Can Ducks Eat Shrimp? A Complete Guide to Feeding Shrimp to Your Ducks

Meats & Animal Products

Meat, eggs, and dairy—your ducks won’t find them foraging, exactly, but you might wonder if your ducks can have them as a treat or supplement, or if it’s safe to give them leftovers and scraps containing various animal products.

Meat, in general, is fine for ducks. You can give your ducks cooked beef, chicken, or even duck meat. Fish is also great for ducks, but too much can give your ducks’ eggs a fishy taste. Try to avoid fishes that may be high in mercury. Other seafoods such as shrimp, lobster, and oysters are also fine.

Processed meats should be avoided, however. They are extremely unhealthy for ducks, containing additives, preservatives, and/or too much salt. Don’t feed your ducks bacon, sausage, ham, salami, pepperoni, pastrami, or suchlike. Small amounts won’t kill your ducks, but it’s best to avoid them.

Meat can be fed raw, as ducks are well-equipped to handle raw meat. However, you may cook it if you are concerned about potential pathogens in raw meat.

Eggs are high in protein and a complete source of nutrition for ducks. If you have excess eggs, boil them and feed them back to your ducks. Eggs are also a good treat for ducklings. Always boil eggs before feeding them to your ducks. Raw eggs can cause a biotin deficiency and may lead to your ducks learning to eat their own eggs. Chicken eggs, duck eggs, or any other kind of egg are all fine.

There’s some debate over whether ducks can or should eat dairy. Ducks are not designed to eat dairy; it’s not a natural food for them. Birds, in general, are lactose intolerant. However, there does seem to be a lot of anecdotal evidence of ducks and chickens doing well when fed a lot of dairy.

Cultured or fermented dairy products contain less lactose and are more digestible. Farmers used to fatten meat birds on buttermilk, and many people give their birds yogurt as a probiotic. Some people think ducks won’t be able to utilize the probiotics in yogurt, but I don’t think that’s true.

Some say that they’ve given their ducks or chickens milk frequently for years with no visible ill effects.

Food	Yes or No	Notes
Beef	Yes
Butter	Best to avoid	Butter is much too fatty for ducks. However, if you want to feed your ducks, say, scrambled eggs cooked with a small amount of butter, that would probably be fine.
Buttermilk	In moderation only	Farmers used to fatten meat birds on buttermilk.
Cheese	In moderation only	Lower in lactose than many other dairy products.
Chicken meat	Yes	It seems “wrong” to some people, but there’s nothing wrong with it from your ducks’ point of view.
Cream	In moderation only	Sour cream is more easily digestible than cream.
Cream cheese	In moderation only
Cured meat	Best to avoid	Ham, sausage, hot dogs, bacon, bologna, salami, pepperoni, pastrami, and suchlike are not healthy for ducks.
Duck meat	Yes	It seems “wrong” to some people, but there’s nothing wrong with it from your ducks’ point of view.
Eggs	Yes	Cooked eggs are a nutritious treat for your ducks and make a good temporary feed for ducklings if you don’t have feed. Raw eggs are not dangerous but could encourage your ducks to eat their own eggs.
Eggshells	Yes	Crushed eggshells are a good calcium supplement and can replace purchased oyster shell.
Fish	Yes	Good for ducks, but too much could cause a fishy taste in eggs.
Kefir	In moderation only
Liver	Yes	Very nutrient-dense; nutritious but don’t feed large amounts at once.
Milk	In moderation only	Can cause diarrhea and digestive problems. Raw milk may be fine.
Offal	Yes
Shrimp	Yes	Shells and tails are fine.
Whey	In moderation only
Yogurt	In moderation only	Can be useful as a probiotic, protein, and calcium supplement.

Like giving your ducks snacks and treats? It’s best to stick to healthy treats, primarily fruits and vegetables. However, if you’re still wondering if your ducks can have a little peanut butter or bread, or if they can clean up leftover pasta or other food scraps, in general, the answer is that small amounts of most foods would not be imminently dangerous, but habitual feeding of processed foods or “people foods” is unnecessary and a bad idea.

In general, don’t feed your ducks anything fatty, sugary, salty, or highly processed.

Chocolate, anything with caffeine, carbonated beverages, and alcohol are absolute no-nos for ducks. Xylitol is also a no.

