To be a bit pissed off with these fussy eaters?

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Bloody ducks. It used to be such a simple activity- stroll round the park and feed the ducks with a little leftover bread.
I really cant be arsed to go and buy grain just for this purpose. So can i give them some high quality seeded bread? Or is the london duck population now an endangered species due to a hundred years of eating bread?
Obviously i have stopped giving them bread (via the Dcs) but i see lots of other ppl still whip out the mothers pride. Humph!

Could I safely feed chicken food to ducks? Layer pellets and mixed corn to be precise.

There is a tourist information kiosk at a park near us that sells microscopically small bags of "duck food" for something like £999.99p each. I always walk away feeling like I've been mugged. I always mean to buy proper duck food (whatever that might be) from a pet store to save money, but of course never remember. Chicken food, however, we always have to hand.

I thought seagulls ate kebabs.

My uni had a duckpond and the canteen staff used to chuck all the leftover rolls into the pond. The ducks seemed fine and the fish were huge!

We gave some out of date crunchy nut cornflakes. I had no complaints.

Call me a spoilsport but I have always hated feeding the ducks. It usually results in swans joining in and trying to grab food or one of my children, which inevitably resulted in crying when they got scared. It was one of those visions that I wish I had left in my head.

So if i throw grain into the pond wont it just sink?

Yup! And the burds will look at you're some dumb arse!

Last time I went to Whitstable I refused to share my chips with the seagulls and the bastards shat on them in revenge!

We never get as far as throwing grain into the pond in our local duck park.

As soon as the ducks spot someone holding a bag of duck food (these are sold in the information kiosk), they all start heading over at top speed and follow the person with the duck food until about half an hour after it's all gone.

dont feed them - they can sort themselves out

The reason you shouldn't feed bread to waterfowl is because of low nutritional content. They eat lots of it and none of their natural diet as a result.

It can lead to deformity called angel wing in young birds where bird then cannot fly.

Better to feed natural diet - grain and greens.

But also feeding birds can contribute to spread of disease as they flock to same place.

Any feeding should be done sparingly and be close to natural diet.

Do they like grapes?

Probably!

You can buy huge bags of suitable bird food in Wilkos for tuppence ha'penny. If you are my unsuspecting friend, you can bend down to pet a duckling with an open bag of said bird food in your backpack, without realising that said bird food is thereby pouring out onto the ground in vast quantities, and thereto very nearly undergo a Hitchcockian death-by-pigeon-mob...

Me and my DS were at the park a few weeks ago when he accidentally dropped one of his Lunchables, and the ducks pecked it right up! Greedy little beasts

To the poster up thread, yes layers pellets are fine for ducks. Slightly high in calcium for male ducks but won't do any harm.

Bread is to ducks what McDonald's is to humans. Sure than can technically survive if they eat it, but it'll make them fat and unhealthy.

I have to feed ducks grapes now since the duck song on YouTube DC thinks it's funny.

Thank you annoyed, I'll take some chicken food next time we go to that park. Can they eat regular bird seed, like the stuff we buy for garden bird feeders? We always have that too. I spilt some on the grass once and our chickens had a bit of a peck then turned their noses up at it! Should we be feeding ducks mainly only in the winter months like we do with garden birds?

Mind you, if it was 25p a bag like at Miaow's park then I'd happily pay that! disclaimer: it's not actually £999.99 per bag at ours, it's £2, but the bags are so tiny we have to buy one for each child

In our local park they used to sell grain for the ducks, but now they say we can just give them brown bread...

The ducks that live by us really enjoy eating the dead ducks that have been run over. It is really disgusting seeing them peck up their squashed ducky friend from the road by they seem to love it!