As part of the Kearsney Parks project, they’ll be out and about on a number of days handing out duck food and reminding people of alternatives that you can feed to ducks, including peas, seeds, sweetcorn, seedless grapes cut in half, chopped lettuce, and duck pellets.
Feeding bread to ducks can be harmful to the birds in a number of ways:
- Bread fills ducks up, but doesn’t give them the right nutrients, and they can become malnourished
- A high calorie, low-nutrient diet can cause a condition in ducks called ‘angel wing’, which makes the wings grow outwards, making the birds unable to fly
- Rotting bread can grow mould that makes ducks sick, and mouldy bread can cause a lung condition called aspergillosis that can kill water fowl
- Bread in the water or in the park attracts vermin that spread disease to birds and humans
- It can lead to the clogging of waterways and lead to pollution that can kill fish and other pond life and disrupt the ecosystem.