Food	Yes or No	Notes
Alcohol	No
Apple cider vinegar	Yes	ACV in your ducks’ water can be beneficial.
Birdseed	Yes	Not a replacement for duck/chicken food as it’s not an appropriate diet for ducks, but can be a healthy treat in small amounts.
Bread	In moderation only	Avoid white bread, sugary bread, and any highly processed bread with preservatives. Sourdough bread, rye bread, and other healthy breads are all right, but still should not be fed often. Bread is high in carbohydrates and will fill ducks up without giving them essential nutrients, possibly leading to malnutrition, obesity, or crop impaction.
Breakfast cereals	In moderation only	Not a healthy or nutritious treat. Only feed nonsugary cereals.
Carbonated beverages	No	Can kill birds.
Carob	Yes	Does not appear to be dangerous.
Cat food	In moderation only	High in protein, so some people feed it to their ducks in small amounts while they are molting. However, it’s not healthy for ducks and much too high in methionine for them.
Chips	Best to avoid	Usually too high in salt and fat and other unhealthy substances.
Chocolate	No	Contains caffeine and theobromine, both of which are toxic to birds. Even small amounts of chocolate could be fatal.
Cinnamon	Yes
Coffee / Caffeine	No	Caffeine is toxic to ducks.
Crackers	Best to avoid	Most crackers are not a healthy treat, as they contain vegetable oil, salt, and potentially other ingredients your ducks shouldn’t have much of.
Dog food	In moderation only	High in protein, but not healthy for ducks. Okay in very small amounts.
Erythritol	Maybe	Appears to be safe for dogs, so may be okay for poultry as well.
Fatty foods	Best to avoid	Ducks require very little fat in their diet.
Fish food / Koi food	Yes	A good high-protein treat for ducks.
Flour	In moderation only	Got flour with bugs in it? You can feed it to your ducks, but be sure to wet it, and don’t feed much at one time.
Fried foods	Best to avoid	Not healthy
Fruit juice	Best to avoid	Only feed if it doesn’t have added sugar. However, fruit in its natural form is better.
High fructose corn syrup	Best to avoid	I would not recommend feeding your ducks anything containing high fructose corn syrup.
Honey	In moderation only	High in sugar and not a natural food for ducks, but not dangerous.
Ice	Yes	You can put ice in your ducks’ water in hot weather.
Jam / Jelly	Best to avoid	Jam is usually very high in sugar. Very small amounts would not be dangerous.
Maple syrup	Best to avoid	Very high in sugar. Small amounts would not be dangerous.
Margarine	Best to avoid	Very unhealthy
Molasses	In moderation only	Healthy in small amounts, but too much will cause diarrhea.
Oatmeal	In moderation only	Only non-sugary and non-flavored. Usually contains milk, which ducks should not have except in small amounts.
Oils	Best to avoid	Coconut oil and olive oil in small quantities is not dangerous; avoid oily foods and especially vegetable oil.
Peanut butter	In moderation only	Natural peanut butter without sugar or much added salt is okay in small amounts.
Popcorn	Best to avoid	Even without added salt and fat, popcorn is a choking hazard.
Salty foods	Best to avoid	Salt is necessary, but your ducks’ diet already has enough salt for them and excess salt is toxic.
Sheep / Goat / Cow feed	In moderation only	Small amounts would not be dangerous, but not a replacement for poultry feed.
Spaghetti	In moderation only	Okay to feed occasionally
Spirulina	Yes
Stevia	Yes	Stevia seems to be safe for animals.
Sucralose / Splenda	Best to avoid	Not toxic, but very unhealthy
Sugary foods	No	Avoid any and all high-sugar foods; best to avoid even low-sugar foods.
Tapioca	Yes	Only feed after cooking in water
Tea	Maybe	Noncaffeinated tea would probably be safe.
Tofu	Yes
Xylitol	No	Appears to be toxic to birds.

Ducks will eat many types of plants. This, obviously, isn’t an exhaustive list of plants. Mainly, it’s a list of plants ducks will readily eat and/or that are useful as fodder or forage. I’ve included some toxic plants, but there are others. If there are any plants you think I should add, contact me and let me know!

Never feed your ducks or give them access to grass or plants that have been sprayed or treated with chemicals.

