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So can we still feed bread to ducks or not


Tim Lewis

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19 minutes ago, Ian F B said:

Not a good idea,ducks live on green stuff in the wild ,so stick to salad stuff!?

Yeah lol. I think we all know that for many many years huge areas of waterways in the UK have had their bird life to include ducks and swans fed by millions of people with bread. This is now part of their staple diet and if removed they dont know fully how to forage as food has always been there and some starve. A bit like domesticating a wild animal from birth and then letting it free, those in the know dont do it as the animal cannot survive.

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20 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I think the message is a small amount of bread is not going to kill the ducks but chucking in a loaf at a time for a few ducks is harmful.

Which, unfortunately, most people do.

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If you go to popular tourist destinations like Windsor in summer the river looks like some sort of bread soup. The ducks and swans are all overfed and there are too many of them.

 

I don't feed wildlife on principal - they're meant to be wild animals. If you feed them they become semi-domesticated.

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Yeah lol. I think we all know that for many many years huge areas of waterways in the UK have had their bird life to include ducks and swans fed by millions of people with bread. This is now part of their staple diet and if removed they dont know fully how to forage as food has always been there and some starve. A bit like domesticating a wild animal from birth and then letting it free, those in the know dont do it as the animal cannot survive.

But you are still feeding the ducks,just cutting down on the carbs!!!?

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I haven't tried this but I'm fairly sure that a duck, if offered a slice of bread and a lettuce leaf, would choose the bread.

 

Even if you showed him the link that said the lettuce was more nourishing for ducks. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mebbe Dr Bob could try this experiment and post up the results?

 

 

 

 

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Yes - but why would you?

Most birds will eat bread just as most kids will eat crisps. The point is that there is very little food value for birds in bread and whilst it won't do them any harm of itself, a bird with a stomach full of waterlogged bread has no appetitie left for nutritious food and nowhere left to put it. If you want to feed the ducks (or swans, or geese or whatever) give them seeds, peas, sweetcorn etc. Would you feed your children or grandchildren a diet of crisps and expect them to thrive?

A large bag of peas from a supermarket is pretty cheap. Throw the ducks a handful and they'll love it. And the warm glow you get from feeding them will be compounded by knowing that you're actually helping them rather than just gratifying yourself.

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12 minutes ago, Carrera said:

A large bag of peas from a supermarket is pretty cheap.

 

 

And there lies the problem. Old bread is usually free and available in the house when (say) grandparents say look the sun's out, let's take grandchildren to the lake to feed the ducks, unlike large packs of peas from the supermarket. 

 

Edumacting the public is really difficult. 

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I haven't tried this but I'm fairly sure that a duck, if offered a slice of bread and a lettuce leaf, would choose the bread.

 

Even if you showed him the link that said the lettuce was more nourishing for ducks. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mebbe Dr Bob could try this experiment and post up the results?

 

 

 

 

Most kids would eat a bar of chocolate if offered that and an apple,  I would drink a pint of beer in preference to a pint of water when thirsty. It doesn't make it the best choice

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I haven't tried this but I'm fairly sure that a duck, if offered a slice of bread and a lettuce leaf, would choose the bread.

 

Even if you showed him the link that said the lettuce was more nourishing for ducks. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mebbe Dr Bob could try this experiment and post up the results?

 

 

 

 

They can't view the link because they're with 3 mobile.

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My problem is I feed bread to the fish ( I'm not a fisherman. I just enjoy the company of fish) but the ducks come and nick it.Am I to be condemned to a lonely, carpless life because of the greed of ducks who wouldn't know a pea from a slice of Mother's Pride?

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Not sure if there's an Official Duck Lobby Group out there, but I found this Official Statement on Bread from the Queen's Swan Marker to be a nice antidote to some of the serious bread poo-pooing of late (Swan Sanctuary).

 

“There has been a great deal of press coverage in recent months regarding the ‘Ban the Bread’ campaign which is confusing many members of the public who like to feed swans. Supporters of the campaign claim that bread should not be fed to swans on the grounds that it is bad for them. This is not correct. Swans have been fed bread for many hundreds of years without causing any ill effects. While bread may not be the best dietary option for swans compared to their natural food such as river weed, it has become a very important source of energy for them, supplementing their natural diet and helping them to survive the cold winter months when vegetation is very scarce.

 

There is no good reason not to feed bread to swans, provided it is not mouldy. Most households have surplus bread and children have always enjoyed feeding swans with their parents. The ‘Ban the Bread’ campaign is already having a deleterious impact upon the swan population; I am receiving reports of underweight cygnets and adult birds, and a number of swans from large flocks have begun to wander into roads in search of food. This poses the further risk of swans being hit by vehicles. Malnutrition also increases their vulnerability to fatal diseases like avian-flu which has caused the deaths of many mute swans and other waterfowl in the past.

 

Furthermore, there have been statements made in the media claiming that feeding bread causes angel-wing in swans. Angel-wing is a condition where a cygnet develops a deformed wing. Professor Christopher Perrins, LVO, FRS of the Department of Zoology at Oxford University stated, ‘There is no evidence of a connection between feeding bread and angel-wing; at least some cygnets develop this condition without ever having seen any bread’.

 

I therefore encourage members of the public to continue feeding swans to help improve their chances of survival, especially through the winter.”

 

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Half the human population feeds it children on CocaCola and Mcdonalds, and feeds their pet dogs on Bakers or human food leftovers. We all feed ourselves too much alcohol. Given half a chance mallards would eat other, whats the fuss about :).

 

..............Dave

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I saw several swans last winter who were staving and emaciated some dead and some fortunately just alive so the swan rescue centre could feed them, yes they used bread because it is easy for the bird to digest until it has recovered.  Because they have been fed in the past the flocks have increased in size and there is not enough natural food in the winter to support all the flock.

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