Ducks require water access for welfare but intensive duck farming systems typically deny this, creating chronic behavioral frustration in animals evolved for aquatic environments.
Duck welfare in intensive production systems illustrates how efficient farming can be systematically incompatible with basic behavioral needs. Ducks evolved as waterfowl with physiological and behavioral adaptations for aquatic environments - bill morphology adapted for water sieving, eyes requiring regular water cleansing, and feather condition maintained through preening in water. Denying water access means ducks cannot express these fundamental behaviors, resulting in eye infections from inability to clean secretions, poor feather condition, and the behavioral frustration of being unable to engage in water-related activities they are strongly motivated to perform. The welfare improvement from providing open water is substantial and measurable, but the additional cost of water provision and wet litter management creates producer resistance.