Can ducks eat cucumbers? Why not? After all, 95% of cucumbers consist of water, and the rest are useful nutrients, like vitamins and minerals, that ducks need for growth and repair.
But is feeding ducks cucumbers everyday a wise decision? Well, experts have a different opinion on that. Excessive of anything, no matter how healthy, is inadvisable, they say.
In this article you will find out the reasons behind such differences in opinions. You will also get to learn how to prepare cucumbers properly for your ducks. So, let’s start, chop chop!
Can Ducks Eat Cucumbers: A Refreshing And Nutritious Item
Ducks can definitely eat cucumbers, as a supplement to enhance their dietary preferences and needs. In fact, cucumbers could be termed as a balanced edible for ducks, because it contains a little of every kind of nutrient. Vitamins? Check. Carbohydrates and proteins? Yes, cucumbers have them. What about minerals? Yep, cucumbers have them in loads.
Cucumbers consist of 95% water, let’s not forget that. They give a hydration boost during the hot, summer months to your beloved webbed-footed friends waddling around in your farm or backyard. Remember though, that cucumbers, though crunchy and juicy, should be added to your duck’s diet as a snack item only, and not as a daily staple.
In addition to all these good points, cucumbers are low in calories. So, if you want one of your overweight or sickly feathered buddies to lose weight, cucumber treats would be great.
Nutritional Value Of Cucumbers For Ducks
Let’s take a look at the nutritional chart of a cucumber. It is amazingly healthy for your ducks!
| Nutrients | Benefits to your duck friend | |
| Minerals
Potassium Magnesium Manganese Copper Phosphorus |
Potassium helps in maintaining a healthy heart rate and blood pressure
Magnesium aids in efficient muscle function, nerve health, and works with calcium for better bone health Manganese helps in bone formation and prevents cellular damage |
|
| Vitamins
Vitamin C Vitamin K Vitamin A |
Vitamin C boosts immune system, prevents illness, gives a shine to the bird’s feathers, produces collagen
Vitamin K ensures blood clotting, bone development, prevents hemorrhage Vitamin A strengthens the immune system of the bird |
|
| In addition to the minerals and vitamins above, cucumbers are low calorie items with a high water content. They also contain antioxidants, beta-carotene, and small amounts of niacin.
Below are listed the other nutrients and their proportions:
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Duck’s Diet And Digestive System
Before we proceed further in our quest to answer the burning question, we must at first acknowledge and appreciate the diet and digestive system of these birds.
Their Diet In The Wild
In the wild, ducks go for different kinds of plant matter growing on the ground or within water bodies. Aquatic plants, like roots and shoots of water lilies, and large seeds of lotus plants, are certain items they find deeply palatable. Of course, insects and snails, small fish, and amphibians are edibles they go for during summer. They also like nuts, fruits and vegetables.
When ducks are out and about in the wilderness, they would not normally eat cucumbers because the skin and leaves of cucumber fruits are bitter. Therefore, cucumber is a unique or unnatural food item for ducks. As a result, cucumbers should be fed in small amounts and Infrequently. Only 10% of a duck’s diet should be made of cucumbers.
Their Diet Within A Human Household
A duck has a powerful immune and digestive system. They are notorious as scavengers. Within a household shared by humans, ducks are normally fed kitchen and garden scraps, spoiled and moldy food items, wilted and bug-eaten produce, and even stale cereal. Ducks should be fed different kinds of food items, and not just packaged food from the supermarkets.
They Are Naturally Quite Strong
Ducks, as long as they are eating properly in a friendly environment, are not very susceptible to diseases. They eat insects and snails all the time. They even ingest grit to encourage faster digestion. In fact, they should be given access to dirt because they need grit to digest their food. For those who do not know what grit is: It is basically coarse dirt mixed with pebbles.
Their Digestive System
Did you know that ducks have a part in their digestive system, called the gizzard, that actually changes size depending on the diet it pursues all throughout its life?
This part is also called “ventriculus” which undergoes changes so that the duck can extract the best out of the diet available to it. The gizzard is a thick, muscular organ where the grit is stored, so as to mechanically break down larger food items for faster digestion.
There is another part called “caeca” in their digestive tract that absorbs water, cellulose, fibers and proteins from fruits and vegetable matter. If ducks are fed cucumbers, the fibers and proteins from it will be broken down here.
Nutrients Their Bodies Crave
There are two things ducks need on a daily basis: protein and niacin. Feeding them chicken feed may not be enough as it is not balanced enough for ducks.
Provide your ducks with a varied diet if you want your ducks to have a balanced diet. Leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, squash, spinach, kale, peas, tomatoes, and carrots are not only amazing to look at because of their beautiful colors, but they are also packed with essential nutrients your ducks crave. For protein intake, introduce mealworms and insects.
