Does anyone know why ducks...

[farmdude]

Does anyone know why ducks fill their beaks with sand and put the sand in their water containers? Everyday I've got to rinse out an inch or two of sand out of their water containers. As soon as their water is changed, they are gobbling up sand and putting it in their water. Does anyone know what they are trying to accomplish?

 

[KansasKid]

Ducks will do this with anything like mud/grass/food&Grain they like to take stuff in with water and then force it out when they dabble its kinda of like filter feeding almost. Plus they think everything tastes better with water.

 

[dumb_cluck]

They need "grit" to digest their food. Just like chickens, their crop will fill with food and the "grit" breaks it down to digest. Just one of those things to watch for!

 

[farmdude]

Thanks for the answers folks. I figured it was something like that. I've had ducks for years, but always let them free range around the ponds so I never noticed this behavior. I've had a predator problem lately, so I locked them out with the chickens and now they are a handful.

 

[GrannySue]

You're lucky it's sand. The soil in my ducks' pen is clay and it weighs a ton! I change their water every couple of days in 2 dishpans and one turtle pool.