Duck welfare varies enormously across production systems. Understanding what constitutes good duck farming enables consumers and retailers to make meaningful welfare-based distinctions.
Duck welfare varies more across production systems than almost any other farmed species. The difference between a duck with daily bathing access, outdoor range, and appropriate stocking density and a duck in an intensive system without water for bathing, crowded on wire or slatted floors — is a dramatic difference in daily experience. Bathing water is the single most meaningful welfare distinction: ducks without it develop eye and bill health problems and are denied behaviours they are strongly motivated to perform. Foie gras production represents one of the most welfare-compromising practices in food production, with force-feeding causing liver disease, stress, and inability to walk properly. Consumer choices that distinguish between these production systems create market incentives for welfare improvement.