Ducks are highly water-motivated birds whose welfare needs are poorly served by most commercial production systems. Access to open water for bathing and foraging is a fundamental duck behavioural need.
The welfare deficit of commercial duck production centres on water deprivation. Ducks are waterfowl whose behavioural biology is organised around aquatic access for bathing, thermoregulation, foraging, and social interaction. Keeping ducks in systems with only nipple drinkers denies them the fundamental opportunity to express natural behaviours that constitute a major part of their daily activity in free-living conditions. The absence of EU-specific duck welfare legislation leaves billions of birds without regulatory protection for this most basic need. Consumer pressure and supply chain welfare commitments are currently the primary drivers of improvement.