Ducks are easy to care for, but they sometimes take their owners by surprise. Perhaps you heard your duck let out a belch, or you just know you smelled a fart-like odor coming from their direction.
It might get you wondering—do ducks fart and burp?
In this guide, we’ll help you understand a duck’s digestive system to help you know whether the noises and smells coming from your duck are what you think they are.
Do Ducks Burp?
Although ducks have a gastrointestinal tract, it isn’t common for them to burp. Therefore, if you notice your duck showing burp-like behavior, it could (but certainly not always) be an indication that it’s suffering from a health issue.
In fact, there aren’t any scientific studies proving that ducks burp. Nevertheless, ornithologists admit that researchers haven’t spent much time on the topic and, given a bird’s anatomy, they likely can.
There are also some reasons that your duck could be “burping” when, in fact, it really isn’t.
Duck Burps That Aren’t Burps
One of the most common reasons why you might hear your duck “burp” is because it’s putting on a social display.
For example, male Ruddy ducks can put on quite the show in their day-to-day lives. They’ll sometimes flick their tail over their backs, stand up taller, and tap their bills against their lower necks.
The result? A sound that you could easily mistake for a burp.
In other cases, during courtship, male ducks may make noises or perform acts that resemble burps.
Other Reasons Your Duck Burps
Aside from the reasons above, which are ideal, there could be other reasons your duck is burping. They include:
- Disease
- Infection
- Regurgitation issues
You also might be overfeeding your duck. Huge quantities of food, especially when the size of the food is large and difficult for your ducks to swallow, can cause burping.
An Overview of a Duck’s Digestive System
In an ideal world, a duck picks up a duck-friendly size piece of food with its bill and pushes the food into its esophagus using its tongue.
Unlike humans, ducks can pack a large amount of food into their esophagus without negative consequences—you’ve likely seen this when your duck chases another duck away from the food bowl. The duck can run away, swallowing its large gulp of food without a problem.
We won’t get too fancy with our biology terms here, but once the duck’s food passes through its esophagus, it’ll enter the glandular stomach, where enzymes break down its food.
The food will also spend time in the gizzard, which is like an internal version of teeth. Its job is to break up large pieces of food into smaller, digestible bits as well as to collect sand, stone, and other debris the duck swallowed.
Regurgitation
Like many birds, ducks can regurgitate their food.
They have sphincter muscles that help prevent unwanted food from reaching their small intestine. These muscles also stop food from rerouting into its stomach.
Therefore, if you see your duck making motions like it’s burping, it might be regurgitating.
Do Ducks Fart?
Although burping and farting in ducks haven’t become a popular research topic yet, this much is clear—people agree more with a duck’s ability to burp than to fart.
Some people argue that ducks can release gas, but they lack an internal sphincter that humans have.
What does that mean in layman terms?
It means that if a duck farts, it can’t control that fart.
The Biology of a Fart
Here’s a fact you may not know about yourself: Your body uses bacteria to fart.
And, it’s not just any bacteria—there are special good types of bacteria in your colon that break down food, thus producing the endogenous gas that causes people to fart.
Are you wondering how this relates to your ducks?
Well, ducks don’t have the fart-producing bacteria that humans have. For this reason, some scientists hypothesize that ducks can’t fart.
Do Any Other Bird Species Fart?
Every bird, including ducks, has an anus. So, it might seem natural that they should be able to fart—after all, you likely know that Fido can when he cuddles up on the couch with you at night.
However, just as with ducks, there isn’t enough research yet to prove that birds of any species can fart.
That said, history might offer some insight. According to some theories, dinosaurs had the bacteria required to fart. Thus, since birds descended from theropod dinosaurs, some scientists argue that birds can probably fart.
At the end of the day, we’ll leave this one up to you.
After all, if you just know that your duck let one loose in front of you, who are we to tell you otherwise?
What Other Strange Noises Do Ducks Make?
Is your duck making weird noises, but you can’t pinpoint them as a burp or fart?
Rest easy—ducks love making noises, and they’re almost always harmless. Below are some situations that could cause your ducks to make noises that you don’t usually hear:
- Excessive quaking as a female prepares to lay an egg.
- Mother ducks communicating with her ducklings.
- Ducklings responding to their mom’s noises.
- Communication between adult ducks—it can be a happy or angry emotion.
When to Get Concerned
Although there are many legitimate reasons for hearing a duck burp or fart, you might need to come to your duck’s rescue or call the vet if it seems health-related.
Signs that you’re dealing with a health issue in your duck include:
- Coughing
- Sneezing
- Gagging
When it comes to gagging, it could be from a food particle blockage, in which case your duck may make sounds and movements as if it were burping in an attempt to spit out the food.
Wrap Up
Burping and farting are healthy behaviors in humans, but they might not always be normal for your ducks. If your ducks make farting or burping noises, and they seem unstressed, they’re likely okay.
However, if they act panicky or unwell, it’s time to give the vet a call because what appears to be burping and farting noises could actually be a sign of an illness.