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You should know that even though ducks can eat spinach, it doesn’t mean they should.
The fact is that spinach is super healthy if you feed ducks in moderation, but it contains oxalic acid, which is terrible for them.
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And keeping track of what “moderation” is why your hungry flock starts destroying greens from the bowls is almost impossible.
What Are the Risks of Feeding Ducks Spinach?
Simply put, spinach contains oxalic acid, which is bad for ducks if you feed them more than a few leaves per duck.
In short, it negatively impacts calcium absorption in duck bones, resulting in soft-shelled eggs and weaker bones.
If Oxalic acid is present in large quantities in the duck’s body, it practically steals much-needed calcium from your ducks.
And it won’t allow calcium absorption to your duck’s bones and eggs.
Yes, spinach is full of vitamin A and folates and packed with vitamin K. However, many other veggies like kale and cabbage are safer options.
I stopped giving spinach to my ducks because I didn’t want to stress too much if they ate too much or not and risk acid kicks in and messing with calcium absorption…
The Benefits of Feeding Your Ducks Spinach
However, you can reduce the level of oxalate content if you steam or boil spinach for a few minutes.
Keep In Mind – You won’t hurt your ducks even if you don’t do that, but it might be less stressful for you to monitor how much they ate.
This leafy green is packed with manganese, potassium, iron, and magnesium, all of which are highly needed for your ducks.
The protein level is 3%, and 91% of spinach is water providing your ducks super healthy nutrients if fed in moderation.
How Much Spinach Ducks Can Eat?
Giving few leaves to duck is more than enough.
Make sure you don’t exceed 10% of the diet you feed them in one day.
Also, feeding ducks spinach once a week is okay.
You won’t hurt them, but as I mentioned, if you keep an eye on them, you can feed them spinach in moderation.
But if you are not paying attention and your ducks are overfeeding spinach often, that will cause malnutrition, soft-shelled eggs, and weaker bones.
I would suggest using other vegetables as a snack or treat for ducks.
Preparation Tips
Your ducks will love chopped raw spinach leaves and stem so that they won’t struggle to eat and absorb vitamins and minerals from stems in case it is more challenging for ducks to chew.
As Mentioned – You can serve your ducks cooked spinach. That way, you will reduce the impact of oxalate content.
Frozen spinach is also okay for ducks if it is not served cold and hard.
You can even make them a smoothie from frozen spinach. They will love it!
What About Ducklings?
In my opinion, you shouldn’t be feeding ducklings spinach.
If your ducklings are older than four weeks, they could try a few leaves of this veggie, but as mentioned above, oxalic acid is not worth of risk.
Give them food for ducklings and only a little bit of cabbage or kale from time to time.
Heads Up! You don’t want to risk oxalic acid and calcium absorption with young ducklings while they are most fragile.
Final Words
Ducks will eat spinach, that’s for sure.
But you should be careful because oxalates from spinach can negatively affect calcium absorption in bones and egg shells if they overeat this vegetable.
And that is the last thing you want to happen. Instead, try giving them lettuce, kale, corn, or any other veggie.
They will love it.