Name: tim martinez
Status: other
Age: 40s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 3/18/2004
Question:
What do ducks eat.....????
How about your typical mallard duck you see in these manmade lakes here in
phoenix, there's also a a solid white family in the same group but don't
know the species...Then what I'm told I have these mudhens all black and
smaller version of the mallards...very friendly and come up to the porch in
my backyard...I have know idea the species but would like to feed them
sometime.I don't know what to feed them other than maybe going to a feed
store and asking them...does this help a little bit???? thanks, for
reading this.
Replies:
White ducks are probably some sort of domestic, often Muscovy or relatives;
mallards may be wild but may also be domesticated. Coots, or mudhens, are
not really ducks at all. Naturalists recommend against feeding any WILD
waterfowl; domestics it depends on where they are and their surroundings.
Feeding often causes waterfowl to concentrate and pick up botulism or other
diseases from each others droppings, large die-offs may then occur. IF it is
okay to feed them they will eat corn or other grains as in wild bird seed.
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