Can Ducks Eat Almonds? Yes, It’s Healthy With Considerations
Can ducks eat almonds? Yes, ducks can, but you must follow adequate safety tips before feeding them. These seeds are high in calories, and an excellent source of protein and fiber, boosting their overall health. But, due to its high-fat content, ensure you feed them occasionally.
Alongside a balanced diet, your backyard birds also need additional supplements and treats. In this case, these are a mighty source of nutrients. These will benefit your quacking birds such as blood cell regeneration, preventing constipation, and boosting healthy growth. Despite offering all these benefits, why does it have to be provided in moderation? Why not every day?
After reading this article, you will have answers to all the questions regarding whether or not they can eat almonds. So, keep reading.
Can Ducks Eat Almonds? Is it good for their Healthy Diet?
Yes, almonds are edible seeds. But, it should not be a part of their regular diet; instead, give it to your domesticated ducks as an occasional treat.
See, ducks do have a varied diet. If they refuse to eat their regular feed, you can boost their appetite by offering them different types of food items, such as almonds. Also, you need to choose the proper type of almonds, like sweet or roasted ones.
In general, it comes with a wide range of nutrients, which makes it one of the excellent supplementary food sources to include in their diets. But ensure you aren’t overfeeding your pet birds with these seeds of almond trees. Alongside the risk of choking hazard to ducks, it will possess chances of fat accumulation.
Sometimes, you can also mix the small pieces of these seeds with other fruits to feed them. Doing this will boost their balanced diet and also ensure they’re having proper nutrition.
Do Ducks Like Almonds?
Yes, it is one of the favorite treats for ducks. They will more likely love the taste once you introduce this bird seed item to them. Yet, a few of your flocks may not like the taste and will refuse to eat these seeds.
But can wild ducks eat almonds? Usually, it doesn’t hamper their balanced diet list. These won’t create any potential danger either. Wild ducks might eat it if they find these seeds while foraging. But, they don’t have any natural inclination towards the almond seeds.
6 Health Benefits of Almonds for Ducks
Almonds are a rich source of dietary fiber and a wide variety of essential minerals. In addition, these are a good source of vitamins as well. These tree nuts, in moderation, play a vital role in boosting the immune system and can potentially contribute to blood cell generation. Here’s how good is almonds to ducks:
- Provide calories: This seed can provide around 592 Calories for 100 gm of seed consumption. So, it boosts their energy production.
- Prevent wry neck: The flocks can suffer from a wry neck of vitamin E deficiency. The almond seeds contain essential vitamins such as vitamins C and E and prevent the difficulty of raising the neck. These components also boost immune systems.
- Boosting healthy growth: The protein content will promote cell regeneration and tissue formation. Also, it will help them in proper growth and strong muscle and feathers development.
- Reduce constipation: For being a great source of fiber, this seed will ease the bulk motion in the digestive system. As a result, they will unlikely suffer from constipation.
- Fulfill calcium requirements: Consuming these seeds will strengthen their bone health and skeleton. Besides, according to “The Backyard Duck Book,” calcium absorption is essential for forming eggshells.
- Fatty Acid Supremacy: Omega-3 fatty acids are also to be noted. To be specific, 4% of an almond is fatty acids. Primarily, it has oleic acid and linoleic acid, too. Together, These components can contribute to the duck’s heart health and overall well-being.
Almonds for Ducks: Analysing Nutritional Benefits
Here is a list of essential nutrients and the amount of 100 gm of almonds:
| Nutrients | Amount(gm nutrients/100 gm) |
|---|---|
| Carbohydrate | 21.6 g |
| Fat | 49.9 g |
| Protein | 21.2 g |
| Water | 4.41 g |
| Fiber | 12.5 g |
| fatty acids | 3.8 g |
| Vitamin E ((alpha-tocopherol)) | 25.6mg |
| Phosphorus | 481mg |
| Potassium | 733mg |
| Magnesium | 270mg |
| Calcium | 269mg |
| Energy | 579 kcal |
An important note here is that it is a fatty food and also rich in carbohydrates, which boosts their energy level. However, excessive calorie intake can cause fat accumulation in flocks. Thus, you must search for alternative tasty treats for ducks that have all beneficial nutrients and contain fewer calories.
Moreover, high fiber and protein content can also cause upset stomachs or disturb the digestive health of ducks.
About Some Other Duck Nuts Diet:
How Often Should I Feed Them Almonds?