Food	Yes or No	Notes
Acai berry	Yes
Aloe vera	Yes
Arrowroot	Yes
Autumn olive	Yes	Fruit and leaves are both edible.
Azalea	No	Toxic, although your ducks will probably avoid it on their own as long as it is not the only greenery around.
Azolla fern	Yes	High in protein and easy to grow in shallow ponds.
Barberry	Yes
Bee balm	Yes
Birdsfoot trefoil	Yes
Black locust	No	All parts of the tree are toxic. There have been recorded instances of chickens being poisoned by consuming black locust leaves.
Blackcurrant	Yes
Boxwood	No	Known to be toxic, but your ducks are not likely to try to eat it.
Bulrush	Yes	Ducks will eat the seeds.
Burdock	Yes
Buttercups	Best to avoid	All plants in the buttercup family are toxic. Creeping buttercup is only mildly toxic and poultry may eat small amounts of it.
Calendula	Yes
Carnation	Yes
Cassava	Maybe	Cassava tuber, skin, and leaves contain cyanide and are highly toxic. The tubers are a good supplement for poultry, but must be soaked and cooked first.
Castor bean	No	Highly toxic and has caused poisoning in many ducks. Do not give your ducks access to this plant.
Catnip	Yes
Cattails	Yes
Chamomile	Yes
Chickweed	Yes
Chicory	Yes
Chokeberry	Yes
Chokecherry	Maybe	Seeds are toxic, but are probably eliminated intact
Chufa	Yes
Claytonia	Yes
Clovers	Yes
Comfrey	In moderation	Contains toxic substances that could cause liver damage, so best not to feed large amounts.
Creeping buttercup	Maybe	Known to be mildly toxic to ruminants. Ducks and other poultry will eat it without apparent ill effect, although it may still be toxic in large amounts.
Creeping charlie / Ground ivy	Maybe	Known to be mildly toxic to horses and cattle. Poultry may or may not eat it. May be toxic in large quantities, but its effect on birds seems to be unknown.
Daisy	Yes
Dandelion	Yes	Ducks love dandelion greens.
Duckweed	Yes	Ducks love duckweed and it’s high in protein and great for them.
Echinacea / Coneflower	Yes
Firethorn berries	Yes
Forsythia	Yes
Foxglove	No	Toxic and has caused poisoning in backyard poultry. It may be best to remove any foxglove plants your ducks have access to.
Goji berry / Wolfberry	Yes	Leaves and unripe fruit are toxic.
Gooseberry	Maybe	Ducks will eat it, although the fruit is high in oxalic acid and the leaves are potentially toxic.
Grass	Yes	Ducks are not grazers, but will eat small to moderate amounts of many types of grasses. Do not give them access to grass that has been treated or sprayed with chemicals, including fertilizers. Grass clippings are fine.
Ground cherry	Yes	Fruits are fine. Leaves are toxic.
Groundsel	Maybe	Contains toxic alkaloids, but poultry will readily eat it.
Hardy kiwi / Kiwi berry	Yes
Hemlock	No	Water hemlock and poison hemlock are both highly toxic.
Honeylocust	Yes	Pods are edible.
Honeysuckle	Maybe	Some varieties are toxic.
Hydrangea	No	Known to be toxic, but ducks are not likely to try to eat it.
Jostaberry	Yes
Juniper berries	Yes
Kudzu	Yes
Lamb’s quarters / Fat hen / Goosefoot	Yes	As its name “fat hen” suggests, it has been used to fatten poultry.
Lucerne	Yes
Marigolds	Yes
Marionberry	Yes
Mesquite	Yes	Pods can partially replace corn in poultry diets.
Milkweed	No	Birds are less susceptible to milkweed poisoning than mammals, but if your ducks have limited access to foraging, it would be best to ensure they annot access milkweed plants.
Moringa	Yes
Mugwort	Yes
Nasturtium	Yes
Nightshade	No	There are reports of ducks eating nightshade without issues, but also reports of ducks dying from nightshade poisoning.
Pigeon pea	Yes	High in protein.
Plantain	Yes
Pokeweed	Best to avoid	Ducks are unlikely to eat enough pokeweed to poison themselves, but it is known to be toxic to poultry. However, there are many anecdotes of ducks and chickens eating pokeberries without ill effect. The seeds are poisonous, but birds eliminate them whole and intact.
Purple deadnettle	Yes
Purslane	Yes
Rhododendron	No	Known to be toxic, but ducks are not likely to try to eat it.
Rose	Yes	Rose hips, leaves, and petals are both edible and safe as long as they have not been sprayed.
Rowan berry / Mountain ash berry	Yes	Not safe for humans to eat raw, but birds don’t seem to have a problem with it.
Salmonberry	Yes
Saltbush	Yes
Saskatoon berry / Juneberry / Service berry	Yes
Sea buckthorn	Yes	Leaves and berries are both great feed for ducks and high in protein.
Siberian pea shrub / Caragana	Yes	High in protein. Has been used historically as winter fodder for chickens.
Smartweed	Yes
Sorrel	Yes
Stinging nettle	Yes
Subclover	Yes
Tagasaste / Tree lucerne	Yes	Seeds, leaves, and flowers are all edible. Also good for providing shade and shelter for your ducks.
Vetch	Maybe	Some types of vetch may be toxic; common vetch is safe in moderation.
Violets	Yes
Water hyacinth	Yes	Very good for ducks.
Water lilies	Yes	Ducks may or may not eat/destroy water lilies in ponds.
Wisteria	Maybe	May be mildly toxic but not likely to be a cause for concern.
Wood sorrel / Oxalis	In moderation only	Very high in oxalic acid, but ducks will eat it.
Yellow Dock	Yes	High in oxalic acid, but ducks will not likely eat more than they should.
Yew	No	Very toxic.