Personality Of Ducks
Do ducks make good pets? They make great pets! They are, needless to say, cuddly and adorable. They adore human company just as much as we love them.
They are quite active during the day, poking and prodding in various nooks and crannies, always curious. In the summer season, particularly, they get very thirsty because of their active nature, therefore feeding them cucumbers would do them good. They would quack you a raspy “thank you” when you feed them juicy and crispy cucumber cubes.
Ways Cucumbers Are Good For Ducks
Cucumbers provide numerous benefits to your ducks, be they wild or domesticated. Firstly, after munching and gulping down snails and berries all day, some slices of fresh and juicy cucumber would be highly welcomed by the birds. On a hot summer day, cucumbers do leave a cooling effect on these birds. Cucumbers provide hydration and it is excellent for the digestive system.
If you take a sneak peek at the nutritional chart again, you will see that cucumbers boost the immune system of the birds. It basically means your ducks will fall sick less often. Vitamins C and K present in the cucumber slices will make their feathers shine, and the fibers will ensure faster bowel movement and lesser chances of constipation.
Not to mention, cucumbers also contain natural anti-oxidants that will prevent inflammation or infections in your ducks. The food item is also low in calorie count and fat, so all sizes and ages of ducks can consume cucumber pieces without any worry of gaining excess weight. Most importantly, cucumbers do not contain sugar therefore are not addictive at all.
Correct Ways To Prepare Cucumber For Ducks
Wash the cucumber thoroughly first, then peel it, if necessary. After that, cut it into fine slices or triangular dices. Do not mix anything with the pieces. After feeding, closely observe the ducks for any negative reaction. Remove uneaten food.
Wash And Peel Them
Organic cucumbers are a hundred times better than store-bought or packaged cucumbers. If you have access, try to purchase your cucumbers from a local farmer or grow your own. But if stores are the only places you can buy your fruits and vegetables from, then make sure you wash them thoroughly to get rid of pesticides and other harmful pollutants.
Whether to peel them or not, is something that you should think twice about. Some say the skins of cucumbers are densely packed with nutrients, and others say that they contain contaminants on them. Ducks may find the cucumber skin bitter, which it in fact is. If the cucumbers are store-bought or not organically grown, you should better peel them.
Cut Them Into Small Pieces
Ducks have beaks and all they can do with it is grab the food, push it inside the mouth, and crush it before swallowing it down. They cannot chew the food as they do not possess teeth or tooth-like structures. As such, before giving them cucumber, make sure the fruit is finely sliced or diced into minute pieces. Small triangular pieces, with or without the skin, are perfect.
If you have seen ducks feeding, you may have noticed that they eat at a lightning fast speed. They grab the food and swallow it, without thinking much about it. So it is absolutely crucial that the edible is cut into small pieces. Big pieces can make the ducks choke while swallowing them.
After dicing the food item, serve them to the ducks and make sure you do not add anything, like any artificial flavoring or even salt, with the food pieces. For baby ducks, you can smash the cucumber pieces to make it even more palatable to the ducklings.
Serve In Large Containers
Ducks eat like there is no tomorrow. They look eternally hungry. If you serve 2 or 3 ducks in one small container, they are going to make a big mess which will lead to a wastage of food. Serving in large bowls to two ducks at a time is the best policy. As they eat within milliseconds, there is a risk of their beaks colliding or them getting angry or anxious. Serving in bowls certainly helps.
Some duck owners serve them cucumber pieces on straight or level-surface plates or cemented surfaces. Ducks may find it hard to pick the food morsels up into their beak since their beaks and the flat surface may hit against each other.
Feeding them on the ground covered with mud or soil is not exactly a great idea. Once the food falls from the bowl and gets completely covered with soil, the ducks may not eat them. Therefore, feeding them on a clean or flat surface, not covered with mud, would be better.
Mimic The Natural Environment
Ducks love it when they get yummy stuff to eat in an environment that feels like home. Pieces of finely cut cucumber floating on a pond or a water reservoir make the ducks feel as if they are eating aquatic plants like they naturally would when they are paddling about on a water body with their momma duck. This resemblance to home is an effective way to feed ducks food.
If a water reservoir, a pond or lake is not available anywhere near your home, then you can settle for large containers and fill them up with water. Make the containers sit on a low platform so that when the ducks reach out for the food with their bills, water does not splash and make their plumes wet, especially when they are in no mood to bathe.
Ensure Contaminant-Free Surrounding
Make sure the garden or the farm you are feeding your pet ducks in is not contaminated with pesticides that you might be using to get rid of pests.
Using pesticides in your garden or farm to get rid of bugs is normal, but feeding your birds at the same time when the place has been disinfected is not a good idea at all.
Chemicals may easily mix with the food and get ingested by the birds which may give the birds serious digestive issues.
Moderation Is The Key
Cucumbers should be given as treats and not as a staple food item. Experts suggest that cucumbers should not make more than 10% of the regular diet of a healthy duck. A varied diet containing all kinds of food is crucial for their healthy growth and living.
