Should I stop feeding the ducks and moorhens?

Hi. We have a small river at the end of out garden that is full of ducks and moorhens. All year we've been feeding them with floating duck food, maybe a couple of times a day. They also fly into the garden and eat the fat ball crumbs that fall from the bird feeder.  There are on average 10 or so of them and 6 moorhens. They sometimes chase each other off yo get to the crumbs.

I'm concerned I might be domesticating them and making them them dependent on humans for food. Over winter they would come up to our patio doors and peer in, sometimes even tapping the windows!

Is this detrimental to the ducks and moorhens? Should I just stop feeding them now and keep shooing them away when they fly into the garden?  We don't mind them at all, but equally don't want to harm the birds, or alter their behaviours in a way that affects them permanently. Any advice would be very welcome!!

Thank you

Andy

  • You have already altered their behaviour. If you want them to exhibit more natural behaviour and to encourage them to go off and forage naturally you can either stop feeding all together and ignore begging behaviour - they will eventually get the message or you greatly reduce the amount and times you feed. So do a small dusk feed perhaps and when it's gone, it's gone and no extras. I have fallen for duck begging in the past and know how demanding they can be.