No Open Water for Ducks

Ducks are semi-aquatic birds who have evolved to live in, on, and around water. Not only does having access to open water help them to fulfil their natural behaviours but it serves the profoundly important role of keeping them healthy.

Ducks dip their heads into water regularly. It keeps their eyes and nostrils clean, clear, and free from infection. Getting into water helps ducks regulate their temperature and maintain healthy feathers, while preventing blistering of their chests. It also helps to prevent painful foot conditions because ducks did not evolve to stand up all the time.⁵

This is all well-known and actually, pretty obvious, since even a child knows that a duck needs water. But do factory farms provide the open water that ducks so desperately need? Typically, they do not. They say it makes a mess which requires cleaning up and that the birds would then need more dry bedding to be added. And so instead of putting in a little effort to give the birds a life worth living, the industry chooses to make their lives a living hell.