Wrong Ways To Prepare Cucumber For Ducks
We often make the mistake of feeding our pets the same thing that we humans eat. We forget that while we enjoy sauteed or fried food, or gorge on citrusy or spicy food items, feeding that to our pets could bear lethal consequences. Therefore, before feeding cucumber pieces to your cuddly feathered friends, make sure you have all the pointers below in your mind.
Do not cook: Cooking cucumbers thinking that it will taste more delicious to your ducks as it does to you is a silly idea. Cooking destroys the crunchiness of the cucumbers and lowers the nutritional value.
All the nutrients from the cucumber will transfer to the curry or sauce which the ducks find unpalatable. Plus cooking involves adding spices and salt, which is a complete no-no for your ducks. Frying and sauteing are not allowed either. Go raw.
Do not pickle: Pickling cucumbers is an amazing way to preserve the yummy fruit, but only for humans! Feeding pickled cucumbers that have high salt and vinegar content, will upset the digestive system of the birds.
Do not season: Adding salt, pepper or any other kind of seasoning to cucumber pieces to be fed to ducks is strictly prohibited.
Do not feed cucumber seeds and leaves: Seeds of cucumber are a choking hazard. Leaves of cucumbers contain toxic chemicals. They are indigestible to the ducks, as such should be avoided.
Do not add citrus: Making a salad, mixing cucumber pieces together with citrus fruits, thinking that they would enhance the flavor is a big ‘no’. Citrus fruits are hazardous for ducks because they interfere with calcium absorption resulting in mother ducks producing thin-shelled eggs.
Do not serve hot food: You may boil the cucumbers to soften them a little bit but make sure they are not being served hot, as it would burn their beaks or tongue. Also, boiling destroys nutrients; all nutrients leave the cucumber and mix with the water. Unless you are thinking of feeding your ducks cucumber soup, avoid boiling.
When And How Often Can Ducks Eat Cucumbers
Moderation is the best policy. Feeding them cucumbers every single day or feeding them only cucumbers is not advisable at all, because it does not contain all the nutrients that are needed for a balanced diet. Ducks have a palate for a varied diet– they like insects, invertebrates, berries, fruits and vegetables. Offer them cucumbers, but only moderately.
Cucumber intake should be made only a few times per week. Experts recommend that ducks should be fed cucumber pieces only once or twice a week. Feeding cucumbers frequently or daily to ducks may cause diarrhea or allergic reactions.
When ducks are laying eggs, they need a lot of proteins. During this time, 14-17% of their diet should consist of proteins. Therefore, when mother ducks are about to lay eggs, give them less cucumbers and more proteins, like grains, worms and small invertebrates.
Ducks Eating Cucumbers: Things To Watch Out For
If by mistake you have fed cucumbers to your ducks in amounts higher than recommended, you can still take matters into hand by observing them carefully and taking them to the vet at the right time. When you see any of the symptoms discussed below, stop feeding cucumbers.
Ducks suffer digestive problems if they eat excessive amounts of something their gut system is not used to. Watch out for loose droppings or wet litter, and ruffled feathers. You may also notice a change in behavior like becoming isolated, lethargic or anorexic.
Ducks may have allergies and intolerances just like humans. Watch out for frequent sneezing in ducks which could be caused by respiratory tract infection or could be an allergic reaction to something they have ingested.
FAQ
The more you know about the relationship between ducks and cucumbers, the better. Below is a list of questions that will answer any other questions you may have.
Q: Can ducklings eat cucumbers?
Ans: Baby ducks have an undeveloped digestive tract that cannot thoroughly break down tough food items or edibles they are not used to. At 4 weeks of age, however, you can feed a few pieces of cucumber once every other week, only as a refreshing treat. Remember, too much fiber and water is not good for their body, so avoid feeding excessive cucumbers.
Q: Can ducks eat cucumber leaves?
Ans: Vines and leaves of cucumbers contain cucurbitacin, a toxin that can cause digestion issues. Therefore, the safest bet would be to stick to the fruit of a cucumber plant only. Safer alternatives include kale, lettuce and spinach leaves.
Q: Does duck poop color change when they eat cucumber?
Ans: Yes, the color of duck dropping changes with the kind of food they eat. Usually it is white, but it may turn green if they are eating a lot of peas or other greens. It may also turn yellow or orange with food items that are of the same color. Because they ingest grit, their poop color could be dark as well.
Thoughts
Can ducks eat cucumbers? Yes, of course they can but only in moderation. Feeding them cucumbers everyday or in large amounts is thoroughly inadvisable by experts.
Chopping, dicing or slicing cucumber to be fed to ducks is a very good idea. Avoid mixing any salt or spices with it. Serving raw and in little amounts, once or twice every week, is the right thing to do.
