Providing adequate water access for farmed ducks is a fundamental welfare requirement that remains widely unmet in commercial production, despite clear evidence of the welfare significance of water immersion for waterfowl.
Duck water access welfare has clear scientific foundations - waterfowl evolved with aquatic behavioral systems that require water immersion for normal function. Without bathing water, ducks cannot clean their eyes and nostrils effectively, cannot engage in normal preening that maintains feather condition, and cannot express species-typical comfort behaviors. The frustration of highly motivated behavior is itself a welfare harm independent of any physical health consequence. The welfare case for minimum trough access is well-established; the case for full pond access in production systems represents the welfare ideal that free-range systems approach.