You can feed these seeds only as healthy snacks, as overfeeding may cause them multiple health issues. For example, they might suffer from obesity.
Feeding a handful of these seeds in a day can be alright for them. But we always recommend feeding your flocks these seeds as healthy treats only twice a week.
What Are The Ways Of Feeding?
The best way to feed these seeds is to introduce them gradually in their meal. Here are a few tips in this regard:
- Though these seeds are rich in beneficial nutrients, you should feed them occasionally. Seeds like this and nuts in moderation is a wise idea.
- Make sure you aren’t forcing them to eat this seed.
- You can hand-feed them these seeds, and it will reduce the risk of their over-swallowing at once.
- Ducks love to eat in the water as it eases their digestion process. Thus, provide them a feeder with these seeds in the water.
To visualize the idea of feeding them almond tree seeds in water, check this YouTube video:
- Never serve almonds in the water where they swim, as it may cause the growth of molds in these seeds.
6 Ways to Prepare Almonds for Ducks
Here are ways you can follow to prepare these seeds for your pet ducks:
1. Choose Sweet Almonds
Instead of salted or bitter almonds, feed them sweet ones. Because unsalted almonds consist of sodium and can have tiny amounts of cyanide, both are unhealthy for ducks. For toxic chemicals, veggies from the nightshade family, such as tomatoes and potatoes, are prohibited for ducks.
2. Prefer Roasted Almonds
Can ducks eat raw almonds? Yes, you can feed them both raw and roasted almonds. But we recommend choosing roasted ones over raw ones. The reason is the roasted ones provide less toxins than the raw ones.
3. Avoid Moldy Almonds
If you notice a bitter smell from these seeds, this is a sign of moldy almonds. You shouldn’t feed the flocks these rotten and moldy ones as they contain numerous bacterial spores and toxins like aflatoxins.
4. Crushing
Always crush the seeds into pieces so that they don’t choke on these seeds. Fill a zip lock bag with the seeds and crush it using a hammer.
But can ducks eat ground-up almonds? Yes, you can blanch the seeds and ground them up for their east intake.
5. Mixing With Other Foods
Initially, you can mix and feed these seeds with their natural diet. Mixing it with bananas will be a great choice, but can ducks eat bananas? Yes, they can eat it, but there is a risk of choking. Hence, you can smash this fruit and mix fine powder or small pieces of the seeds.
6. Make It Softer
Sometimes, you can soak the seeds in water to make them soft and more accessible for your pet to digest.
You can also remove the outer shell of the seeds to make it softer for them to swallow.
Recommended Reading: Nuts Diet For Ducks
FAQs
Here are some related queries about feeding almonds to ducks. Make sure you don’t skip this section!
Q. Can Baby Ducks Eat Almonds?
Yes, like the adult ducks, ducklings can eat almonds too, but not before four weeks of their age. Before they’re in the developmental stage, they have high protein requirements, which this seed can’t fulfill.
Even after these weeks, you can feed these seeds only in smaller quantities. Also, you must chop them into small manageable pieces to avoid choking hazards.
Q. Can Ducks Eat Silver Almonds?
No, ducks can’t eat the silver almonds as they are too large to swallow. As they can’t chew foods, they always intake those foods that are easy for them to consume as a whole.
Even though they try to intake these large seeds, they are highly likely to choke. But, you can slice these almonds into smaller pieces so that they can ingest the pieces easily.
Q. Can Ducks Eat Flaked Almonds?
If you want to feed them the flaked almonds, you must make them smaller for them. You can use a grinder or mixer to make fine powder from these seeds.
Then, you can mix these fine powders with their other meals. This will eliminate the risk of choking and ensure proper nutrients for your ducks.
Conclusion
Nuts, peanuts, and almonds are the most familiar food items for ducks, as these are rich in nutrients. Throughout this article, we already discussed: Can ducks eat almonds? For feeding these seeds to your pet flocks, you need to prepare them appropriately for your ducks.
Only choose sweet almonds and avoid bitter ones that contain toxins for them. Then, to reduce the choking risk, make sure you are grinding these into small pieces. Moreover, if you feed them this seed excessively, it will cause them obesity. Thus, feed them almonds only 1-2 times a week.
Sources & References:
- https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/cyanide-and-amygdalin-indicators-presence-bitter-almonds-imported#
- https://www.vet.cornell.edu/animal-health-diagnostic-center/programs/duck-research-lab/health-care
