waterfowl with oatmeal, apples or bananas?
Oatmeal
In addition to aquatic plants and small animals - such as tadpoles or insects - ducks' natural diet also includes seeds. Therefore, you can safely feed your waterfowl oatmeal as long as it comes without any additives. Natural organic oat flakes are best. Whether you choose the hearty or the delicate version is irrelevant. Of course, you can also squeeze oatmeal yourself. But be careful: only feed a little oatmeal, as the grain is very high in energy and the animals become fat if they are overfed.
Tip:
Special feed mixes for waterfowl are available commercially, which often contain sunflower seeds and other seeds. These are particularly he althy for ducks.
Apples
Apples also taste very good to waterfowl, and the vitamin-rich fruit is he althy and therefore suitable for feeding ducks. However, you should not feed the fruit whole, after all, ducks don't have teeth to bite. The best way to prepare the apples is as follows:
- peel
- Remove core casing
- Cut apple into very small pieces
- alternatively grate
Here, too, use untreated fruit if possible. In addition to apples, you can also feed other fruits and vegetables - each chopped into small pieces. For example, the following are suitable:
- various berries: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries etc.
- Pears
- Peas, beans
- Cucumbers, carrots
- Salads
- boiled potatoes
Tip:
You can also mix different feeds together. A mixture of different fruits and vegetables as well as some oat flakes and other seeds are suitable. However, keep the fruit content lower than the vegetable content, as too much fructose is also unhe althy for ducks.
Bananas
In fact, ducks are even allowed to eat bananas - but only in small quantities. The tropical fruits contain a lot of fructose and should therefore only be fed rarely and little. That's why you should use green bananas, although they are still unripe, they contain more carbohydrates instead of sugar and are therefore better suited for ducks.
Frequently asked questions
What grain can you feed ducks with?
Various grains are he althy for the omnivorous ducks, with (crushed) corn, wheat and barley particularly popular. Rye and oats, on the other hand, are less popular with animals. You can mix wheat and barley with some corn, peas and fresh vegetables. This balanced feed mixture contains all the nutrients important to ducks and can be given in any season.
What shouldn't you feed ducks?
Even if ducks like to eat grain and other seeds, they are not allowed to have these feeds in processed form. Under no circumstances should you feed them bread! Toast, chips, pretzel sticks, rusks and the like are also unsuitable for the birds. These leftovers contain no usable nutrients, but do contain a lot of s alt and sugar - which ducks cannot tolerate. Bread also swells in the animals' stomachs, causing indigestion. Old bread is particularly dangerous as it often contains mold.
