Is it OK to feed wild ducks and geese bread crumbs?
Most definitly not!! First off, it is illegal to feed ducks and geese (and pretty well all wildlife) in many municipalities. Bread is not healthy for waterfowl – their digestive systems can not break it down properly. Ducks and geese pick food particles and grit from pond bottoms. Bacterial spores from bread and human hands may potentially develop in anaerobic conditions at the bottom of ponds. A waterfowl diet consits mainly of vegetation and seeds. However, most duck species eat some animal matter part of the year (insects, worms, snails, freshwater shrimp). Mallards, from which most domestic breeds were developed, have animal matter make up about 10-15% of the diet, and then only at certain times of year (ducklings in particular eat a lot of insects as it is an important protein source). Diving ducks have a higher amount of animal matter in their diets, as high as 95% in the king eider, a sea duck found in the Arctic. Coots also eat a fair amount of animal matter, which is how they
