People are often told about what you cannot feed ducks. However, not a lot of people talk about what you can feed them. On this page, we are going to answer the question ‘can ducks eat apples?’.
Can Ducks Eat Apples?
Yes, ducks can eat apples. In most parts of the world, ducks would be able to find apples ‘in the wild’, and they may feast on them as part of the foraging experience.
This means that they should be able to stomach apples, right? Yep! However, those are wild ducks. They won’t be tucking into apples all that often. Maybe one a week, at the most. Domestic ducks are a whole other ballgame.
Domestic ducks can eat apples, of course. They are not different to their wild counterparts in that regard. However, the difference is that they are likely not going to be foraging for their apples.
Instead, you are handing them the apple chunks. This means that it is more likely that they will overindulge on the apple. As a result, there are a few precautions that you will need to consider when you are feeding your ducks apples.
Are Apples Bad For Ducks and Ducklings?
Now. There is one thing that we cannot absolutely stress enough when you are feeding your ducks an apple. This is the fact that you 100% need to take out all of the seeds.
Do not leave a single seed in that apple. You may even want to cut the core out so there is no risk of any seed residue being left behind. Why do you need to do this? Let us explain.
Apple seeds, like the seeds of many fruits, contain trace amounts of cyanide. While this isn’t going to be much of a problem for a larger animal like humans to consume apple seeds in small quantities, it is going to be a problem for ducks.
Even a couple of seeds could kill a duck, particularly ducklings. This goes for most fruits. This is why many people will not have apples and the like near a duck pond.
They do not want to run the risk of their ducks tucking into something poisonous.
As apples are fairly hard, they should not be fed to ducks under 12-weeks old. For older ducks, you are still going to need to cut the apples up into smaller chunks to ensure that they can eat them without choking. Some people will even mash their apples up.
If you can, you may want to feed the ducks applesauce or make your own apple sauce instead. You can do the latter with a blender.
Generally speaking, the latter option is better because it is far, far lower in sugar and this is better for your ducks. Store bought applesauce tends to be high in preservatives, and you can’t guarantee that
Why You Shouldn’t Give Your Ducks Too Many Apples
Ducks can eat apples and we know that this is something that should be obvious to many of you. However, there are some people that see fruits and vegetables as healthy, and, as a result, they are more than happy to overload their ducks with them.
Sure. Apples and fruits in general can be healthy, but only in moderation. You need to remember that apples, and other fruits for that matter, are going to be high in sugar. Ducks can eat grapes as well, they will enjoy it, but this is not good for them.
Now that you know that ducks can eat apples but with precautions, you should not forget that the bulk of your duck’s feed should always come from dedicated duck feed and foraging.
You should be handing them apples and other fruits as a treat a couple of times per week, at the most.
It should be about 10% of their diet. Ideally, you would mix the apples with other fruits and vegetables so they have lots of different fruit types to sink their beaks into.
It isn’t just the sugar that you need to be wary of either. What many people fail to realize is that ducks cannot stomach a lot of Vitamin C. It makes them very sick if they ‘overdose’ on Vitamin C, so if you are getting a lot of it into their diet, then this could mean they get sick.
While it is unlikely to kill them, it is not going to be a very pleasant experience for your animal, is it?