Do ducks know what’s good for them?

You might see your ducks eating tomato leaves. That’s not good for them! Tomato leaves contain solanine, which is toxic.

Or you might see your ducks eating windfall apples—including the seeds, which contain a compound that turns into cyanide once digested!

So how much do they know about what they should and shouldn’t eat?

I believe they have some sense. A few tomato leaves won’t hurt them. I have never heard of a duck gorging on tomato leaves or even eating enough to hurt them. As for apple seeds, they should pass through your ducks’ system whole and entire, and even if they were digested, it would take a lot of apple seeds to harm them.

If given options, ducks will, for the most part, avoid what’s bad for them. There are many, many anecdotes of ducks and chickens being allowed to free-range in an area containing toxic plants and never touching them. Known exceptions include castor beans and foxglove.

On our property, we have a lot of tropical milkweed, which is toxic. We used to pull them up whenever we saw them, but we never got rid of all of them and they kept coming back. I have never seen any of our animals touch them. Also, our chickens have access to our compost pile, which contains avocado seeds and peels, onion peels, and of course rotten and spoiled food. The chickens love the compost pile, but they ignore the avocado and onion. They’ve never gotten sick.

However, if your ducks are in a small run where they’ve devoured all the available greenery and the only sources of green food remaining are tomato plants, rhododendron, and rhubarb, that’s when problems might occur.

If your ducks have a large area, there’s no need to be paranoid or go to great pains to remove everything that might possibly be toxic. They have some sense.

Even so, don’t trust them to always know what’s best.

Chickens have been known to gorge on styrofoam pellets. Ducks are also attracted to shiny things and may gladly gobble up earrings, beads, screws, and suchlike. Maybe they think such objects are beetles or bugs. There are also stories of ducks or other poultry being poisoned from things they ate. I have heard of ducks that died from gorging on avocado.

Be aware of what your ducks have access to, and remove things that could be toxic if you can, particularly if your ducks are in a confined area.

Oxalic acid is an organic compound found in many plants and foods. Because it binds with calcium, consuming too much of it can cause a calcium deficiency. For laying ducks, who need large amounts of calcium to form eggshells, this could potentially be dangerous. The more oxalic acid your ducks consume, the more calcium they will need.

Oxalic acid is found in most plant or plant-based foods. As such, it isn’t something to be avoided, as most foods containing oxalic acid are otherwise very healthy. However, there are some foods that are very high in oxalic acid, and it may be best to avoid feeding them to your ducks or only feed them occasionally. A free-choice calcium supplement may help or even negate the risk, but no one knows for sure.

