Is it ok to feed ducks bread?

[MrsFogi]

or does it swell up in their stomachs and cause them immense pain and suffering? As I have 3/4 of a loaf of bread that dd and I are planning to feed to the local ducks tomorrow (subject to mners' wisdom on the subject).

I hope not I've been doing it for years. I try to make sure that it's small bits and that they go into the water for a bit.

course you can feed the ducks bread!! not the canada geese cause they are taking over though haha

blimey, i fed them a 6 pack of naan bread in my front garden earlier

I wonder about this - I think I read somewhere that it can cause something called 'angel wing'. I will google it.

at our local wildlife study centre, they ask people NOT to feed ducks bread and as alot of it gets left around the pond and that attracts rats. I;m sure there's another reason for it as well but I can't remember what it is. You can but bags of duck feed (which is mixed seeds and stuff) from them for only 10p so I don't think it's a financial thing either!

Bread is not their natural food of course and white bread in particular is not good for them. I had a wildlife expert tell me it is better to NOT feed them bread at all, but if you are going to feed them bread then it should be the least white possible.

THey ask you not to but if you do it should be brown bread - even ducks need fibre and vitamins and there aren't any in white bread. Part of the problem is rats as Tommy says but also quite a lot of the bread will sink in the water and not be eaten - causing nasty algae etc. Says the Wetland Centre.

we're about to go this afty..the reasons not to at our park is because leftovers attract rats and contaminte the water?..we chuck it on one of the banks, and if they get full, we stop.

link

and another link

bbc

I think the theory is that angel wing is only found where ducks live near humans. Its either caused by genetic inbreeding because the ducks don't have any incentive to leave the feeding site, or because of proteins in bread.