Can ducks eat celery? Do they like it? I’ve asked myself this question before. Recently I came across a video showing that a duck can eat celery. This spurred me to do a little more research so that I can answer the age-old question once and for all.
Can ducks eat celery? Yes, celery is a highly nutritious vegetable that makes for a healthy snack for ducks. While its bland taste might become a problem for the ducks, you can easily overcome it by mixing it with their feed or other fruits and veggies. Along with celery leaves, ducks can also eat celery stalks and seeds in strict moderation.
In this article, we are going to discuss every aspect of feeding celery to your ducks. If you have any doubts or queries regarding the issue, you can look for their solutions below.
Will ducks eat celery?
Have you ever tasted celery yourself? If you have, you would already know that these veggies don’t have much to offer when it comes to taste. While they’re not downright unpalatable, they can be called somewhat bland and tasteless.
This is why there’s a chance that ducks, being the picky eaters that are, might not find celery to be very appealing.
The fact that ducks have flat beaks instead of teeth only adds to this problem; since they can’t crush the celery before eating, its blandness affects them more than it affects us.
But I’m not here to only list down the problems, but also to provide you with their solutions.
And with celery, a trick that I’ve tried and tested to be true is to mix it up a little. I always chop down celery into small pieces, mix it with other fruits and veggies, and recommend you to do the same. This adds more taste to their otherwise bland meal, resulting in feathered pets being happy and content.
Can celery benefit their health?
While celery cannot be given enough credit for its taste, humans are still widely consumed in all parts of the world. Do you wonder why?
It is because of the nutritional benefits it has to offer. But are these benefits limited to us, or can they be extended to your feathered pets as well?
Before we find out, would you like to learn more about celery’s nutritional composition? Go ahead, take a look:
The nutritional value of celery
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Vitamin A | 22 mcg |
| Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) | 0.021 mg |
| Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.057 mg |
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) | 0.32 mg |
| Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) | 0.246 mg |
| Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.074 mg |
| Vitamin B9 (Folate) | 36 mcg |
| Vitamin C | 3.1 mg |
| Vitamin E | 0.27 mg |
| Vitamin K | 29.3 mcg |
| Copper, Cu | 0.035 mg |
| Potassium, K | 260 mg |
| Calcium, Ca | 40 mg |
| Magnesium, Mg | 11 mg |
| Manganese, Mn | 0.103 mg |
| Phosphorus, P | 24 mg |
| Water | 95.43 g |
| Protein | 0.69 g |
| Carbohydrates | 2.97 g |
| Dietary fibers | 1.6 g |
| Calories | 14 kcal |
Serving size: 100 grams
Following are the benefits of eating celery for your ducks:
- Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, E, and K are all obtained in celery. While all of them serve different purposes in your pet’s health, they’re collectively responsible for their overall growth and development.
- Celery is also rich in minerals like Calcium, Phosphorus, and Iron. These minerals play a key role in strengthening their bones and muscles and promoting oxygen transportation in their blood.
- Apiuman, a pectin-based polysaccharide, is present in celery. The function of this compound is to modulate stomach secretions, improve stomach lining, and prevent ulcers. In other words, it maintains the digestive health of the ducks.
- Many of you might not know this, but the glycemic index of celery is quite low. This means that it has a stabilizing effect on your pet’s blood sugar level, which is another plus.
Are the stalks of celery edible to ducks?
While celery leaves are the favorite part of your pets, are these the only part that they can eat? What about the stalks?
Well, just like us, ducks can safely eat celery stalks as well. However, just like us, they might struggle with the strings located in the middle of the stalks.
Therefore, I would recommend you to de-string the stalks before serving them to your feathered pets.
If you’ve ever done it for yourself, you might already be familiar with the process. If not, de-stringing is fairly simple to learn. All you need is a paring knife and a couple of minutes.
Can ducks eat celeriac?
Also referred to as “celery root” or “knob celery,” the celeriac is an oddly-shaped root vegetable closely related to celery. It can be consumed both raw as well as cooked and has a diverse range of culinary uses.
When stored at the right temperature, celeriac can have a shelf life of about 6-8 months!
