Can Ducks Eat Cereal? 🥣

If you are wondering if ducks can eat cereal, there are two angles we need to cover here.

When mentioning the term cereal, most people think of heavily commercialized and advertised cereal for breakfast.

However, term cereal cover wheat, oats, corn, barley, millet, and more.

In short, every duck owner should know that commercial cereal are bad for duck health. On the other hand, ducks can eat cereal like oats, millet, barley, and other grains, but in limited amounts.

Before We Start

Ducks are omnivorous animals and need to eat worms, insects, meat-based protein, and fresh greens.

Keep In Mind – Don’t let them eat too much cereals and grains because this will fill them up and not provide all the nutrients ducks need.

Stay until the end of the article to learn the risks of feeding ducks with commercial cereals, alternatives, and solutions.

Not All Cereals Are Bad for Ducks

You can offer little cereal to your ducks, and nothing terrible will happen.

Some people are giving their ducks Cheerios. If you wonder if can ducks eat cheerios, I would say no because cheerios have no nutritional value to ducks.

Like with bread, you won’t hurt them immediately, but if you do it often, it will do more harm than good.

A single feeding of processed cereals won’t hurt immediately, but it adds up quickly.

Cereals I wouldn’t label as bad for ducks are the ones that have:

  • 0 gr sugar
  • no colors
  • and no artificial flavors

That means your ducks will only get corn or any other type of cereal, and that’s it.

However, you should also know that this food is not as healthy as the real thing – natural corn or wheat.

5 Reasons to Avoid Feeding Ducks Commercial Breakfast Cereal

According to labels everyone can read on every breakfast cereal, I pointed out five reasons you should not feed your ducks with this food.

1. Health Myth

This food is often advertised as healthy food you can eat in the morning.

They said all the cereals are beneficial for kids especially.

And we all know that is not the truth. We know that there are lots of additives.

A lot of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals are destroyed in the processing.

For Example – Unprocessed oats are healthy. If we pour milk over rolled oats (with 0 sugar) and add pumpkin or a little of blueberries to add a flavor, that is what we can call healthy.

But considering highly processed cereals the healthiest thing is simply a lie.

2. Added Sugar, Refined Grains

And let’s not forget lots of sugar.

The thing is, we can process sugar and lots of it.

Our kids are burning lots of energy, and a few grams of sugar from cereals won’t hurt as much as the third chocolate bar in one day.

However, ducks are not processing the sugar as well as we do.

And in the long term, if you give them too much, it will cause health problems in the future.

We got cereal from refined grains, which is far from the real thing.

All in all, marketing, as always, is misleading and sneaky. And there is nothing we can do about it except to adapt.

3. Additives, Colors, and Chemicals

High sugar and lower fiber levels are just the tip of the iceberg.

Numerous studies and publications like this claim that colors and additives from cereals are toxic, causing allergic reactions and sickness.

We are not going into that rabbit hole today, but knowing that every cereal is full of things like:

  • preservatives
  • fake flavoring
  • and artificial colors are not worth the risk

Some of these things could cause allergic reactions or other problems with your duck’s health.

We are getting used to all these things and chemicals, but our ducks are not.

4. Highly Processed Food

You heard that ducks should not eat bread, chips, fries, or other highly processed food.

Cereals are also in that category.

There are not so many nutrients in commercial cereals because corn (or wheat, rice) is processed at high temperatures, and a big chunk of nutrients is simply killed in the process.

There were added chemicals so that the cereals could be shaped (and stay in that shape) in our plates.

Every step is artificial, which cannot be done with natural ingredients. We all know that.

5. Not Cost Effective & Safe

Now, I’m sure you are asking if can ducks eat cereals because you have some small amounts and want to give them to your ducks.

But, maybe some people consider giving them cereals as a daily diet.

If so, you need to know that it is not only bad for their health but also bad for your wallet (extremely not cost-effective).

Better Alternatives

You won’t poison your ducks if you give them once or twice commercial cereals, even filled with sugar, but here I want to show you a better option.

However, many better alternatives are accessible, and you will have more fun watching them eat this stuff.

This food is healthier, and your ducks will love it.

Go for steel-cut oats, rolled oats, and let’s be honest, cracked corn is their favorite. You could also mix sunflower seeds or even rice.

If you give them uncooked rice, you should not be giving them too much because it will react with water in their stomach and cause digestive problems.

Final Words

Most cereals on the market are highly processed food, and feeding ducks with cereals daily will do more harm than good.

There are many healthy grains like oats, millet, and corn, and you should stick to them.

Also, ducks will love peas and other vegetables, and all of that I mentioned is far healthier for your flock.

So, try not to feed ducks with commercial cereals, and I highly suggest you surprise them with some other treat.