Ducks are semi-aquatic birds with strong behavioral needs for water immersion. Commercial duck farming in most countries denies them any meaningful access to water for bathing or swimming — a significant welfare failure.
Duck farming represents a clear mismatch between the animals' evolved biology and the conditions of intensive production. Ducks are water birds housed on land, deprived of the environment their bodies and behaviors are adapted for. The welfare costs are measurable: poor feather condition, eye disease, frustrated preening behavior, and reduced positive affect. Providing even basic bathing water — a shallow trough that can be dipped in — substantially improves these outcomes. That this simple provision is absent in most global duck production reflects how completely welfare considerations have been subordinated to cost minimization.