If you’re curious about the nutritional value of raw celeriac, check out the table given below:
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) | 0.05 mg |
| Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.06 mg |
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) | 0.7 mg |
| Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) | 0.352 mg |
| Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.165 mg |
| Vitamin C | 8 mg |
| Vitamin K | 41 mcg |
| Calcium, Ca | 43 mg |
| Iron, Fe | 0.7 mg |
| Magnesium, Mg | 20 mg |
| Phosphorus, P | 115 mg |
| Manganese, Mn | 0.158 mg |
| Potassium, K | 300 mg |
| Zinc, Zn | 0.33 mg |
| Sodium, Na | 100 mg |
| Carbohydrates | 9.2 g |
| Dietary Fibers | 1.8 g |
| Protein | 1.5 g |
| Fat | 0.3 g |
| Water | 88 g |
| Calories | 42 kcal |
Serving size: 100 grams
But can your feathered pets eat celeriac? Yes, they absolutely can. Not only can ducks eat celeriac safely, but it is more nutritious for them than celery. Celeriac has a higher concentration of several nutrients, including thiamin, calcium, and dietary fibers.
Moreover, along with the subtle celery-like taste, these root vegetables also have a distinct earthy flavor with nutty overtones. This means that your ducks would be more interested in eating celeriac than celery.
What about leaf celery? Can ducks eat them?
Popularly referred to as the “Chinese celery” because of its traditional use in East Asian countries, leafy celery is a close relative of celery that looks nothing like the latter.
In fact, going by the appearance, it would be right to say it resembles coriander leaves. It is much thinner than regular celery and has shorter hollow stalks. Both its leaves and stalks are used, just like with the coriander leaves.
There is little data about the nutritional content of leaf celery. However, you can rest assured that it contains nothing that could turn out to be lethal to your feathered pets.
The only drawback of feeding it to your ducks is that they’ll be needing a large amount of it to satiate their hunger. Moreover, you wouldn’t know exactly which nutrients they’re gaining from it, leading to an imbalance in the diet.
Therefore, it’s best to avoid feeding leaf celery to your ducks.
Celery seeds: safe for ducks or not?
Did you know that celery has seeds as well? If you don’t, it is not your fault. It is probably because celery plants produce flowers only in their second year, and the seeds are contained within these small white flowers.
Although the vegetable we consume doesn’t contain seeds, you’d be surprised to know that celery seeds, with their warm and earthy flavor, are quite popular in the world of spices.
Let’s explore the nutritional value of these seeds in the table given below:
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Vitamin A | 52 IU |
| Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) | 0.34 mg |
| Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.29 mg |
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) | 3.06 mg |
| Vitamin B4 (Choline) | 24.7 mg |
| Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.89 mg |
| Vitamin B9 (Folates) | 10 mcg |
| Vitamin C | 17.1 mg |
| Vitamin E | 1.07 mg |
| Calcium, Ca | 1.76 g |
| Iron, Fe | 44.9 mg |
| Protein | 18.7 g |
| Carbohydrates | 41 g |
| Dietary fibers | 12 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Calories | 392 kcal |
Serving size: 100 grams
While celery seeds are not harmful to your feathered pets, they should only be fed to the ducks in moderation.
As you can clearly see in the table above, these seeds have a quite high calorific count, mostly the outcome of their high-fat content.
If your ducks are eating too many of these seeds, they will gain weight in no time.
Raw or cooked celery: which one is better for your pets?
Celery is a vegetable that even we can consume raw as a part of salads. So, feeding them raw celery is clearly a better choice for two reasons when it comes to your feathered pets.
First and foremost, they’re more used to eating vegetables raw than cooked. Second, cooking celery can negatively affect the water-soluble nutrients present in it since they are sensitive to heat.
Preparing celery for ducks: things to remember
Although we’ve established that ducks should be fed celery in their raw form, there are still some minor preparations that you might have to make:
- When purchasing celery, make sure you buy fresh ones and, if you can, go for organic celery instead of commercially grown ones.
- Wash the celery thoroughly before prepping it for them. Organic celery can be washed under running tap water, while for commercially grown ones, it would be wise to use chlorinated water.
- Like every other bird, ducks are toothless and flat-beaked, which means that they face difficulties in breaking down large pieces of food. Therefore, chop the celery into smaller pieces for them.
- Instead of feeding them celery separately, try mixing finely chopped pieces of it with their feed. It will mask celery’s tastelessness, making it easier for your pets to eat it.
If you keep these simple pointers in mind, you will never face any difficulties feeding celery to your beloved pets.
Conclusion: Can Ducks Eat Celery?
Now that you know what duck can eat, you should keep an eye out for these and other vegetables in your local area. It’s a great way to supplement a traditional diet. Don’t forget celery!
That’s the end of the article! Thanks for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please take a moment to share it with friends on Facebook or other social media; it’d be really helpful for me.
All the best.