Ducks are farmed for meat, eggs, foie gras, and down — their welfare needs and the specific challenges of meeting them commercially.
Duck welfare in commercial production is defined by the denial of the most fundamental behavioral need of a waterfowl species: access to water for bathing and swimming. Ducks that cannot bathe suffer eye inflammation, nasal blockage, and behavioral frustration from the suppression of a biological drive that is as fundamental to their nature as flight is to a songbird. The combination of this welfare failure with the specific issues of foie gras production and live plucking for down creates a species-level welfare picture that is among the most serious in commercial farming. The solutions are available — water access systems compatible with commercial production exist — but require the regulatory and consumer pressure to implement.