Do Ducks Eat Their Own Babies?

Like many other farm animals, ducks often cause severe harm to their babies under specific circumstances. Even though they are seen attacking their younger ones, do ducks eat their own babies?

Ducks can be under serious stress and feel threatened while protecting their offspring. But they do not eat their babies even though the adult ones might engage in killing the younger ones.

The main reason behind this occurrence is the lack of enough resources and protection to raise the babies well. In this article, we have covered every point about the aggressive and attacking behavior of ducks toward their own child.

Looking for more articles about duck habits:

Is It True that Ducks Sometimes Eat Their Own Babies?

It is not common for ducks to eat their own babies. Adult ducks often eat their own eggs when there is a lack of calcium in their body and they eat the eggs as a source of nutrients for survival.

But eating their own hatched babies is not a regular behavior for ducks. Experts around the world have done several researches on duck behaviors and often they have no definite answers on this topic of ducks eating their babies.

When an adult duck senses any threat to her babies, she grabs them with her mouth and keeps them under the wings. Often it seems that she is eating her babies. But actually, it is not true and ducks don’t seem to eat their babies in any circumstances.

What Are the Reasons Why Ducks Would Eat Their Own Offspring?

Ducks attacking and killing their own babies is really a horrible experience to encounter for any farm owner. But actually, it is not a regular sight and your ducks must have certain reasons behind it.

Here we have discussed some possible reasons why you might see adult ducks killing and eating their own offspring eggs.

Health Risks of Baby Ducks

If the mother duck notices that her babies are suffering from severe health complexities and will not survive long, she might take attempt to kill her child.

Such attacks on ducklings are a form of affection and protection from the mother duck. Because it is really difficult for the mother duck to experience the suffering of her child. And so, she kills off her own offspring to end the suffering for them.

Lack of Resources

Adult ducks often kill their offspring because they feel that they can’t raise the babies well and can’t provide enough food and other necessities for them.

If there is any shortage of food resources, it really gets difficult for the adult ducks to feed the babies well.

In such a case, often the adult ones kill their offspring as it seems a better option for them rather than keeping the babies hungry and making them suffer.

Being Frightened and Threatened

When the mother ducks feel any threat to their babies, they might kill them off by being extremely frightened. Actually, this is an act of protectiveness of the ducks towards their babies.

They think that killing their babies themselves is better than any predator doing any harm to them. Besides, it also prevents the predators from attacking other members of their family.

How Common Is Cannibalism Among Ducks?

Though cannibalism is often seen among different poultries, it is not common among ducks. It is a rare instinct that can develop among ducks of any age. Generally, after one month of their birth.

But according to researchers, ducks might engage in cannibalism and show such behavior if there is a lack of proper environment and food for them.

Besides, an overcrowded shelter with a poor ventilation system can also act as a driving force for ducks to engage in cannibalism.

Even though these reasons can develop such instincts inside them, there is no solid proof to support cannibalism among ducks.

Conclusion

Eating their own babies can’t be a regular behavior for ducks and you should take measures to prevent it as soon as you notice such behavior among them.

Always supervise them well and make sure the adult ducks don’t experience any stress, threats and lack of necessary resources to raise their babies well.

So, I hope the query about do ducks eat their own babies is answered for you. Hopefully, this article answers all your queries about such a sensitive issue so that you won’t have any confusion regarding this matter.