Ducks in intensive farming systems often lack access to water for bathing and swimming, creating significant welfare deficits that affect foot health, eye health, and behavioral expression.
Ducks are anatomically and behaviorally adapted for aquatic environments in ways that make intensive dry-land confinement particularly welfare-compromising. Water is not merely a preference for ducks — it is integral to basic body maintenance (feather condition, eye health, nasal hygiene) and to the expression of species-specific behaviors that are central to their wellbeing. Depriving ducks of bathing water in the name of litter management or production efficiency creates chronic frustration of strong behavioral motivation and concurrent physical health problems. The welfare hierarchy is clear: ponds and open water are best, bathing troughs intermediate, spray systems inadequate, and nipple drinkers — while sufficient for hydration — severely deficient for welfare. Regulations that specify behavioral need fulfillment rather than mere hydration represent the welfare-appropriate standard.