Importance of Bathing For Waterfowl
by Manda H
Published December 5, 2022
If you have owned ducks or geese, you already know how messy they can be. As soon as you give them fresh water, they instantly bathe and play in it. It seems like, within a matter of minutes, their water source looks like you never even cleaned it.
Cleaning Nasal Passages and Eyes
If you’ve looked closely at a duck or goose bill, you may notice that their nostrils are situated on the top of the bill. This location means they can’t use gravity to their advantage to clear their nostrils of food and other debris. Chickens, who have nostrils on the sides of their beak, can shake their heads to clear the nostrils. If waterfowl only used shaking to clear their nostrils, the debris may fall further into their nasal cavity, causing further issues. Instead, waterfowl will use their open water to flush their nostrils of any debris. You’ll often see them submerging their heads in the water and give their bill a gentle side-to-side motion. They allow water to flow through their nasal passages and blow air through their nostrils to clean out debris. Waterfowl also submerge their entire heads to keep their eyes clean and healthy.
Bathing And Preening
Ducks are notorious for their “waterproof” feathers. After all, you’ve probably heard the saying, “like water off a duck’s back,” as an idiom for criticism or warning given to someone that has no effect on that person. Water poured on a duck’s back rolls right off without getting the duck wet.
Geese also have a similar protective quality to their plumage, but to a lesser degree than ducks. Both ducks and geese need to have regular access to a large enough body of water to allow them to get in the water and give their feathers a good wash. If you cannot provide your waterfowl continuous access to a pond or shallow tub of water, at least allow them to have a weekly opportunity to take a bath. For daily watering, you may find that giving your waterfowl a trough-type waterer or a jug-type waterer with a deep reservoir made specifically for ducks will help you manage the messiness.
Bathing allows waterfowl to keep their feathers in the best condition. When they bathe, the birds remove contamination from the feathers and spread oils from the preening gland (also known as the uropygial gland) over the feathers. This oil is what gives the birds their waterproofing. After a bath, you’ll see them spend some time in a sunny spot preening for quite some time. They are redistributing the oils and “re-waterproofing” their feathers.
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I respect your opinions, and …I was given a 1 week old sebastopol female. She was hatched April 13 so she is now 3+ weeks old going on 4 wks. She is very big girl, and healthy:) I have never given her a bath. She comes into our house in the evening, and during the day (as of today) she spends most of the sunny day outdoors on good grass (no pesticides!) Lots of clover and dandys in a safe pen and little hut. I have witnessed her enjoying some peas and Romaine. We give her Allflock starter/grit with a bit of Niacin and a shake of nutritional wheat. She looks very clean. I can’t see offering her a pool of water since she has a nice sized clean bowl of water for head dunking and drinking. She isn’t a duck. We have ducks/chickens. Annie the gosling is very different in her needs than my ducks and hens(with no crop/gizzard) She has firmly imprinted on me and my husband and runs to and after us when she sees us. She spends her nights indoors in a special house made just for her, but we take away her water/food over night from about 9pm to 9am. She seems very happy. I have repeatedly purchased hens from you and have a few coming in Aug. Also, I am awaiting an order of gosling diapers so she can come indoors and freely move about without being in her enclosure, especially over winter. I will not put her in with the ducks because their pen/area is different, and does not afford them as much grass as I feel she needs. The ducks w/their enclosures have 2 big pools and Mazzuri feed and treats, but very little grass. Should I offer my gosling a tub of water to bathe in now, though she is so clean and still fuzzy, or wait until she is at least eating Mazzuri feed starting in June, along with her usual grass she is eating now?…In winter she will not have grass and will only have her Mazzuri and treats. Are we doing okay? Any suggestions? Thank u.
Hi Deb! Thanks for reading our blog! It sounds like Annie is well cared for, you’re doing great! I think she is old enough to bathe some, but not with free access to an open pool until she has lost the fuzz. I would keep her in your sight while she’s in the water and not let her sit in the water for too long. In the winter, the waterfowl pellets should be sufficient. You could offer her some other supplemental seeds, grains, chopped kale, etc. too while she doesn’t have grass to graze. Good luck!