Can Ducks Eat Chips? Red Alert!

Can ducks eat chips? No, they shouldn’t eat at any cost. Chips are all about oil, salt, and other spices. And these additives are extremely harmful to ducks, whether they are pet or wild. Moreover, they don’t have any nutritional value. So, it’s best to avoid chips for ducks.

As a big fan of Pringles, I researched if I could feed chips to ducks on the lake or in my backyard. Here, I will present what I got after researching.

Can Ducks Eat Chips? Is It Safe or Hazard?

Chips are nothing without additives like oil, salt, spice, or flavor. All these ingredients are directly harmful to ducks. They can create various health issues like dehydration, obesity, and even death.  If you consider the safety issue, chips are not safe for ducks. 

Chips are not found naturally, so there are fewer chances for ducks to find and eat them because of ducks’ foraging nature. Ducks are not able to find chips unless you give them. So don’t give them chips. Although I found people throw it to feed ducks in the park, it’s totally a bad idea unintentionally. Check this video out! Ducks are eating, but they’ll surely have health difficulties later.

6 Different Types Of Chips: Are All The Chips Unsafe For Ducks?

If I say about mine, potato chips are my favorite. Let’s discuss various chips and see if any types of chips can be fed to ducks.

1. Potato Chips

Potatoes are safe for ducks, but potato chips are not. It’s okay that potato chips are made with potatoes, but they contain oil, salt, and flavors as well. So, you have to avoid potato chips. 

2. Corn Chips

Corns are considered a great treat for ducks, but corn chips are not. Along with oil, salt, and spices, corn chips have a strong aroma of roasted corn. This can make ducks dependent on this specific food.  

3. Banana Chips

While banana is safe for ducks, banana chips are not. The reason is the same as potato chips. 

4. Onion Ring Chips

The onion itself is toxic to ducks because of thiosulphate. There should be no question about onion ring chips.

5. Tortilla Chips

Tortillas are already highly processed and contain high oil salt, so they are not safe for ducks. When chips are made of tortillas, this won’t be safe as well.

Related Reading: Tortilla In Ducks Diet

6. Vegan Chips

Vegan chips are considered healthy chips but for humans. These are unhealthy for ducks, like other chips, because they contain oil, flavors, aroma, etc.

About Baby Ducks: Can Ducklings Eat Chips?

While chips are harmful to adult ducks, it is quite normal that ducklings shouldn’t have chips. Ducklings are sensitive to salt and oil. Their digestive systems are not able to digest oil content. Another alarming fact is if they get dehydrated because of salt, there is no chance of surviving. So, don’t feed them chips. 

What Will Happen To Ducks If They Eat Chips Accidentally? 2 Risky Matter!

If ducks eat chips by any chance, nothing good will happen. This can be life-threatening. Chips won’t provide any nutrition. Moreover, they can cause choking hazards as chips are hard and crispy. Some other things mentioned below can happen to them:

1. Salt poisoning

Is it possible that you are having chips without salt? I haven’t seen these types of chips yet. If ducks eat chips, they will have salt in their body. Salt is considered poison for ducks. Salt consumption can result in these things: 

• Dehydration
• Kidney Damage
• Electrolyte Imbalance
• Disrupted Digestion
• Weakened Immune System

2. Excessive Oil Consumption

Oil is a mandatory ingredient for making chips. If ducks eat chips, they will have saturated oil in them. This can cause:

• Damage to eyes, lungs, and digestive systems
• Irritation
• Reproductive failure
• Liver and kidney damage

4 Precautions You Need To Take

You need to take some precautions so your ducks don’t encounter chips. They can be:

1. Make sure you have a designated feeding area for your ducks that is separate from where you consume snacks like chips.
2. If you’re enjoying chips near your ducks, keep a watchful eye on them.
3. Store snacks like chips securely in airtight containers or inaccessible places to the ducks.
4. If visitors might not be aware of the ducks’ dietary needs, make sure they don’t share their snacks with the ducks.

4 Alternatives Of Chips

If you want to treat your ducks, you don’t need to feed them chips. If you want to treat your ducks, there are plenty of better choices than chips. Like:

1. Grains: Ducks like stuff like cracked corn, oats, or birdseed as special treats now and then.
2. Veggies: Ducks go crazy for chopped lettuce, spinach, peas, and corn. Just make sure the veggies are fresh.
3. Fruits: You can give your ducks cherries, berries, grapes, or bananas. They’ll gobble those up. Just make sure the fruits don’t have any yucky chemicals and cut them into small pieces.
4. Duck Food: You can get special duck food pellets with everything they need. These are good to give them daily as part of their balanced meals.

Recommended Reading: Can Ducks Eat Meat

FAQs

Hold on for some more minutes! I am not done yet!

Wrap-Up

So, can ducks eat Chips? All I have to say is chips are not for ducks. Chips can be fatal for ducks, even more than you think. The salt content in chips can make ducks dehydrated and be the reason for their death. Besides this, chips also contain saturated fat and many other additives. These can cause disturbance in ducks, So avoid feeding chips to ducks.

Why do you have to feed chips to your ducks when there are various alternatives? Learn about the alternatives and treat your ducks.

Recommended Readings:

• What Can Ducks Eat In The Park
• What Not To Feed Ducks

Resource and Reference:

• https://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/salt-toxicosis/salt-toxicosis-in-animals
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9816803/