Here are some of the foods with the highest levels of oxalic acid:

• Almonds
• Amaranth
• Beet greens
• Carrots
• Cashews
• Cassava
• Chives
• Garlic
• Lettuce
• Navy beans
• Okra
• Parsley
• Peanuts
• Potatoes
• Purslane
• Radish
• Rhubarb leaves
• Rutabaga
• Snap beans
• Spinach
• Swiss chard

Various factors affect the oxalate content of each food, but in general, spinach, rhubarb, and tea leaves contain the highest levels of oxalates. Amaranth, cassava, chives, parsley, purslane, and Swiss chard are also extremely high in oxalic acid. These are the foods I would be careful with. Some people will tell you not to feed your ducks spinach at all, but it’s still nutritious and healthy, and ducks love it, so while it should be limited, I don’t think it’s necessary to avoid it entirely.

Almost all plant foods have oxalic acid, so beyond that short list above, I don’t think it’s worrying about oxalic acid in your ducks’ diet, although I could be wrong.

The Solanaceae family, also known as nightshades, are a family of plants contanining compounds called alkaloids. One alkaloid, solanine, is toxic and is found in several garden vegetables and plants:

In potato plants, the leaves and stems contain the highest concentrations of solanine and should never be fed to ducks. As for the potatoes themselves, any green parts are toxic and should not be fed to your ducks. The peel contains 3 to 10 times more solanine than the flesh, but it would take a very large amount of potato peels to cause issues. The eyes are also higher in solanine and are best removed. The flesh of potatoes contains low amounts of solanine, but likely not enough to present any risk. Boiling causes a slight but insignificant reduction in solanine levels. Since potatoes also contain lectins (although the levels are low compared to legumes), which are destroyed by cooking, potatoes are best cooked before being given to your ducks.

Peppers (including all types of bell peppers and hot peppers) are safe for ducks to eat, containing only low levels of solanine. Pepper plant leaves, stems, and flowers are relatively high in solanine. I was not able to find any credible information on how much they contain. They are not as toxic as potato leaves and stems. My ducks recently decimated the leaves of a potted pepper plant, and there are many other anecdotes of poultry readily eating pepper leaves, so they are likely not very dangerous. Solanine is bitter-tasting because it’s a natural defense mechanism to protect a plant from being eaten, so if the birds are happy to eat them, we can perhaps infer that they don’t taste that bad and hence don’t contain much solanine. I would not recommend giving your ducks access to large amounts of pepper leaves if they don’t have other greens to choose from, but there is no reason to worry if your ducks nibble on occasional pepper leaves.

The same is true of eggplants and tomato plants: the fruit is fine, the rest of the plant is at least mildly toxic. I cannot find any information on how much your ducks would need to ingest to cause an issue. There are many anecdotes of ducks and chickens happily devouring tomato plants without problems, and also anecdotes of ducks and chickens avoiding tomato plants or only barely nibbling them. Unripe tomatoes are also high in solanine and should not be fed to your ducks.

Ground cherries, goji berries, and tamarillos are also nightshades, and the foliage and unripe fruit are toxic. If you have these plants and your ducks can access them, I doubt you need to worry about your ducks poisoning themselves. The aforementioned bad taste of solanine should deter your ducks from consuming a toxic quantity. But if you don’t want to take the risk, you may prefer to remove your ducks’ access to any nightshade plants, especially if your ducks’ run or yard is small and their greenery choices are limited.

There are rumors that citrus can cause off-tasting eggs, interfere with calcium absorption, and cause digestive upsets. It’s often stated that poultry should not be given citrus fruits.

It’s a myth that citrus interferes with calcium absorption and causes soft-shelled eggs. On the contrary, studies have found that citrus improves calcium bioavailability and increases calcium absorption.

The other claims may be partly untrue as well. The inclusion of citrus pulp and citrus peels in poultry feed has been studied. At levels of 5-15% of the diet, it appears to be safe, not affecting egg weight, production, or quality. However, it did not seem to have any benefits and reduced feed efficiency at higher rates of inclusion. Dave Holderread briefly mentions that ducks can eat peeled citrus fruits in his book, Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks.

Nevertheless, ducks don’t usually like citrus fruits. In our orchard, parrots and other wild birds absolutely love obliterating our oranges and grapefruits, but I haven’t seen my ducks or chickens eating fallen citrus. Citrus is very acidic, so there could be some truth to the digestive issues claims, if your ducks eat them in large amounts. If your ducks do like any citrus fruits, they should be fine in small quantities. The peels may also be okay in small amounts.

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